Head On The Door, The - Cure (The)

...The Cure
Album: The Head On The Door (1985)
Label: Fiction


After The Cure imploded in a violent and depraved mess in late 1982, few would have predicted the pop re-incarnation that 1983 would witness for Robert Smith and Lol Tolhurst. The sublime Lovecats and the summery psychedelic pop madness of The Caterpillar meant that by the time The Cure went into studios in early 1985 nobody knew which direction the band ...
...“The Caterpillar”) and when “The Head On The Door” was released in summer 1985, no one truthfully knew what to expect from the ever changing imaginary boys.

With bassist Simon Gallup back on board and new drum recruit Boris Williams joining, it was a new look Cure - with a more composed and accessible frontman at the helm - that recorded their sixth studio album. Robert Smith’s blueprint for “The Head On The Door” (which he only revealed ... more

LYING ON THE FLOOR OF THE NIGHT BEFORE
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Artist: The Cure
Album: The Head On The Door (1985)
Label: Fiction

After The Cure imploded in a violent and depraved mess in late 1982, few would have predicted the pop re-incarnation that 1983 would witness for Robert Smith and Lol Tolhurst. The sublime Lovecats and the summery psychedelic pop madness of The Caterpillar meant that by the time The Cure went into studios in early 1985 nobody knew which direction the band would head in. 1984’s bizarre album release, “The Top”, caught most people on the hop with its dark intensity (a stark contrast to the album’s single “The Caterpillar”) and when “The Head On The Door” was released in summer 1985, no one truthfully knew what to expect from the ever changing imaginary boys.

With bassist Simon Gallup back on board and new drum recruit Boris Williams joining, it was a new look Cure - with a more composed and accessible frontman at the helm - that recorded their sixth studio album. Robert Smith’s blueprint for “The Head On The Door” (which he only revealed after its release) was to write an album of pop songs with both accessibility and depth. He succeeded in this aim. Lyrically the album is at times peculiar, at times downbeat, however the earnest vocals and emotionally frank lyrics give a nice contrast to the predominantly upbeat musical formula.

“In Between Days” kicks things off with its next-door to New Order sound. Smith’s strummy acoustic guitar and the chiming keyboards give a light, optimistic feel to the sound. High in the mix is a tuneful vocal, although on closer inspection the song isn’t the happy little sing-along it might appear on first listen;

“Yesterday I got so scared
I shivered like a child
Yesterday away from you
It froze me deep inside
Come back come back
Don’t walk away…”

After the sub-three minute pop glory of the opener comes the mildly sinister, yet highly accessible “Kyoto Song” – a song about drowning nightmares and sexual indiscretion. A simple, yet enveloping arrangement gives the track licence to smother the listener. The top-notch song writing that set the band apart at the time, is still noticeable two decades on;

“A nightmare of you
Of death in the pool
Wakes me up at quarter to three
I’m lying on the floor of the night before
With a stranger lying next to me”

Track 3 is the Spanish sounding “The Blood.” A song that was apparently written about a premium strength red wine, which doubles up as paint stripper! Smith’s longstanding atheism seems at odds with the central lyrical idea of the song, but nonetheless the song seizes on the momentum of the first two tracks and throws the listener head first into the heart of the album.

“Six Different Ways” is a happier, babyish version of “Close To Me” and is possibly the closest thing to a weak link on the album. Musically the track is nothing special, although it does act as a wonderful contrast to the post-punk intensity of the track that follows on – namely “Push.”

