The Cure for what ails you

SteveK reviews 4:13 Dream, by The Cure

Thirteen is probably not the luckiest number for Robert Smith and the Cure. ‘4:13 Dream’ is their thirteenth album, and it has been a troubled project. Thirty three songs were recorded for this record, which was originally to be a double CD. But Smith wasn’t happy with the project and took it back to the drawing board, time and time again. ‘4:13 Dream’ was originally scheduled for release in mid September, but Smith, perfectionist that he is, again postponed the project to tweak it, once more.

The Cure have been around for thirty-two years. They were pioneers in the Genus of music that gave us the genres and subgenres of New Wave, Alternative, Goth, and Emo. Robert Smith’s distinct vocal style and personal image has been imitated time and again, right up to the current crop of guyliner-sporting, black nail polished emotional rock boys. No one has ever come close to creating the same kind of presence or craft music as distinctive as the Cure’s. A few notes is all it takes to instantly recognize a song by this band. A single word, a holler, a shout, and you recognize Robert Smith’s voice. Their music is a yin-yang balance of dark and light, and their songs reflect this bipolar nature, alternating between the two extremes from one track to the next.

The songs of ‘4:13 Dream’ are decidedly more manic than depressive, upbeat and joyful. In typical fashion, the music and vocals have the kind of grim exuberance that typifies their “happier” music. As he sings it is as if Smith is investing himself so deeply into the joy of the songs because he knows how hard the times ahead are going to be. Smith promises that the darker material cut from ‘4:13 Dream’ will likely see the light of day on their next record, a companion piece tentatively scheduled for release in April of 2009. However, given the multiple delays that plagued this latest release, owing in no small part to Smith’s almost obsessive perfectionism, April 2009 is a very tentative date, indeed.

Getting to the tracks of ‘4:13 Dream’, they are vintage Cure. This may have to do with the fact that some of the songs, such as “Sleep When I’m Dead” and “The Perfect Boy”, were originally written for previous releases-‘The Head on the Door’ in the case of the former, ‘The Cure’ in the case of the latter.

The other songs are, for the most part, just as good: the album opens with “Underneath the Stars”, my favourite song on the album. It has the Cure’s distinctive, painstakingly multilayered sound, a masterfully long instrumental intro before Smith utters a single syllable, and dreamlike, emotive lyrics sung with the sort of elegance that only Robert Smith is capable of delivering with his mournful falsetto.

As I said, most of the album is by and large outstanding. However, the tracks “Freakshow” and “Sleep When I’m Dead” just don’t quite seem to fit with the rest of this marvellous disc. This is especially confounding given the number of times the album as a whole was taken back to the drawing board by frontman Robert Smith. Those two tracks in particular just seem like the sort of final additions of an artist who has grown frustrated while trying to attain perfection.

As a whole, ‘4:13 Dream’ is a perfect example of The Cure at their best, and despite its flaws and the incessant delays prior to its final release, it remains a worthwhile addition to the library of even the most casual listener.

The Cure: 4:13 Dream
Geffen
Steve’s Rating: 8/10

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