The 11 Best Cure Songs (Part One)

Let's be honest...if I were to do a true "best of" list for the Cure it would look something like this...

1. Disintegration (Disintegration)

2. Lovesong (Disintegration)

3. Prayers For Rain (Disintegration)

4. Same Deep Water As You (Disintegration)

5. Homesick (Disintegration)

6. Pictures of You (Disintegration)

7. Last Dance (Disintegration)

8. Plainsong (Disintegration)

9. Fascination Street (Disintegration)

10. Closedown (Disintegration)

11. Lullaby (Disintegration)

...so, the only fair way to do this was to split the Cure's career up into two categories...the Best Cure songs pre-Disintegration...and the Best Cure songs post-Disintegration...

Each era represents a sharply different sound for the band...the early material harkens back to a darker gothic style born out of the post-punk of London's underground...while the later material finds the band perfecting their pop sensibilities. This isn't to say that one is better than the other...but that they are just vastly different and each deserve their own list.

In the 70s, the Cure set off on their own path by layering their own music with emotional mood rather than the typical raw angry emotion of the waning punk scene. If you listen closely to Smith's vocals in the early days, you can hear the perpetual punk pang honed by Johnny Rotten, which sounds more like he was shouting orders rather than the crooning of their predecessors. In these days, even though he emulated some of his punk commrades, it was Smith's rich textured voice that set him apart...it was the emotion tank that was deep in the back of his voice that would eventually carry his music through 4 decades...spanning a longer musical career than any of his peers.

Though the Cure is best thought of for their dark brooding material, in all honesty, it's their more lively energetic songs (Primary, 10:15, How Beautiful), where the band truly excels.

Like the Travis disc...the Cure's new album has also been pushed a couple of weeks...so the second part of this list will surface around that time.

Here are the 11 Best Cure Songs (pre-Disintegration)

1. A Night Like This (Head on the Door)
2. A Forest (Seventeen Seconds)
3. 10:15 Saturday Night (Boys Don't Cry)
4. How Beautiful You Are (Kiss Me)
5. Primary (Faith)
6. Like Cockatoos (Kiss Me)
7. Kyoto Song (Head on the Door)
8. Siamese Twins (Pornography)
9. Charlotte Sometimes (Charlotte Sometimes)
10. Killing an Arab (Boys Don't Cry)
11. Just Like Heaven (Kiss Me)

Pre-Order the Cure's new album...4:13 Dream to be released on October 28th.