Match-Cut Band Consensus - The Cure

[D_Davis]

Been trying to listen to an album a day. I'm finding that I really like the music, but I'm not crazy about Smith's vocals.

He's got one of those Dylanesque voices. It might grow on you, but chances are you'll either love it or hate it. It's unique, and that's one of the reasons I love it. He also balances theatrics and sincerity perfectly.

[Spinal]

He's got one of those Dylanesque voices. It might grow on you, but chances are you'll either love it or hate it. It's unique, and that's one of the reasons I love it. He also balances theatrics and sincerity perfectly.

It's challenging because Smith is so tied in my mind to a particular cultural movement from my youth that I meet with instant suspicion. This is what I like about these threads. They force me to try to work around my biases and just respond directly to the music. Head on the Door really helped me to start to see their appeal. There's some really fun sounds they're working with there.

[dreamdead]

The Head on the Door - 7 (a little too schizo on tone for me, though I suspect that's why others like it)
Disintegration - 10

Will get to Pornography as well before this is done and update.

Disintegration has one of the single best bass tones in all of rock music. So shimmery, so liquid-y. Few things have brought as much joy as hearing Isis replicate that sound on their final album.

[D_Davis]

It's challenging because Smith is so tied in my mind to a particular cultural movement from my youth that I meet with instant suspicion. This is what I like about these threads. They force me to try to work around my biases and just respond directly to the music. Head on the Door really helped me to start to see their appeal. There's some really fun sounds they're working with there.

I was full-on into that culture. My first crushes as a youngster were on older girls wearing Cure T-shirts.

Luckily, The Cure's music stands apart from the goth culture, and has survived that particular fashion trend in a way that most of the other associate bands has not.

Head on the Door is a tremendous album. A few musician friends and I always bring it up while discussing the possibilities of a perfect album.

[Thirdmango]

They force me to try to work around my biases and just respond directly to the music.

Agreed completely with this. I doubt I ever would have listened to any of U2's albums had we not done the consensus. And The Cure is so much different then I expected considering I only knew their radio hits.

[D_Davis]

So far there are only like 3 albums that have enough votes to count.

I have a feeling we might run into this problem with a lot of bands on this project.

[Spinal]

I'm saving my vote until the end of the week. Although I've probably so far listened to the most popular albums.

[transmogrifier]

So far there are only like 3 albums that have enough votes to count.

I have a feeling we might run into this problem with a lot of bands on this project.

For me, rating albums is so much harder than movies, which are basically one and done. A lot of my favorite albums did not start out as favorites first listen, but grew into it over time.

Add to that the fact that music genres are a lot more polarizing and differentiated than movie genres (I'll watch romantic comedies, but couldn't care less about getting into country, R&B or house, for example) and the fact that a particular musical artist's sound/style is usually cohesive across multiple releases, so that a negative reaction to one aspect of that sound/style basically means that it is highly unlikely that you can appreciate the relative qualities of those releases.....well, you'll get a very spotty return for many artists in an undertaking like this. Still interesting though.

I didn't bother with U2 because I don't feel like the energy spent on trying to appreciate particular albums is worth it considering I have such a strong general distaste for their overall music. The Cure, on the other hand, is a band I could see myself being interested in, but I wouldn't have much to say in just a week, having not listened to any of their albums in full except Pornography and Disintegration.

Or maybe I'm just lazy

[Thirdmango]

For me, rating albums is so much harder than movies, which are basically one and done. A lot of my favorite albums did not start out as favorites first listen, but grew into it over time.

I do agree that a lot of albums get better with time, but I've gotten to a point where I really understand my own styles and what I'm willing to give chances to and such that with one listen through I'm pretty well able to give it a rating that will be close to my same rating a couple years down the line. But then I listen to music probably around 10x more then my time watching movies.

[transmogrifier]

I do agree that a lot of albums get better with time, but I've gotten to a point where I really understand my own styles and what I'm willing to give chances to and such that with one listen through I'm pretty well able to give it a rating that will be close to my same rating a couple years down the line. But then I listen to music probably around 10x more then my time watching movies.

Oh, I spend so much more time listening to music as well. But I have so much music that I may listen to a album for the first time one day (like The Misfits, Static Age today) and think oh that was pretty good, and then not listen to it again for a couple of months as I cycle through other stuff.