CD: 98400123
RELEASED: 2006
LABEL: Fiction

01. Shake Dog Shake
02. Birdmad Girl
03. Wailing Wall
04. Give Me It
05. Dressing Up
06. The Caterpillar
07. Piggy In The Mirror
08. The Empty World
09. Bananafishbones
10. The Top

Reissue of The Cure's 1984 album The Top which has been digitally remastered from the original tapes. After the dark, gothic, moody aural terror of Pornography, it was not clear in exactly what direction Robert Smith would take the Cure. After paring his band down to basically just himself and Laurence Tolhurst, Smith could have easily continued down the dark path he had been pacing nervously upon. The psychedelic influence of mind-altering substances is readily apparent on The Top, the record that fits the gap perfectly between Pornography and the record that would turn the Cure into international superstars, The Head on the Door. Beginning with the squawking self-deprecation of "Shake Dog Shake, " one of Smith's angriest and distorted-guitar heavy tracks (a precursor to Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me's "The Kiss"), the Cure boldly show their intentions of moving in a completely new direction. The Top is a strange record, mixing sounds from the Middle East ("Wailing Wall") and Flamenco guitars ("Birdmad Girl") with manic freak-outs like "Give Me It" and "Bananafishbones". "Piggy in the Mirror, " another song full of self-loathing, anchors the second half of the album, before it descends into the title track, a song that sounds like an updated version of "Faith". Throw in Robert Smith's most flamboyant vocal gymastics and strange experiments like "The Empty World", a fife-and-drums number on the nihilism of war, and you have an album (and a band) in the midst of a breakdown. But then that's what makes the Top such an interesting trip. Only the Cure could bring you a record so simulataneously over the top and under the weather.

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