release date: Feb. 14, 2000
format: cd
[album rate: 2,5 / 5]
producer: Robert Smith, Paul Corkett
label: Fiction Records - nationality: England, UK
11th studio album by The Cure was again 4 years under its way, although, the recording sessions took place from 1998-99. For at least this album the band members remain the same as on the previous album. The album is by many seen as a return to a more dark, introvert and gothic rock styled sound that puts it as the last in a trilogy with Pornography (1982) and Disintegration (1989). I do see the common traces of the three albums, but since neither of them ever were among the best of The Cure in my eyes, I can at least agree that it's a return to more introvert and complex compositions without the cheesy pop love songs. To me it's more the sound of a band in lack of direction and new ideas. They turn to the past and put everything on repeat.
[ allmusic.com, Q Magazine 3 / 5, Rolling Stone 2,5 / 5 stars ]
