Album Review no.7: Head On the Door - The Cure
I've always found The Cure to be a very interesting band, as they can switch between happy pop songs and extremely dark, slightly disturbing ones at the drop of a hat. One of the albums that I feel reflects this the best s the Head On the Door album, for its creepy atmosphere in many songs while also having a few that are fun and upbeat.Inbetween Days:
The album kicks off with a catchy, fun song. This is one of the better songs on the album, as all of the instrumental work is of a high quality, especially the keyboard, which has a really good melody that the chorus follows.
10/10
Kyoto Song:
After the amazing opener, we get what I consider to be the second best song by this band. I love the extremely dark atmosphere that this song holds for its entirety. The lyrics also add the feeling of unease as Robert Smith sings about dreaming about his wife drowning and him eating someone. The keyboard in this song is also absolutely perfect.
10/10
The Blood:
This is a fairly fun song that focuses much more on the instrumentals rather than the general feeling, unlike the previous 2 songs. I find the riff to be decent and the solo to be quite good as well. Overall, I find this to be a bit weaker than the previous songs, as it just feels slightly boring, especially compared to the previous masterpieces.
8/10
Six Different Ways:
This song is quite strange. A lot of it feels like people having access to a wide variety of instruments and choosing to attempt to incorporate all of them in the space of 3 minutes. I enjoy the use of the 6/8 time signature as well, it adds another layer of quirkiness to a song that I already consider quite fun and quirky.
10/10
Push:
The main draw of this song for me is the bass. This is the first song on the album where I can truly appreciate the bass, and as I have said in the past, the bass is an instrument that I don't notice much, but when I do, it's a definite standout. I find it a slight shame that the song itself feels quite generic and dull, the vocal work is especially boring as it is sparse and not very unique when it does appear.
7/10
The Baby Screams:
Once again, the bassline is absolutely amazing, but the difference is that the rest of the song is just as good this time. The vocals are quite energetic, which is another reason that I didn't appreciate Push in the vocal department. As well as having a lot of energy Robert Smith does a good job at hitting the notes.
10/10
Close To Me:
Many of my favourite Cure songs are the ones where Robert Smith almost whispers many of the lyrics. I find the feeling of the song to be enhanced when this occurs. As well as this, the 4 notes that constantly repeat through the song are one of the most memorable parts of the album, as it adds an upbeat nature to a song that is quite off putting in a fair few ways, which is quite reflective of the meaning of the song, which is about anxiety right before a big event.
10/10
A Night Like This:
The instruments in this song sound more muddy and washed out than on the rest of the album. Despite that, the song suits it quite well. Overall, this is probably the saddest song found in the album, with the melancholy chorus combined with the sound of a saxophone. There is a lot of emotion in this one.
10/10
Screw:
I'm not particularly keen on the opening section of the song, I find the electric guitar to be quite irritating, as when it plays, everything else is almost entirely silent. I find everything in the song to be slightly off in general though. This is easily the weakest on the album, but it still isn't bad by any means, as it is quite energetic.
6/10
Sinking:
The end of this album is a beautiful one. Everything is very restrained, which is good, especially compared to the previous song, which was very fast paced. I find it to be the perfect song to close the album with. Every component of the song comes together and plays perfectly.
10/10
Final Thoughts:
Overall, I find this album to be extremely good and consistent, with only 2 songs to be noticeably weaker than everything else. I love how the album can contain both upbeat, joyful pop songs like Six Different Ways and Inbetween Days, while also have dark and sad songs like Kyoto Song and A Night Like This. The greatest thing about it is how it can pull off both kinds of song extremely well.
7*10 + 8 + 7 + 6 = 91/100