The Cure - 4:13 Dream
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Free Music Notes for 4:13 Dream
Free Music Review: Sensory Overload: But In A Good Way
Hit: 4 Stars
First the facts. I'm sure stranger things have happened in the universe, but somehow after all these years, I'm finally doing my Cure homework and this is after growing up listening to Siouxsie and the Banshees! Still can't figure that one out! I could be hating myself for it, or be thrilled that I'm at an age that I can enjoy all what this band has to offer, without being so jaded against all things new. Needless to say, I've been diving headlong into all the albums I've been able to get my hands on. Thanks a billion, Amazon!!! I was able to purchase this album after purchasing Disintegration, 17 Seconds, Kiss Me, Head On The Door, Faith, Wish, Three Imaginary Boys and The Top. Pornography is on it's way, and I can't wait! I could go into all the controversy of how this album is not Disintegration, but the best since Wish, blah. . .blah. . .blah. Then you get a camp of fans that have totally written off The Cure since the Pornography album (how truly depressing for them), who tend to go off on all else, loudly. The best thing I did with this onslaught of Cure music is load it all into my mp3 player and just let the songs from the first album to the last just shuffle about. Strangely enough, I tend to skip a lot of the better known tracks (which I still enjoy completely but have heard all my life) with the fresh to my ears, lesser known tracks. I find that I tend to really love The Cure's stark, dark punk tracks from Faith and 17 Seconds, but then can turn right around and let the shuffle stop on tracks such as Underneath the Stars, The Reasons Why, Freakshow, The Real Snow White, Switch, It's Over, and The Hungry Ghost. I simply find these songs pleasing with Porl Thompson's rockin' guitar, Simon Gallup's pounding bass, and, of course, Robert Smith's acrobatic vocals, and genius wordplay, not to mention his own crafty guitar work. I feel that I have no obligation to have to love on this album. I have not spent the last 25 years consistently listening to the Faith and Pornography albums as only 'true' Cure fans do, supposedly. Disintegration was not the soundtrack to make-out sessions in the backseat of a car in high school, thank god. The one album I listen to thus far from start to absolute finish is The Top. So, with that to consider, I guess that makes me one atypical Cure fan who truly loves all the many facets of this band that I'm still in the process of loving more and more everyday. What a treasure trove! Happy, happy, joy, joy!!!
It's been a multitude of years since first viewing the Siouxsie and the Banshees' video for "Dear Prudence" and seeing a 24 year-old Robert Smith slink along the streets of Venice with Siouxsie and her boys, wishing he had done more that just one album with them, but then we wouldn't have him 28 years later with a stellar, truly original song repertoire that is still fresh and new to me. Bravo!!!
Free Music Review: Lucky Number 13
Hit: 4 Stars
Underneath The Stars: is a Bloodflowers-ish sounding epic opener clock in just over six minutes. An awesome track to start with Robert signing about the universe's 13 billion years (so poetic). My only minor bummer is that vocals are a tad low and do get meshed during the outro.
The Only One: is a Wish-era throwback song, an alien hybrid of Doing The Unstuck/High if you ask me. Not a favorite, a bit too "happy" sounding for me.
The Reasons Why: is a groovy Head On The Door-ish tune with lyrics to boot about Robert talking about his suicide/sacrifice. One of my faves.
Up next get the psychedelic track Freakshow. Filler track, in my opinion.
Sirensong: sounds like something off Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness meets Wild Mood Swings. A song your can drift away to.
The Real Snow White: a so-so track, nothing to write home about.
The Hungry Ghost: It took a while to like this track, lets just say I don't skip it anymore.
The David Lynch-y identity finding track Switch takes the listener on a rockin' journey.
My favorite track is The Perfect Boy. A dreamy track that could be the star-crossed lover to Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me's The Perfect Girl. Genius!
This. Here and Now. With You: Is it me or does This. Here and Now. With you/Prayers For Rain/Sadacic have similar bass intros? Anywho, probably my 3nd fave track.
Sleep When I'm Dead: is past Cure with catchy chorus and all.
The Scream: With hypnotic rhythms and an alarming scream this track is made WIN.
It's Over: is something that came out of the ashes of Disintegration then shot to the atmosphere into outer space pass the edge of the solar system and finished with a whisper "I can't do this anymore." Great ending track!
The Bass is mixed way too low on some tracks, the vocals are mixed too too high w/ reverb on other tracks. This album takes a few listens for you to get a feel of it, right off the bat I didn't like the sound of the album and was disappointed. Usually Cure albums are mixed really well, you wouldn't expect The Cure to have an Steve Albini sound to it. Other than that 4:13 Dream is a good record even with no keyboards this time around. I've been a fan since the 80's and I think you'll really enjoy this album. This is where I would rank 4:13 Dream.
1 Disintegration
2. The Head on the Door
3. Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
4. Pornography
5. Wish
6. The Cure
7. 4:13 Dream
8. Join The Dots
9. Faith
10. Blue Sunshine (Disc 2)
11. The Top
12 Seventeen Seconds
13. Three Imaginary Boys/Boys Don't Cry
14. Wild Mood Swings
15. Bloodflowers
Free Music Review: Pushing 50 and still suicidal.
Hit: 4 Stars
The Cure is a band that is sure to elicit all kinds of responses from its fan base. After reading the other reviews here you could go either way on "4:13 Dream". If you're a long time fan like myself, you probably own this already and might be wondering what another Cure fan is thinking. If you have never bought a Cure cd then stop here. Don't start with "4:13 Dream". I recommend starting at the beginning with 1979's "Boys Don't Cry" and work your way up album by album. Don't be tempted to start with "Disintegration".
