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Boys Don't Cry

The Cure - Boys Don't Cry Audio CD

A fair review of the The Cure "Boys Don't Cry" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Cure reviews here, or go back to the The Cure tabs.

Band: The Cure
Title: Boys Don't Cry
Rating:

Release Date: 1990-10-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Boys Don't Cry 2: Plastic Passion 3: 10:15 Saturday Night 4: Accuracy 5: So What 6: Jumping Someone Else's Train 7: Subway Song 8: Killing an Arab 9: Fire in Cairo 10: Another Day 11: Grinding Halt 12: Three Imaginary Boys

Great debut for a super band
The music is accessible, yet quite sparse. Today, this collection of short songs, though undeniably intelligent, sounds relatively poppy to my ears. However, thirty years ago, when I first listened to the vinyl, this record was considered cutting edge. It's funny how the passage of time alters one's perspective. I have the MC5 LP containing the famous Kick out the Jams. Back in 1969 it sounded daring and rough. Now it sounds simply like good old rock and roll. Now, please don't misunderstand me, in no way is my observation on either of these records a negative criticism. I still really like both; I just view them from a very different perspective than when they were released.

Time has been kind to the early Cure. I find much of the music that was popular in 1979, if not unlistenable, then at least less than I thought at the time. Toto, REO Speedwagon, Firefall and Little River Band made perfectly serviceable music. But do I play those records today? Occasionally, perhaps, but more as an exercise in nostalgia than for any other reason. Would I take on the job of playing myself through their discographies (as I am with the Cure)? No way - too painful!

Boys Don't Cry contains one great song after another. In particular I enjoy Boys Don't Cry, Plastic Passion, Jumping Someone Else's Train, Killing an Arab, Fire in Cairo, Grinding Halt and Another Day. This last song, both musically and lyrically, portends where the band would be going in the years to come.
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One of the most under-rated rock albums of all time
Instead of moody, atmospheric pop that became the band's staple, this album was classic "two-guitars-and-a-drum-kit" rock, stripped down, with few frills. This was the American equivalent of the British release Three Imaginary Boys and featured a totally different Cure than most of the band's audience came to know and love. The album also contained a song almost universally condemned by the media: "Killing An Arab". According to the band's leader, Robert Smith, the song was actually an ode to the book The Stranger. The controversy over "Killing An Arab" amounted to nothing, and this underrated album remains largely forgotten.

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Only glimmers of the greatness to come
But for us Yanks, this is the album that introduced Robert Smith and company. This is not technically the band's debut: that came in the British release of THREE IMAGINARY BOYS (which has a slightly different track lineup). The multi-layered wash of guitar and keyboard is nowhere in evidence on this one, though. [Think stripped back angular post-punk new wave rock. ]

There's plenty of experimentation here. . some of it works (the shattering scream that ends the claustrophobic stalker tune "Subway Song". . just as you think the intended victim has safely escaped) some doesn't (the scattershot use of phrases from advertisements in "So What").

HIGHLIGHTS:
The title track is the closest you get to the sound the Cure would evolve into. Shimmering guitars collide with Smith's admission that this time he's hurt his girl too much and it's finally over for good. ("I try to laugh about it/Hiding the tears in my eyes") "10:15 Saturday Night" is the aftermath of that loss. . Smith waiting for the phone call that will never come ("And I'm sitting/In the kitchen sink/And the tap drips/Drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip") Anti-conformity anthem "Jumping Someone Else's Train" sparkles ("The old ideal/Was getting such a bore/Now you're back in line/Going not quite quite as far. . ") "Killing an Arab" paints the detachment of the act itself ("I feel the steel b-u-t-t jump/Smooth in my hand. . ") and the realization of what he's done ("Staring at myself/Reflected in the eyes/Of the dead man on the beach")

LOWS:
The lyrical pastiche that comprises most of "So What" is NOT "brilliant". . it's simply oddball. I guess Robert's going for a sense that the world is nothing but noise without the woman he's lost ("Forget all the lies forgive me the wounds/And all the world was used to love/And yes we'd still be happy in another time/But so what?") but it's a theme he approached in "10:15 Saturday Night" in a much more memorable fashion. "Another Day" is plodding and dull. Surely there's another way to evoke boredom than with boring music?

BOTTOM LINE:
If the words "raw" or "stripped-back" in a music review raise a contented sigh in you, this will probably be up your alley. If it's the lusher productions of latter-day Cure (a la "Lovesong" or "Pictures of You") that do it for you, this may not hit the spot.

EDIT:
The lyric from "Killing an Arab" is spelled that way because an Amazon auto-censor keeps removing it but the lyric doesn't make sense without that word. Smith's referring to the b-u-t-t end of the gun. Amazon had been rendering it "I feel the steel. . smooth in my hand" which might not convey the emotion properly.

Underrated Punk
Every track can be liked the first time you listen Boys Dont Cry. This album is consistent from begining to end. Most ardent punk fans inundate themselves with crashing wave of Sex Pistols, Ramones, New York Dolls, and possibly MC5. However, this album amalgamates raw punk with an ethereal quilaity thats present throughout the whole album. Get this album today. .

THIS IS ACTUALLY 1000 STARS!
THE GUY WHO WROTE THE REVIEW ENTITLED "WHAT FUTURE LEGENDS ARE MADE OF. . " IS SO RIGHT! THE CURE HAS RELEASED LIKE 13 ALBUMS BUT, BELIEVE ME, THIS IS THEIR BEST ONE! THE MUSIC IS QUITE PLAYFUL AND THEN IT COMES TO MORE SERIOUS MUSIC ("ANOTHER DAY," "THREE IMAGINERY BOYS") BUT I THINK THE PLAYFUL MUSIC IS THE BEST. I LOVE "FIRE IN CAIRO," "BOYS DON'T CRY," AND "SUBWAY SONG" (THAT ONE IS REALLY FUN IS A HALLOWEEN SORTA WAY), ALTHOUGH I WISH THAT THEY KEPT SELLING THE COPY WITH "WORLD WAR" ON IT. "WORLD WAR" IS EXCELLENT (I HEARD IT ON "THREE IMAGINERY BOYS (DELUXE EDITION). ") THIS IS NOT ACTUALLY THEIR DEBUT, IT ACTUALLY COLLECTS THE LAST THREE SINGLES THAT THEY DID THAT WEREN'T INCLUDED ON 1979'S "THREE IMAGINERY BOYS," WHICH WERE "BOYS DON'T CRY," "JUMPING SOMEONE ELSE'S TRAIN," AND THE EXCELLENT SONG WITH AN UNPLEASANT TITLE BUT ITS ACTUALLY BASED ON THE NOVEL "THE STRANGER," "KILLING AN ARAB. " THERE IS ALSO THE BEST SONGS FROM "THREE IMAGINERY BOYS," PLUS A REALLY COOL B-SIDE CALLED "PLASTIC PASSION" FROM THE "BOYS DON'T CRY" SINGLE. GET THIS NOW IF YOU'RE A FAN!!! I AM A 12-YEAR-OLD AND HAVE BEEN A FAN SINCE SEEING THEIR "END OF THE WORLD" MUSIC VIDEO. ANYWAYS, ENJOY THIS ALBUM.

You can see a complete list of all The Cure discography, or go back to the The Cure tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.