The Cure Album: “Wish”

This is probably The Cure's best selling album to date, and deservedly so. While those who remember The Cure when they were a relatively obscure band with a small but loyal following in the United States may find this album's popularity annoying, the artistry here is something not much seen in previous albums. The music is classic Cure, not breaking any new ground, with driving rhythms and jangling guitar. I guess it is the lyrics that set this album apart. This is an extremely personal album for Robert Smith. He goes beyond the typical melancholy of his usual songs and reaches to depths that produce pure heartbreak. With "Open" he discusses his drinking problem, and "Apart" and "A Letter to Elise" appear to chronicle a failed marriage. And while "Elise" and "Friday I'm In Love" received a lot of airplay ("Friday" I think even cracked the Top 40, a rarity for The Cure), the most underrated song on the album is "Doing the Unstuck". Getting past the goofy name, it is a perfect rendering of those emotions one feels when your life seems to be going to hell and all you wish for is that one perfect day with someone you love to forget all your troubles. Thank you, Robert, for daring to share your wishes with us. It is amazing how, with all our differences, people all wish for the same (sometimes impossible) things.

Hard to believe it's been 10+ years since this album was released. I first purchased it on cassette in 1992 and later on CD when the cassette literally wore itself out. To me "Wish" is the last, really good album by this group, with later efforts like "Wild Mood Swings" badly missing the mark. Often mis-classified as a Goth band, I rather think Robert Smith and The Cure simply tap into the quiet veins of sorrow and tragedy that run through every human life. It's not a bad thing, it's not a Goth thing, it just is. And while "Wish" is punctuated with occasional uppy songs like "Friday I'm in Love", the pieces that really soar are (of course) the sad ones: "Apart", "Letter to Elise" and the epic "To Wish Impossible Things". I once told someone that The Cure is the greatest break-up band of all time, and I stand by that assertion. "Wish" is a grand demonstration of everything that makes The Cure great, right before things started to go downhill. I've since heard rumors that The Cure are no more, that "Bloodflowers" is their last hurrah. If so, I choose to remember "Wish" as their last, best effort.

The Cure has been my favorite band for about 10 years now, which is literally when I started appreciating music. Of all their recordings, Wish is the greatest in my opinion. Although their other albums offer traditional favorites such as "Pictures of You" and "Lovesong", the gloomy melodies and insightful lyrics make Wish a masterpiece. It is impossible to listen to the Cure without a deep appreciation for the poetry and feeling in their lyrics, especially when you listen to a song such as "Apart" or "A Letter to Elise." Few songwriters, if any, can capture the mood and true feeling behind Cure lyrics and Wish offers the best of what they have, on the whole. Although this album became popular with "Friday I'm in Love", it's still a cute pop song that can't be written off. This album, dark and haunting provides songs of love lost, trust broken and other themes that make this the timeless masterpiece that it is. If you don't own it, you must buy it!

I've been a hardcore Cure fan for about 15 years and I bought "Wish" when it first came out. I listen to it from time to time and I'm always struck by how fresh, intricate, and inspired it sounds. There isn't one bad track on the album, from "Open" to "End." The music the Cure created on this album is thicker and more complex, with layer upon layer of interweaving guitar, than on any of their other albums. Porl Thompson, who later went on to outshine his guitar idol Jimmy Page on tour with Page and Plant, along with Perry Bamonte, who had recently been asked to play guitar with the Cure after playing the role of their guitar roadie for a number of years, provide the background guitar work over which Smith's signature guitar sound shines through, specifically on "High." "Wish" has some of Smith's best lyrics that spin tales of drunken euphoria ("Open"), hopeless heartache ("Apart" and "Trust"), loves lost ("A Letter to Elise" and "To Wish Impossible Things"), and blissful adoration ("High"). The music and lyrics meld together like a hand in a glove, not sounding forced like some later Cure material, but natural and perfectly suited for each other. "From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea" is the standout track on "Wish," with it's complex lead guitar solos building to a climax and Smith's impassioned vocals almost screaming "I wish I could just stop, I know another moment will break my heart ... miles and miles and miles away from home again." Listening to "Wish" loud while driving is always a pleasure that takes me back to the first time I heard it in 1992. It's amazing that so much time has passed and yet there are always new aspects of "Wish" I discover each time I listen to it.