Now, I agree with other reviewers that this is a three and a half star album from Robert Smith and Co. It has good songs, but nothing outstanding. It has a few songs that should have been left off. Overall, it's an average Cure cd, but in context, say, to 2004's "The Cure", it's better, but maybe not as good as 2000's "Bloodflowers". It's miles above one of The Cure's worst albums 1996's "Wild Mood Swings"--but guess what? It doesn't have anything as memorable as "The 13th" or "Mint Car". Go figure.
"4:13 Dream" borrows from previous Cure albums like the Disintegrationish opener "Underneath The Stars" or the Pornography-like "Sleep When I'm Dead", or Kiss Meish "The Only One". There seems to be something for everyone here. The first four tracks are solid with "Underneath The Stars", "The Only One", "The Reasons Why" and "Freakshow". Then there are two throwaways: "Siren Song" and "The Real Snow White", which really could have been left of the disc and no one would have noticed. "The Hungry Ghost" is quintessential Cure, but it's followed by two more weak songs with "Switch" and "The Perfect Boy". "This. Here And Now. With You" and "Sleep When I'm Dead" are good, followed by one more weak track with "The Scream".
I was most impressed with the very menacing and chaotic rumble of the final track "It's Over". I found this musical direction to be interesting, and I would like to see Robert Smith try more of this approach. "It's Over" will definitely be put on my list of 81 greatest songs by The Cure.
So here's my final breakdown of where "4:13 Dream" fits into The Cure catalogue in comparison to their other albums. Then you decide.
1979 Boys Don't Cry/Three Imaginary Boys: Five Stars
1980 Seventeen Seconds: Three Stars
1981 Faith: Five Stars
1982 Pornography: Five Stars
1983 Japanese Whispers: Three Stars
1984 The Top: Two Stars
1985 The Head On The Door: Five Stars
1987 Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me: Four Stars
1989 Disintegration: Five Stars
1992 Wish: Five Stars
1996 Wild Mood Swings: Two Stars
2000 Blood Flowers: Four Stars
2004 The Cure: Three Stars
2008 4:13 Dream: Three and a Half Stars
Free Music Review: A Massive Improvement
Hit: 4 Stars
Since someone mentioned production, I do have to say that the production could have been better, but the production on a lot of things lately has just been mixed too loud such that a lot of the subtlety is lost, and this album, while a victim of this trend, is not crippled by it - too little variation in volume throughout, yes, unlistenable, no.
That said, I was very pleased overall with the album. Especially since I was expecting to be let down, as none of the singles really grabbed me. In the context of the album, however, all of the singles fit well and sound good. This could be because of the album mix being better than the 'Mix 13', but I've yet to listen to them together.
Given the fact that in my eyes, for all of its high points ("Anniversary", "Going Nowhere"), the self-titled album was a monumental failure, it has been only natural for me to compare 4:13 Dream with its predecessor. One thing that is essential for me to mention is the fact that Robert no longer seems to feel the need to sing from the very first note of all the songs. One of the reasons I disliked The Cure was the fact that he didn't seem content to let the music speak for its self. Fortunately, with the exception of a couple of the aforementioned singles, that is not a problem on this new album.
The lyrics themselves have also vastly improved over the last four years. No more do we have the pathetic angsty high school poetry of "Never" or the far too sickly sweet banality of "(I Don't Know What's Going) On", but there's actually some thought in the words here. "Underneath The Stars" is an obvious pick for best song, although I'm also quite partial to the two final tracks, "The Scream" and "It's Over". In fact, unlike on the self-titled album, I don't even have any clear picks for worst song on the album, as they never sink lower than 'unremarkable'.
I'm sure that as I continue to listen to this album, I will like it more, but on first impression, I give it on a scale of 10.0 a 7.3.
And on my ranking of Cure albums, I rank it dead center:
Disintegration
Pornography
Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
Bloodflowers
The Head On The Door
Wish
4:13 Dream
The Top
Faith
Seventeen Seconds
Three Imaginary Boys
Wild Mood Swings
The Cure
Free Music Review: Comments On Robert Smith's Production Skills On " 4:13"
Hit: 4 Stars
First off, I'm not necessarily a fan of The Cure...at least I haven't followed them through every album and every song, but I did get into their 80's stuff.
So while I'm not qualified to say this is a great album or this is a bad album, I feel compelled to make a comment or two regarding the music recording and production on 4:13. I've heard a recent song of theirs (can't recall the title) and was very intrigued about the way it was recorded...the overall sound.
Just going through some of the reviews I was amazed to read several comments about the sound quality and recording/mixing of this album. Some good points were being made.
From my (amateur) 20 years experience with recording and producing my own music and the music of the many bands I have been in, I understand the importance of good production in regards to how the listener will perceive the final product.
So here is my quick review of the production skills of Robert Smith, along with Keith Uddin...recorded at Parkgate Studios(UK). I've read everything here from the bass is tight to the bass isn't prominent enough...to the vocals being too loud, to it needs better mixing.
In my opinion, the biggest problems I hear are coming from the vocals and some of the effects used, and the frequency response in relation to the music...If that gets taken care of, everything else falls into place, because truly, I haven't heard anything of this caliber in many a year. In my wildest dreams I couldn't have come up with some of the great recording techniques used on this record. From beginning to end, the recording of the drum kit, in particular, absolutely blows me away...so natural...so warm. And, it's not the same on every tune...they've done about the best job possible matching the drum sound to the tune. The bass is right where it needs to be...like I said, I feel the problem lies in the mixing and equalization of the vocal. Electric guitars (amps) are spine-tingling. Every thing else equals the basics...a fantastic job.
Whether the songs penned on this album are The Cures' best...well, that I am unsure of. But I do believe this record will be played for many years to come, because, with the exception of a few vocal missteps, this is a classic production.