"Forever"

I recall when my brother (6 years older than myself) brought home with him in the summer of 1987 the Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me vinyl a friend hand lent him to tape... (that's how you did it back then) - immediately the songs grew on me but not all of them. Especially the poppy ones.

A few weeks later he brought The Head On The Door album and I kept listening to it through the tape recordings. In early 1989 I got an hold of the Staring At The Sea VHS tape (and copied it...) and then Disintegration was all over the radio....But by this time what excited me the most were their poppy side. The Staring At The Sea pre-83 videos and other bands I began listening from 1988 onwards (Jesus And Mary Chain, Echo And The Bunnymen, Joy Division, Bauhaus, Sisters Of Mercy, Smiths, The Clash, etc) which I think I got into because of The Cure, turned my taste into other sounds...

In 1990 (I was 16 years old) I began buying their back catalogue in CD and I bought the Mixed Up double vinyl when it came out but sold it cheaper two weaks later. I was already a demanding fan.In 1992 Wish was the first album i was looking forward to buy months before it came out. I enjoyed well enough but I was already going into deep gothic rock.I only saw them twice - In their second time in Portugal (July the 5th 1995) and on their last (March the 8th 2008)The first time they came to Portugal I was too young and too unaware... and I never saw them abroad although I was planning on going on the 2000 Dream Tour into Spain but my friends cancelled the trip on the 25th hour...

Nowadays I still worship the old days and Robert means a lot to me. I acknoledge the doors they opened in my head soundwise but their new music does not mean that much to me. (I barely hear their self titled 2004 album). But I'm still following their news, counting the days before a new release and expecting something great... which never happens and I always feel let down.I'm now living with my 14 years long girlfriend which was also an early Cure fan (she was 11 on 1987 when she devoured the Kiss Me album). But she then turned more into a predominent Siouxsie And The Banshees side in 1988... although being an huge fan and follower of The Cure until 1992 (relationship regained in 2000 but lost again until she finally saw them live 2 months ago...) I began a blog titled The Cure - Forever Project in which I plan to post all (?) the different version of their live improv song (Forever).

(From: Luis Oliveira, age 34, Portugal)

Good Times Bad Times

It was 1989 and I was in 6th grade (10 years old) living in Guadalajara Mexico. The song Lovesong was being played on the radio a lot so there is no way you could have missed them during that time. I loved that song so a friend of mine let me borrow the album (Disintegration). I immediately fell in love with the entire album. I would fall asleep playing the album, lights off, stereo next to my bed, beautiful music. My friends and I then started finding out more about them, I bought the Kiss Me album after that and then Starting at the sea. I remember watching The Cure specials on TV where they showed their videos. They were just big when Disintegration came out. I became a BIG fan of the cure during that time. When Wish came out it made my passion for them even stronger. I had all their albums at that point.

Then something happened to them during the Wild Mood Swings era. I wasn't really excited about it and I didn't even bought the album. I still loved them for everything else they had done before but their new songs weren't that great for my taste. I can say that I was a little dissapointed. By the time the The Cure album came out I had forgotten a little about them but that album sounded more like The Cure and it felt like they were back. I liked it a lot and reinforced my passion for them. To finish up, I want to say that I have loved The Cure from the moment they came into my life, during the good times, and the bad times, so for this reason, I consider myself a BIG fan, because no matter what, I'm still here, anxious to hear new songs and see them live.

(From: Ernesto, Houston TX, USA)

"The magical world of The Cure"

I properly got into the Cure around the 1990-1991 period when Mixed Up was released. I would've been about 13 years old and still at school. I was already aware of them from their famous hits like The Love Cats and more recently Lullaby (I knew that Lullaby was a striking song when it was released but the video scared me a little when it came out!). I also had a vague recollection of seeing The Cure's legendary Close To Me video on Top of the Pops when I was a kid and it had stuck in my mind. So even though I had not yet taken the plunge and bought any of their records, it was clear, looking back, that they had made an impression on me.

I think it was inevitable that I was going to get into them eventually and it happened to be when Mixed Up came out as they were getting a lot of exposure at the time on the music programmes I was watching. I had MTV then and two of The Cure's videos from that album, Close To Me (Closer Mix) and Never Enough were being shown regularly. I loved both songs and the accompanying videos, so my sister bought me the album for Christmas. I played it pretty much every day for a long period and it was from this that I became aware of some other classic Cure songs (albeit it radically different to the original versions, as I was later to discover). It was after hearing this album that I started to love Lullaby and also tracks like Pictures of You and The Caterpillar. Around this time my dad also bought me The Cure Picture Show video as a present which exposed me to other wondrous songs like Catch and Just Like Heaven. Hearing these songs and watching all the clips on this video really enthralled me and opened me up even further into the magical world of the Cure.

