CD: 400135
RELEASED: 2006
LABEL: Fiction

01. Inbetween Days
02. Kyoto Song
03. The Blood
04. Six Different Ways
05. Push
06. The Baby Screams
07. Close to Me
08. A Night Like This
09. Screw
10. Sinking

Reissue of The Cure's 1985 album The Head On The Door which has been digitally remastered from the original tapes. A distinct change of direction, "The Head on the Door" finds the Cure drifting towards pop music for the first time. This is really enabled by the band-- with the return of bassist Simon Gallup to the fold, leader/vocalist/guitarist Robert Smith had the anchor that the band needed. Gallup could play the morbid, goth sort of basslines that the band cut their teeth on, but he could also manage a bright funk and pop sound. Ditto for drummer Boris Williams, who provided a fine foil for Gallup in the rhythm section. But just as key was the presence of guitarist Porl Thompson, who allowed Smith to construct shimmering guitar textures. The group is rounded out by founding member Lol Tolhurst, contributing on keyboards. On the surface, The Head on the Door appears to have little in common with The Top, but closer inspection reveals the predecessor's fingerprints are on its successor. "Wailing Wall" leads directly to "The Blood", a song with decidedly flamenco leanings about a Portuguese wine called the Tears of Christ. Songs like "Push", with its two-and-a-half minute sweeping instrumental intro, point directly to the approach employed across the board on the masterwork Disintegration that would follow four years later. The Head on the Door demos are a fascinating window into the evolution of Smith's songwriting process. The Head On The Door is a fantastic pop record, and an essential piece to The Cure's extraordinary puzzle.

Influences / Similar Artists:
Joy Division, Lowlife, The Sound, Echo & The Bunnymen