Very fine new album from The Cure. After the disappointing releases: "Wild Mood Swings"(1996), "The Cure"(2004) and to some extend "Bloodflowers"(2000), it is a relief to finally hear a great new album from one of my all-time favorite bands.
"4:13 Dream" has a lot of the sound from "Wish"(1992) but with slightly better songs, melodies and music. In fact I think the new album is better than "Wish", which I have never really truly been in love with.
It starts off with the slow dreamy song "Underneath the stars" that sounds like something from "Disintegration"(1989) with a "Wish" production. You can read my thoughts about the 4 singles by following the links, but to sum it up: I'm very bored with "The Only One". "The perfect Boy" is slightly better and I totally love both "Freakshow" and "Sleep When I'm Dead". The album mixes are similar or very close to the single mixes.
Third song "The Reasons Why" is damn melodic and lyrics like "I won't try to bring you down about my suicide" is not so unusual in the universe of Robert Smith. Nothing is so great that you can't find a good reason to be depressed. Next highlight for me is "Switch" that is a fast-paced distorted song with more depressing lyrics "And I'm tired of being alone with myself, And I'm tired of being with anyone else, Yeah I'm tired, Like I'm sick". "This. Here And Now. With You" is a pretty good song as well, but the real gems are the two songs that closes the cd. "The Scream" is kinda claustrophobic while it rocks it's way into your brain with angry guitars and a great desperate voice from Robert. "It's Over" has a fantastic jumping rhythm, loads of distorted guitar and is a very cool way to end a very good album. These two last tracks have an aggressive energy not very far from great older songs like "Shake Dog Shake" or "Shiver And Shake".
"4:13 Dream" is better than "Wish" in my opinion, being a more complete album. It doesn't quite qualify to be a top-class album like "Pornography", "The Head On The Door", "Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me" or "Disintegration". But it is far great enough to show that The Cure is still a band to be reckoned with and they still have it in them. Now we must wait for the next darker album to be released, whenever it happens. To be honest, I almost can't wait. I'm sure many more great Curish things are about to be unleashed.
Rating: 
Band: The Cure
Record Title: 4:13 Dream
This Release: 2008
Record Format: CD
Record Label: Geffen
Content Type: Record Review
Language: 
Updated: 2008-10-29 20:56
Created: 2008-10-29 18:59