On “Push”, Smith seems to be confronting the demons that have dogged him for years; whilst musically a resolute, tough sounding Cure are able to capture the singer’s mood perfectly. Dave Allen and Robert Smith produce the track wonderfully well, allowing each instrument enough space to breathe and yet create a vast, deep sound, which acts a backdrop for a stunning vocal performance. Robert’s constant flirtations with mental illness are acknowledged in the track and his obsession with mouths is once again highlighted;

“…The seeping mouth
The mouth that knows, the secret you
Always you
A smile to hide the fear away
Oh smear this man across the walls
Like strawberries and cream
It’s the only way to be”

Track 6 is the throbbing, bouncy “The Baby Screams” -a track that is very much a product of the mid-1980s, yet with a malevolent bassline and a sneery vocal thrown in for good measure. Lyrically it is quite bleak, although for the first time Smith’s occasionally tongue-in-cheek writing style does translate on an album, and nowhere better than on this track;

“Heaven give me a sign
Waiting for the sun to shine
Pleasure fills up my dreams
And I love it
Like a baby screams”

Everyone in the world knows “Close To Me” even if they don’t know they know it. Originally released as the second single from “The Head On The Door” in 1985, it was brushed up, dusted off and re-released in late 1990. The original version is claustrophobic and hollow sounding – yet both of these things are advantages not disadvantages. Smith’s pop sensibility allows him to play with the song, throwing in hooks as he pleases (like the breathy start to each verse), whilst the band knock out a rhythmically simple tune – which for some has elements of three blind mice about it. Gallup’s bass sounds vibrant and some unfussy, yet tight drumming, gives the song a sort of light-jazz feel.

After the playful “Close To Me”, comes the anthemic, size of a car-park track – “A Night Like This.” Despite being a live favourite at concerts, the version of said track found on “The Head On The Door” album is truly wonderful. A hypnotic guitar line and some expressive singing gives the song the depth Smith was seeking; it’s grand, emotive chorus is impossible not to be swept up by. A saxophone solo is sprayed all over the middle of the track (something of a new departure for The Cure), yet, bizarrely it works! Robert sounds assured and resolute as he sings;

“I’m coming to find you if it takes me all night
A witch-hunt for another girl…”

Another playful track, “Screw” slots in at number nine. A plinky-plonk keyboard is barely audible behind an infectious, almost bubonic, bassline. Smith masks a highly personal and introspective lyric behind the up-termpo pop music, yet once again, pulls it off. His trademark “doo doo doo de doo doo doo” singing seems starkly at odds with lines like;

“Taste the taste on your tongue
On the film on your eyes of the way I’ve become”

The closing track to this playful, trickster of a pop record is the melancholic and haunting “Sinking.” It brings to the foreground all the introspective examination and dark undercurrents that the previous nine tracks had masked so successfully. It feels like you’ve floated out to sea on a sunny day in a nice little dingy, then you look around and realise you are suddenly miles from land and the skies are blackening.

“Sinking” is arguably as fine a song as The Cure have ever committed to record. Vocally it is chilling. Musically it is gorgeously emotive and expressive. Robert sounds almost in tears as he belts out the songs key moment;

“So I trick myself
Like everybody else
I crouch in fear and wait
I’ll never feel again…”

In classic Cure fashion the song contains a long instrumental introduction and a long, atmospheric outro. It’s only 4’50 long, yet it crams a lot in. It is a surprisingly bleak end to an album, and as such pins the listener back in their seat. As soon as the track finishes those of a more pop outlook will be duty bound to put track one on again to lighten the mood.

So “The Head On The Door” is an interesting proposition – a collection of wriggling,
predominantly playful pop songs with dark hearts, all contributing more than the sum of their parts to a slick, mature album. Many fans of early 80s era Cure found it a difficult pill to swallow, whilst many formerly apathetic (or even antagonistic) record buyers were won over by the brilliance of the album’s two singles. The biggest compliment you can give an album such as this is that at least five of the ten tracks on here would have been Top 20 singles in 1985/86, but The Cure (being The Cure) didn’t milk the record to its full chart potential.

Whilst acting as a bridge between the throwaway pop of 1983 and the dark back catalogue of 1979-82, “The Head On The Door” opened The Cure up to a whole new fanbase. They went on to cement their position with the sprawling and diverse “Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me” in 1987, but wouldn’t have been able to do so without the platform which 1985’s breakthrough release allowed. If the mid-1980s produced a better collection of pop songs will the owners please stand up….any takers? Thought not. (*9)

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