I found Robert Smith very endearing and funny and I started to copy his mannerisms and turns of phrase. When I got the Cure Play Out video a bit later it re-affirmed what a hilarious and likeable bunch of blokes the Cure of that period were. There was no turning back, I was a bona fide Curehead from here on in. But Mixed Up and the compilation videos were simply a taster (and at times a misleading one). I had no idea then what a vast, exciting and varied catalogue I was about to dive into. My record collection around 1990-1991 was relatively small and football was my main passion. The Cure though were the first band that I wanted to get look into and they had released so much, so profically that I was almost drooling at the mouth thinking about all the songs that I was yet to hear. I wanted more. They were the first band that made me realise that I loved/love music above anything else.

The first "proper" album I bought was Kiss Me... (because it had the most songs on it and also included two of my favourites in Catch and Just Like Heaven). At first, I found it quite hard going because many of the songs were not as accessible as the more mainstream Mixed Up. But I persevered and soon loved all the miriad styles it contained. It was so rich and exciting and created a exotic world that I could get lost in that was so far removed from the mundane and everyday. Robert's lyrics were also very dreamy and distinctive and struck a cord my imagination and what it was possible to write about.

Next I purchased Disintegration and was immediately gripped by its epic melancholy and beauty. Plainsong became my new favourite.After that I bought each of the albums in The Cure's back catalogue one by one. Listening to each one for the first time engendered a quite specific feeling or memory in me that was unique for each album. Each one was special in its own way and I still get the same feelings and memories when I listen to any of these records now.

Wish was the first LP that came out after I became a fan and so holds particular affection for me. I rushed out to the shop to buy it on the day it was released and I wasn't disappointed.The Cure has remained a big part of my life. I've seen them live several times, have bought everything they've released, and read everything about band and their history (ex band members etc). While I love many, many other diverse bands (my record collection contains 600+ albums), The Cure has always been there and is my undoubted favourite. In all honesty, the magic that I felt the day Wish came out or when I heard Catch or Plainsong for the first time has never really been fully recaptured in recent years. I've like large elements of all of The Cure's subsequent albums (from Wild Mood Swings onwards) but none of them have quite lived up to my hopes or experience listening to the earlier stuff. They have contained a few too many duff tracks, songs that sound like parodies of themselves and and also the occasional terrible lyrics. But while I have often questioned whether my love affair with The Cure has reached an end, the excitement re-ignites with the anticipation of each new album. And it's still there now as I wait for the new record to come out (hopefully) this year. I'm optimistic that with Porl Thompson back in the frame, I will at last have another Cure album up there with their very best.

(From: Matthew Beavis, Nottingham, England)

I wish they played England more often

The seeds of my love for the Cure were sewn by a good friend, at the time a schoolfriend, called Alex. We were starting up our own 'band' - I say band but in actuality we spent hours of free studio time noodling with synths and guitar, but i digress. We each made a mix tape aiming to show off our influences and the direction we wanted to head in. His was by far the more interesting.

90% of the tunes contained within the tape have gone on to become favourates of mine and included we The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea, Friday I'm In Love, Open and End. It did, admittedly, take me a while to 'get' fat Bob and co. Alex played me a clip of Where The Birds Always Sing from Bloodflowers two days later and I made him yank it right off. Initially I veered towards the more miserable stuff but soon warmed to the charms of Catepillar etc. To this day Wish is still the first Cure cd I reach for but Pornography, The Head... and Faith aren't far behind. I still don't get Disintegration I think it's well overrated.

As for my attitude towards the band today.... I think they've done well to keep their integrity, peers like Echo & The Bunnymen, U2 etc need to take a long dark night of the soul. On the whole however their output has been pretty dire of late. Us & Them is unforgiveable. terrible mess of a song. Alt.End/In Your House is a bit wank but The End Of The World sits happily in my all time top 10 Cure songs. I wish they played England more often and when they do, actually let people outside the fanatics know.

(From: Jonathan Russell, England)

"This band spoke to me"

In 1988, a junior in High School, I was listening to some pretty terrible music. I lived in a small town about an hour outside of Las Vegas, with no record stores or radio stations, so Vegas was the only destination. I would listen to KLUC, a pop/top 40 station, enjoying whatever in the world was in the top 40 then. I don't care to remember- the only acts that really come to mind are Taylor Dayne and The Cover Girls. You get the idea.

