The Cure - 4:13 Dream
|
List Price: Our Price: $6.68 You Save: $7.30 (52%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.32 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for 4:13 Dream
Free Music Review: Unmistakably The Cure - A Fantastic, Rocking Return!
Hit: 5 Stars
Four years after the release of their self-titled album, the Cure are back in fantastic form. It's great to have the super-talented Porl Thompson return to the fold once again. He joins drummer Jason Cooper, long-time bassist Simon Gallup and Cure vocalist, guitarist, lyricist and leader Robert Smith in a lean, tightly knit line-up featuring a heavy emphasis on guitar and minimal keyboard adornment from Smith.
In my humble opinion, 4:13 DREAM is a big improvement over the monotonous THE CURE which largely rehashed their previous depression rock with diminishing returns. 4:13 DREAM doesn't really break any new ground and Smith revisits several well-worn themes: the wonderment of love, the disillusionment after the spell is broken, boredom, insatiable desire and the ultimate futility of life. Still, these songs sound inspired and passionate. And they ROCK. It's very much an album for the fans; there's nothing here that's likely to get mainstream attention a la "Just Like Heaven" or "Friday I'm In Love," although "The Only One" comes pretty close to those heights. There might not be any riffs quite catchy enough to get stuck in your head (although they might!), but the songs are brilliant. The album revisits the radical eclecticism of albums like THE TOP and KISS ME,KISS ME, KISS ME with some truly wild mood swings. Smith's voice sounds great too, less grating than the last time out, although, as always, it's an aquired taste that won't appeal to everyone. Whatever you think of the quality of his voice, he is without a doubt an excellent vocal stylist.
BREAKDOWN!
"Underneath The Stars" - is luxurious! So dreamy, romantic and shimmering . . .
"The Only One" - is upbeat and giddy, the album's purest pop moment.
"Freakshow" - features a classic quasi-funk Cure groove with squealing Porl guitar lines.
"The Reasons Why" - another great pop song, more relaxed with an easy-going tempo.
"Sirensong" - another dreamy tune - oceanic, almost Hawaiian. Gorgeous and floating.
"The Real Snow White" - a more ominous rocker about another doomed love/lust affair.
"The Hungry Ghost" - another great rocker - features a stridently strummed guitar.
"Switch" - a harrowing, twisted identity crisis, full of mangled guitar and self-loathing.
"The Perfect Boy" - a sad love song that ends with a ray of hope.
"This. Here And Now. With You" - another sweet love song full of fear, hope and dreamy guitars.
"Sleep When I'm Dead" - a rockin' pop song and an unapologetic celebration of how great it is to be Robert Smith (!)
"The Scream" - plunging once again into turmoil, the song slowly builds, soon to wallow in muddled guitar echos, wailing cymbals and drums.
"It's Over" - the album climaxes with this, the heaviest track, an alt-metal slab of doom and gloom.
My five-star rating exposes me as the hopeless Cure fanatic I've been since THE HEAD ON THE DOOR came out, but I swear there's not a bad song on the entire album. And while it might not end up ranking with my absolute favorite Cure albums from the 80's, they haven't rocked this hard since the hardest tracks on WISH. Highly recommended! At least for the fans . . .
Free Music Review: The Return We've All Been Waiting For
Hit: 5 Stars
Being a Cure fan for many years now, it gives me great pleasure to hear 4:13 Dream. As people before me have mentioned, it'll probably never get to the status of their releases of decades past - such as Disintegration and Wish. None the less, The Cure have really delivered this time. I believe that The Cure thrive on altering their sound every album - hence why it's near impossible to place their music into any one musical category/genre.
4:13 Dream starts on an amazingly promising note. 'Underneath The Stars', once again as people before me have mentioned, bring back memories of 'Plainsong' (the opening track for Disintegration). From here it's quite obvious that this album is much different from WIld Mood Swings and their self titled release. From my first few initial listens I think 'Underneath the Stars' is one of the strongest titles on the record. I would go as far, as one reviewer has already stated, as saying 'Underneath The Stars' is one of the best songs Smith and The Cure have written in a long time - and defiantly in their top 10 songs.
From there on in, 'Dream' continues to climb into musical abyss, reaching the plateau of what we all know as 'The Cure' moments. Those moments that Robert's voice hits that one note that makes the hair on your arm stuck up, the moment Simon strums that one bass note that resonates for so long you think it's going to come alive, the moment Porl repeats the melody line that you want to listen to all day long, and the moment Jason crashes those cymbals creating a beautiful amalgamation of noise and bliss.
