Cure, The: Disintegration (CD)

Arguably their flagship release, The Cure’s Disintegration sold over three million copies and raised the band’s status from cult icons to stadium-filling superstars. Yet this landmark album emerged from a turbulent 12-month period during which frontman Robert Smith battled with depression and fired The Cure’s co-founder, Lol Tolhurst, from the band.

It’s well documented that the Disintegration sessions were sometimes fraught, and that they culminated in keyboardist Lol Tolhurst’s departure from the band due to alcohol-related issues. However, they were also intensely productive. When The Cure eventually re-emerged, they did so with a pivotal album that many long-term fans believe still best defines their work.

Thematically and sonically, Disintegration was primarily a return to the dark, gloomy aesthetic The Cure had explored across their key early 80s titles, Seventeen Seconds, Faith, and Pornography. Robert Smith may not have been suffering from the raging nihilism which drove him in the run-up to the latter, but the depression that descended upon him during 1988 moved him to write songs such as “Prayers For Rain,” “Plainsong,” and “Closedown”: intense, melancholic anthems garnished with icy synths, ponderous guitar figures, and Williams’ tom-heavy drums.

1. Plainsong
2. Pictures Of You
3. Closedown
4. Lovesong
5. Last Dance
6. Lullaby
7. Fascination Street
8. Prayers For Rain
9. The Same Deep Water As You
10. Disintegration
11. Homesick
12. Untitled