I had a friend who was into "weird music." He's the first person I ever reached a different consciousness with, if you understand my meaning. We were out hanging around and messing about, and he gave me a couple cassette tapes to listen to. One was A Momentary Lapse Of Reason by Pink Floyd. The other was The Head On The Door by some band called The Cure. I never listened to Top 40 again. I'd heard the song Just Like Heaven on the radio from time to time and enjoyed it but never really thought anything of the group. I absolutely devoured The Head On The Door, especially Push, and this prompted me to explore their back catalog. I got into all the older albums, and it's like something just clicked: THIS was the band I was supposed to be listening to. This band spoke to me. Their lyrics explained my day to day life. I could believe there was something beyond the borders of this horrible little town I lived in. I could dream again.

Naturally, when 1989 rolled around, I got Disintegration on the day it came out and was lost. It was, honestly, the only thing I would listen to. My friends got tired of me talking about it. I became the absolutely biggest cure fan there was. And it's not like I dressed like Robert per se, with makeup and big hair. I was a pretty normal kid, wearing t-shirts and jeans. I did, of course, adopt Robert's look of baggy sweaters and high tops. I thought this was the coolest thing ever. I dressed like that until I was 25. Wish came around and things just continued. This tour was the first time I saw them live, at the Rose Bowl in 1992. I was blown away. I didn't think things could get any better than that. In some ways I was right, and in other ways I was very wrong. When Porl and Boris both left the group, I was crushed. Who was this Jason Cooper character? Why is Roger in the band again? Would Burn be the last great song?

Wild Mood Swings came out in 1996, and though I was into the album immediately, over time I started to think, "Hmmmm...this album is ok. There are some good songs, but wow, there are some terrible ones too. And the drumming's off, and..."But then the Swing Tour hit. The first time I'd seen them more than once, in multiple cities. The best night of my life (up to that point, at least) was in August of 1996 at the Irvine Meadows Ampitheatre. I'd driven out from Vegas with my friend Jennifer, and by some weird freak occurrence, we happened to meet a guy named Stymie who knew Daryl Bamonte. One call and we were on some sort of guest list, and after the show (an amazing show that ended with Faith) we strolled backstage and hung out with THE CURE!!! WOW!!! I talked with Simon for half an hour (coolest guy ever), spoke with Robert about music and laundry (private joke) and was basically in a dream world for two hours. What a night!Of course, time passes, people get older, tastes change. I met my wife in 1997 who immediately asked me, after coming to my apartment, "When are you going to take down these gloomy old Cure posters?"

The band went on hiatus, I discovered other music, and when Bloodflowers rolled around, I didn't even know it was coming out until I saw it at Tower Records. I of course bought it right away, and immediately knew something was wrong. Why was Robert's voice mixed so high? What happened to the lyrics? I saw them on that tour here in Los Angeles, but it was pretty forgettable. They didn't even play Pictures Of You. Right about that time, I discovered A Chain Of Flowers website and started keeping up to date on daily news, etc. Time passed again, and suddenly it was late 2003 and, apparently, the Cure were going to produce an album with...Ross Robinson? And then launch a festival-style tour? What was this?The less said about the 2004, self-titled album the better, as far as I'm concerned. Although there are some good ideas floating around and some decent pieces of music, it is, without a doubt, one of the absolutely worst produced, recorded and mixed albums I have ever heard. Wrong in every single way. I didn't bother seeing them at the Curiosa thing. What was the point?

Now, it's 2008. I've gotten all the re-issues (of course), and I've hunted down and downloaded all the unreleased stuff I could possibly find. I've read the forums on COF and waited patiently and impatiently along with everyone else for any and all news on the new album. I've listened to, and for the most part disliked, the live new songs that were released on Youtube. And I've pretty much lowered my expectations about as far as they can go. Is it because I'm older, and I've changed? Is it because Robert it still writing to some imaginary fan that he thinks only wants a particular type of thing? Is it because he's just lost it? Or is it a combination of all of those? I'm not sure, but I'm not really excited about whatever's going to come out. But I'm going to be at the record store buying it the day it comes out, because that's the kind of fan I am. I'm going to get whatever singles they release. I'm seeing them on May 31 at the Hollywood Bowl, and if I can get tickets to the Shrine, I will. But I won't buy any t-shirts or posters. I need money to eat!

(from: Scott Otto, Las Vegas, US)