One of the few totally guitar-driven Cure albums, Wish is an incredible album, with a strong, driving, forceful core and a set of 12 astounding songs. While its not as eclectic as some Cure albums (due to the fact that its all guitar-driven) it explores a huge range of moods nevertheless.

The album begins with 'Open', where Smith chronicles his drinking problems to a forceful, dark backing of reverbing guitars and driving bass, reminiscent of sections of previous album 'Disintegration'. The second song 'High' is totally different, a relatively breezy pop song, however for me its one of the album's least good songs, not because its poppy, but because it lacks the killer tune that the other poppy songs have. 'Apart' is a slow, intimate and desolate number reminiscent of some of the earlier Cure recordings. Next comes the album's centrepiece, the epic 'From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea', a gothic rock track which builds and sways around turbulently.

The next three songs return to a poppier style, beginning with 'Wendy Time' with its funk-style, wah-wah guitar line. It still has a note of menace due to the threatening bass and Smith's voice. 'Doing The Unstuck' is a total catharsis, with its very un-Cure cry of 'let's get happy!'. Fortunately most of the lyrics are better than this slightly cringeworthy line. Again, however, despite very optimistic lyrics and tune, we have a threatening bassline that perhaps was influenced by Nirvana and specificially Come As You Are (which came out the year before). At one point, despite being totally different in mood, the song mimicks 'Fascination Street' from 'Disintegration', presenting its line 'Oh just burn down the house! Burn down the street' in almost the exact same fashion as Fascination Street's 'Just pull on your face! Pull on your feet!'. Its an amazing song, and a travesty it wasn't a single.

'Friday I'm In Love', perhaps the Cure's most straightforward, pop song ever - even 'Love Song' has a touch of darkness to it - goes all Green-era REM with its catchy, jangling guitar, poppy melodies and distant harmonies. Its as cheesy and catchy as ... 80s pop, and its incredible to think this came from the same band who made Pornography, but its strangely touching and really a lovely song.

'Trust' could hardly be any more different in mood. Beginning with a weeping piano line, it is lyrically simple yet enormously accomplished. Its a desolate, beautiful song that sits nicely with 'Apart', truly heartbreaking and a must for unrequited lovers everywhere. 'A Letter To Elise' seems a little too close to 'Pictures of You' for comfort, almost exactly the same in arrangement, mood and even to some extent melody. As I always thought 'Pictures of You' was a little overrated its not my idea of the greatest Cure track, but of course its still touching and its saved by another excellent lyric.

Next comes the most gothic song on the album, the vicious 'Cut'. Paced extremely quickly, its driven by one of the greatest basslines ever, stunning drums and layers of spooky guitar and keyboard effects, with Smith's anguished vocal layered on top. Its certainly an album highlight, sounding how 'A Forest' might have sounded if it had been arranged in a more complex way and given a 90s-style production. 'It's all gone! It's aaaaaallll....oww' wails Smiths over the cacophony, his voice escalating into an incredible, falsetto scream.

'To Wish Impossible Things' is another heartbroken track yearning for things past. If you're a Placebo fan, its impossible not to notice how much tracks like this one must have influenced them. Beautiful viola is layered onto it, and its absolutely devastating.

The final track, 'End' is built around a memorable guitar ostinato. It's musically similar to the opener, excellent slightly more angular and less fluid. There's excellent production on the vocal, which wavers and echoes from speaker to speaker throughout, and the central call of 'Please stop loving me! I am none of these things!' is incredibly powerful. This, along with tracks like 'From The Edge of the Deep Green Sea', appears to have formed the template for the later 'Bloodflowers' album.

Overall, this is an incredible album, frequently emotionally devastating, but occasionally with a true ray of sunshine. It sits among The Cure's absolute best as a total classic, dark and powerful, majestic and beautiful, touching, affirming music.