The Cure - The Top [Deluxe Edition]

So far, this extensive reissue series has seen the Cure transform from a spiky post-punk act (Three Imaginary Boys) to a spooky new wave one (Seventeen Seconds), and from a grand, glacial rock band (Faith) to a fiercer, darker one (Pornography). That's more than enough to make for a striking career in itself: It's 1983, and the Cure is already epically great. But there's a difference between a great rock act and the kind of long-running international pop favourite this band was bound to be, and the music that comes next is what makes that difference.

The mid-80s are the years in which the Cure ceases to be a rock band and becomes a vehicle to plumb Robert Smith's imagination. Asian art, psychedelics, hallucinations-- with the act's line-up effectively swapped to bits, Smith takes up the reins of the studio, and he seems to see each individual song as a chance to literalize some particular dream of his, using pop arrangements to create little worlds that feel astonishingly visual. It's a shame these reissues can't include the band's already-compiled singles from this era, because it's in their ever-changing styles that you get the best sense of what he was doing: trying on a joyous fake-jazz strut for "The Lovecats", making "The Caterpillar" sound like a broken-down music conservatory for fairies, doing bratty, funky synthpop on "Let's Go to Bed" and chilly electro on "The Walk". Rock bands sound good within the context of being rock bands; pop songs like these carried their own context with them, each one a dream to step into.

The Top, however, is not that Cure. Yes, "The Caterpillar" is on here, and "Dressing Up" has a sexy pop-song elegance that's certainly new. But this full-length is the sound of a rock band stretching out in a much less controlled and occasionally bitter way: There are shades of gnarled psychedelia scattered throughout. Songs like "Give Me It" and "Shake Dog Shake" scream and blurt with a grim, bristly rage. The band's signature dirges suddenly feel formless and lethargic in a bad way. The rough home and studio demos on the bonus disc are hard listening in spots, but also instructive: In hearing Smith labour to make this material whole, you get a better sense of how the scattershot styles of the album could be stemming from the same source.

Ripped from the double disc edition to MP3

The Original Album (1984)

1.       Shake Dog Shake 4:57

2.       Birdmad Girl 4:06

3.       Wailing Wall 5:23

4.       Give Me It 3:43

5.       Dressing Up 2:51

6.       The Caterpillar 3:42

7.       Piggy In The Mirror 3:40

8.       The Empty World 2:37

9.       Bananafishbones 3:00

10.   The Top 6:56

Rarities (1982-1984)

1.       You Stayed... (RS Home Demo) 2:22

2.       Ariel (RS Home Demo) 2:59

3.       A Hand Inside My Mouth (Studio Demo) 3:41

4.       Sadacic (RS Studio Demo) 4:17

5.       Shake Dog Shake (Studio Demo) 4:57

6.       Piggy In The Mirror (Studio Demo) 3:41

7.       Birdmad Girl (Studio Demo) 3:37

8.       Give Me It (Studio Demo) 3:43

9.       Throw Your Foot (Studio Demo) 3:31

10.   Happy The Man (Studio Demo) 2:47

11.   The Caterpillar (Studio Demo) 4:18

12.   Dressing Up (Studio Alt Mix) 2:14

13.   Wailing Wall (Studio Alt Mix) 4:59

14.   The Empty World (Live Bootleg) 2:47

15.   Bananafishbones (Live Bootleg) 2:58

16.   The Top (Live Bootleg) 7:13

17.   Forever (Version) (Live Bootleg) 4:58