Singles Reviews

Lullaby

A luxurious,blood-red cocoon of a single.More songs about spidermen,
cannibalism and carnal delight.Chiming,tingling guitar envelops us as
plucked strings and scraping bows usher in Robert's gorgeous voice.
Downright nefarious,"Lullaby" hints at more forbidden fruits in one
murmur than Bonney or Bono could achieve in a lifetime of exposition.
Corpulent as f*** (sorry!),my heart hasn't stopped twitching yet.Use your
imagination.

B.E.:At the first play of 'Lullaby' Guy's suspicion visibly withers.It's a TERRIFIC single.Sexy,scary,fascinating,murky and just casual enough to enjoy it's own sense of ridiculousness.Is Guy a Love-Cat?

Guy:"When they first started they were my favourite group.I've always liked the idea of them.And listening to 'Lullaby' is brilliant.They haven't let it all go..."

B.E.:Smith always expresses the fun and anxiety of sex so beautifully.

Guy:"Yes...and the strings are exquisite.Just beautiful.Utterly beautiful.Success has affected their music in the best possible way..."

THE CURE Lullaby (Fiction) I think I prefer Cure songs that have a bit more bite like Love Cats. This one is pretty good too, though. I find it odd that although it's a bit slow I don't find it boring. Maybe I'm getting old!

(3 out of 5 stars)

Smash Hits (Australia) review by Tania Lacy (Australian TV personality)

THE CURE: Lullaby (WEA) This is not exactly pumpin', grindin' rock and roll. It's like those records you listen to and you think, "Yuk... I think I'll melt this and make it into a cup!" No, I shouldn't be so harsh. A lullaby, eh? Well, it's a sweet song, I guess, and more mainstream than they have been in the past. But it doesn't jump off the vinyl and hit me where it counts. Their lead singer's a really weird guy, I hear.

Again.whenever I hear Robert Smith's mournful cry and the oddly resonant,plucked strings which seem to accompany it wherever it goes, I find myself entranced,caught in a gentle spell which, no matter how hard I shake myself,will never entirely let me free.He leaves me yearning,yearning--sorrowing,sorrowing.What can I say? "Lovesong"
is another (im)perfect slice of Cure melancholia--a love song,no less--as disturbing as the last.

BE: Oh dear. The Adrian Mole (Blue Period?) sleeve design clearly indicates tha t Smith - beloved eccentric and Britain's largest collector of bad CSE art - has been conned at Sotheby's yet again.

Graham: I actually liked The Cure up until that last album. Everything they did before had that sort of desperate edge I really liked but Disintegration just sounded pompous.

BE: Love Song isn't their best but it can hardly be described as pompous. It's very ethereal and breezy, like an afterthought on one of Kate Bush's very private shopping lists.

G: It's just dull. A plod. A plod to the shops and back.

THE CURE Lovesong (Fiction/WEA) Beautiful. A nice stretch that recalls the plangent lines of classic Cure (early daze) and wraps them in bittersweet tendrils that are both disarming and haunting. So simple. So massive. Bonus mood pieces grace the flip: Lace (sic) swirls through a pleasantly fractured course and Fear of Ghosts drifts in a mist.

Barbara:What has happened here is that The Cure have hacked a perfectly healthy limb off the underated,passionately nostalgic 'Disintegration' album,then run off giggling to take afternoon tea with insects,expecting 'Pictures of You' to cope on it's own.Sooner or later,with their nostrils delicately averted,our sobbing chums will be made to wheel it to the Knackers Yard.

Bobby:Like you said,Robert Smith has taste and that's a tasteless record.It's a typical album track.What the fuck is it doing out as a single?

Andrew:The Cure are like New Order.Good for a fantastic single every 18 months and in between you get shite like this.