Personally, I believe The Cure are on a new track, musically, and thus far I'm very impressed. If the rumors are true, and a more 'dark' album is in the works, I'm sure it'll be a treat none the less! Notable tracks on this album in my opinion are:
- Underneath The Stars
- Sirensong
- The Hungry Ghost (read the lyrics to this one, I think Robert really makes a strong statement of the consumerism culture that we all, un-necessarily, continue to feed)
- The Real Snow White
To a degree, I think the WHOLE album is awesome but the above songs are my personal favorites.
Here's to The Cure, and all the great music they've shared with us over the years. The future of their music looks ever so promising, and I can't wait to see where Robert and the lads go next. Hopefully they'll even get Roger back on the synths, that'd be a treat indeed! Even if they don't, I think they'll continue to make amazing music that will thrill and excite generations of people to come. Well done chaps!
P.S. COME TO AUSTRALIA! PLEASSSEEEEE haha
Free Music Review: "For my part I know nothing with any certainty..."
Hit: 5 Stars
Great Van Gogh quote and great album. Just got it and still need to run it through my ears a few more times, but I am hearing some great things on first listen or two. First impression, aside from finding most all of these songs enjoyable, is that I would have got it off to a more rocking start with "Switch" and saved the excellent "Underneath the Stars" for a slowdown in the middle or as the closer, but this album rocks a bit more than it rolls so great song anywhere. "The Scream" (this may be one of their best songs EVER!) and "It's Over" ("Baby Rag Dog Book"?) make a powerful ending though a la the old "Fight" and "Shiver and Shake" one-two punch of KMx3. I think they've found or at least perfected the sound they needed to with the last album as far as more modern sounding 'Cure rock' goes. Still dig the doom and gloom and more melancholy sound of albums past. There aren't really any gloomy epics (as advertised) but I am glad they didn't force anything, and hopefully Robert will get us his darker album someday soon 'cause I was really hoping to get "A Boy I Never Knew", my only disappointment here. "Sirensong" and "The Hungry Ghost" sound too cool. Nice work Porl! The only questionable one for me is "The Real Snow White" which reminds me of when I first heard U2's song "Desire", such a different sound for them, it may take some getting used to. Anyways, can't wait to get this into my iPod. Cheers!!Free Music Review: A "Now-Tro" Cure Album
Hit: 5 Stars
Since the Cure have been around for a long time, it's understandable how it becomes more and more difficult to please everyone, especially the hardcore old-school fans. I became a Cure fan relatively late, sometime around when Bloodflowers came out, so I am somewhat disengaged from the chronology of their albums and have very little expectations for them to deliver "that particular album that I heard when I was sixteen." That being said, I think this is a fantastic album in that it makes a statement that the Cure are not interested in shoveling out the same-old same-old in an attempt to please a fan base with expectations that are all over the place and impossible to pinpoint to begin with. I know teenagers who are just discovering the Cure and are falling in love with them because of albums like "The Cure" and "4:13 Dream" because it genuine and relevant to the late 2000's. It's no longer the 80's and despite the fact that the Cure still hold certain stylistic elements to that particular era, it is important for them to create works in the here and now. The Cure will probably be around for a long time and I can't wait to see where else they go. Keep creating and changing and the love will be there.Free Music Review: One Hell of a Dream
Hit: 5 Stars
After a month of listening to this - I can finally agree that this is one of the best Cure records. At least in a very long time.
It has equal elements of 'Wish' & 'Wild Mood Swings' in terms of mixing just the right amount of pop with equal parts angst and darkness.
'Underneath the Stars' starts the record just perfectly as any Cure opener should.
'The Only One' continues to evolve in my ears. Each time I hear new/different nuances. It's a very solid song.
'Freakshow' & 'Sirensong' both remind me why I loved 'Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me' so much - they create these perfect pop songs just long enough (yet not long enough at all) to hook you and then they all but disappear.
'The Hungry Ghost' is another strong pop/rock tune here.
I'm really enjoying lyrics on this one too.
Robert's voice has maintained itself all these years. He sounds no different here - and doesn't sound out of place either. It sounds like a natural progression.
I'll be listening to this one for a while.
(...but why do so many people hate 'The Top'??? I could never understand that...).