Thursday, December 08, 2011

The 111 Best Songs By the Cure




Since I did this about a year and a half ago...I figured I would just re-post instead of re-thinking something new.  I have been listening to the Cure's Bestival album.  It's their new live album with an insanely good track list   Musically it sounds solid and Smith's voice sound stellar...although I'm sure it's just pro-tools track at this point (I'm trying not to think about it too much).  But the most alarming thing about the album isn't the possible lip syncing...but the butchering of one of their most famous tracks.  Killing An Arab has been changed.  It's now called Killing Another.  And it's not just the title...Smith actually sings alternate lyrics!  This is PC gone too far.  First of all, this isn't a racial slur...it's a a reference to a philosophical novel by Albert Camus.  It's recalling the events that occurred in the book.  You can't change the lyrics because the events in the book are still the same.  If he sings about something else...then the song is referring to some other metaphysical book altogether.  Killing another?  What the hell does that mean?  That has no impact.  I know in the political climate that the song could have other implications...but it doesn't.  It has nothing to do with racism toward Arabs.  It's a literal analogy.  Literature is supposed to be challenging.  It's supposed to question pre-disposed views.  You can't question anything if your remove the question mark.  I'm disappointed in the Cure for this one.  I know you're trying to be politically correct...but you're better off not singing the song than altering it into some vanilla version.  Hey...31 out of 32 songs ain't bad.

Here are the 111 Best Cure Songs:

  1. Lovesong (Disintegration)
  2. Disintegration (Disintegration)
  3. Just Like Heaven (Kiss Me)
  4. A Night Like This (Head on the Door)
  5. A Forest (Seventeen Seconds)
  6. Pictures of You (Disintegration)
  7. Primary (Faith)
  8. Like Cockatoos (Kiss Me)
  9. Homesick (Disintegration)
  10. 10:15 Saturday Night (Three Imaginery Boys)
  11. Kyoto Song (Head on the Door)
  12. How Beautiful You Are (Kiss Me)
  13. The Figurehead (Pornography)
  14. In Your House (Seventeen Seconds)
  15. Cut (Wish)
  16. Last Dance (Disintegration)
  17. Push (Head on the Door)
  18. Same Deep Water As You (Disintegration) 
  19. Jumping Someone Else's Train (Boys Don't Cry)
  20. Prayers For Rain (Disintegration)
  21. Trust (Wish)
  22. Harold and Joe (Never Enough B-Side)
  23. Charlotte Sometimes (Single)
  24. From The Edge Of A Deep Green Sea (Wish)
  25. Close To Me (Head on the Door)
  26. A Strange Day (Pornography)
  27. A Short Term Effect (Pornography)
  28. Play For Today (Seventeen Seconds)
  29. Plainsong (Disintegration)
  30. Watching Me Fall (Bloodflowers)
  31. A Chain of Flowers (Kiss Me B-Side)
  32. Closedown (Disintegration)
  33. The Walk (Japanese Whispers)
  34. Let's Go To Bed (Japanese Whispers)
  35. All I Want (Kiss Me)
  36. Apart (Wish)
  37. Siamese Twins (Pornography)
  38. Fascination Street (Disintegration)
  39. Babble (Disintegration B-Side)
  40. All Cats Are Grey (Faith)
  41. If Only Tonight We Could Sleep (Kiss Me)
  42. Object (Three Imaginery Boys)
  43. Plastic Passion (Boys Don't Cry)
  44. Bloodflowers (Bloodflowers)
  45. Scared As You (Wish B-side)
  46. One Hundred Years (Pornography)
  47. Doing the Unstuck (Wish)
  48. Numb (Wild Mood Swings)
  49. Killing An Arab (Boys Don't Cry) 
  50. 39 (Bloodflowers)
  51. Anniversary (The Cure)
  52. Lullaby (Disintegration)
  53. In Between Dreams (Head on the Door)
  54. The Hanging Garden (Pornography)
  55. A Japanese Dream (Kiss Me B-Side)
  56. I'm Cold (Three Imaginery Boys B-Side)
  57. Faded Smiles (Three Imaginery Boys Reissue)
  58. Open (Wish)
  59. Want (Wild Mood Swings)
  60. Underneath The Stars (4:13 Dream)
  61. Cold (Pornography)
  62. The Baby Screams (Head on the Door)
  63. Fear of Ghosts (Disintegration B-Side)
  64. A Foolish Arrangement (Wish B-Side)
  65. All Kinds of Stuff (Digital Single)
  66. Doubt (Faith)
  67. Fire in Cairo (Three Imaginery Boys)
  68. Untitled (Disintegration)
  69. It's Not You (Three Imaginery Boys)
  70. The Empty World (The Top)
  71. End (Wish)
  72. Treasure (Wild Mood Swings)
  73. Torture (Kiss Me)
  74. Three Imaginary Boys (Three Imaginery Boys)
  75. It Used To Be Me (Wild Mood Swings B-Side)
  76. Play (Wish B-Side)
  77. Snow In the Summer (Kiss Me B-Side)
  78. Icing Sugar (Kiss Me)
  79. Temptation Two (Pornography reissue)
  80. Birdmad Girl (The Top)
  81. Twilight Garden (Wish B-Side)
  82. This Morning (The Cure B-Side)
  83. Just One Kiss (Let's Go To Be B-Side)
  84. Shiver And Shake (Kiss Me)
  85. One More Time (Kiss Me)
  86. Out of Mind (Disintegration B-Side)
  87. The Exploding Boy (Head on the Door B-Side)
  88. Shake Dog Shake (The Top)
  89. Play With Me (Three Imaginery Boys Reissue)
  90. Burn (The Crow)
  91. The Promise (The Cure)
  92. The Upstairs Room (The Walk B-Side)
  93. Man Inside My Mouth (Head on the Door B-Side)
  94. 2 Late (Disintegration B-Side)
  95. The Big Hand (Wish B-Side)
  96. Fight (Kiss Me)
  97. Ocean (Wild Mood Swings B-Side)
  98. Maybe Someday  (Bloodflowers)
  99. Switch (4:13 Dream)
  100. Taking Off (The Cure)
  101. The Catepillar (The Top)
  102. It's Over (4:13 Dream)
  103. Last Day of Summer (Bloodflowers)
  104. Why Can't I Be You? (Kiss Me)
  105. M (Seventeen Seconds)
  106. Your God Is Fear (The Cure - B-side)
  107. Labyrinth (The Cure)
  108. Six Different Ways (Head on the Door)
  109. Freakshow (4:13 Dream)
  110. Us or Them (The Cure)
  111. Carnage Visors (The Soundtrack)
Buy the Cure's new live album, Bestival now!!

No comments: