The Cure – The Top

I really love this record. I find it to be their most diverse release. So many different styles of music that all work together. This record seems to be greatly overlooked or appreciated. Some real gems on here.

Why do so called fans hate it so? You'd basically have to disregard Lovecats, Let's go To Bed. Lot's of great singles from 82-83 to hate this album so much as it's the SAME SOUND. People calling it rubbish for years and years are hilarious.. Did you buy the 2004 cure album too and everything since wish? I bet you have, shills ;)

Also people need to stop saying siouxsie influenced the sounds the glove this the glove that, touring... He had recorded Let's go to bed, Lovecats and the walk right before.. All tracks that would have fit on the top. So yeah, I think it was more acid and music already put out than siouxsie lol

Hands down without question the worst album The Cure ever made.

I'm starting to notice a pattern with UK Cure vinyl. It can be kind of a crap shoot with inner groove distortion. "Dres" on my copy has some crazy IGD, which is a shame cos it's a great song. I've also had some of the worst sibilance issues I've ever encountered with a UK copy of Japanese Whispers, both on inner grooves. Thing is, I know it's not my turntable/cartridge. I have no issues with any other records I own. It really seems like a Cure UK press thing. I'm gonna look out for German pressings from now on. rarely lets me down with quality control.

The Top has often been referred to as a transitional album filled with forgettable songs, implying that Smith or the Band had finally actually blindly fallen down the stairs. Yet in retrospect, this illusion of an album, one that’s been avoided by most listeners, rests entirely on the shoulders of producer Rob Robinson; though yes, Smith did open the door allowing Robinson to nearly force a round peg into a square hole … and it certainly didn’t work.

Best known for his work with the likes of Slipknot, Korn and Limp Bizkt, Robinson attempted to create a sort of neo-metal, fashioning the Cure with an edgy sound that was not theirs, draping the music with contrived melodrama and an incoherentness of howling heavy guitars, dropping the sonic keyboards that have been a staple of the Cure’s sound, all leaving Smith’s vocal roaming high in the mix, where the record came off as dangerously disingenuous and entirely engineered. Yes, it quickly became obvious that Robinson did not understand the Cure.

One could easily mistake The Top for a Robert Smith solo album, as he played nearly all of the instruments in addition to writing most of the songs. Though it didn’t stop there, Smith also brought in a recorder, violin, harmonica and more to weave a soundscape of hallucinatory particle dreams of the conscious, subconscious and that blurry fretted area where the two meet, creating a world that was out of control, like being in an accident as it’s happening, yet knowing that it’s all happening so fast that there’s no turning back … where all one is capable of is holding on, or perhaps letting go, and hoping for the best.

Yes, there are some wonderful numbers to be found here, the consequential “Shake Dog Shake” and “Caterpillar,” though I’ve begun to wonder just how these numbers would have come to life under a different setting. All of this makes for a record that comes off as scattered, perhaps unfocused, and largely without any continuity of spirit or vision.

Yes, there are those who love this album, though I would suggest that that’s because they’re actually fans of metal music, only stumbling onto the Cure for its momentary reference to that genre here.

Review by Jenell Kesler

Can anyone comment on the change in pitch between the version of "Bananafishbones" on any cd from before the 2006 remasters? The newer version clocks in at around 3:00 vs 3:12, and the difference is in the pitch of the song. I am wondering if anyone out there knows which is the correct pitch? The remaster sounds a little fast to me...

Is there such a thing as a US pressing of this album that has the custom artwork labels AND the custom inner sleeve? It seems like every copy I’ve seen has just one or the other.

Is there a new pressing of this?I bought one today from HMV with the barcode 0602547875549. It doesn't seem to be listed? It has a sticker on the front saying 'Remastered by Robert Smith. 180gram vinyl. Contains a voucher.'