I do believe that “The Head in the Door” was the album that would elevate the band to popularity among the alternative (or gothic) rock music fans of the early to mid-80s. While their 1982 album “Pornography” would become more brighter and radio-friendly (for alternative rock stations, not mainstream commercial radio stations), “The Head on the Door” is the album which lit the match and showing that gave fans the sense that there were going to be great years of music to come from The Cure with this more catchy sound. And the fact the two songs broke through to the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time, is a big indicator of that.
Click here to purchase The Cure’s “The Head on the Door (Deluxe Edition)” from Amazon
BAND: The Cure
ALBUM: The Head on the Door (Deluxe Edition)
DURATION: 28 Songs (1 Hour, 39 Minutes)
Original Release Date: August 26, 1985
Deluxe Edition Release Date: December 2, 2006
ORIGINAL ALBUM TRACKS:
1 In Between Days
2 Kyoto Song
3 The Blood
4 Six Different Ways
5 Push
6 The Baby Screams
7 Close to Me
8 A Night Like This
9 Screw
10 Sinking
NEW TO THE DELUXE EDITION:
1. “In Between Days (RS Instrumental Home Demo 12/84)” 1:25
2. “Inwood (RS Instrumental Home Demo 12/84)” 2:18
3. “Push (RS Instrumental Home Demo 12/84)” 2:31
4. “Innsbruck (RS Instrumental Home Demo 12/84)” 2:37
5. “Stop Dead (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)” 3:21
6. “Mansolidgone (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)” 4:06
7. “Screw (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)” 3:09
8. “Lime Time (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)” 2:56
9. “Kyoto Song (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)” 4:28
10. “A Few Hours After This … (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)” 4:36
11. “Six Different Ways (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)” 3:00
12. “A Man Inside My Mouth (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)” 3:00
13. “A Night Like This (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)” 4:08
14. “The Exploding Boy (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)” 3:06
15. “Close to Me (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)” 4:03
16. “The Baby Screams (Live bootleg Bercy Paris 12/85 – bootleg audience recording)” 3:46
17. “The Blood (Live bootleg Bercy Paris 12/85 – bootleg audience recording)” 3:34
18. “Sinking (Live bootleg Bercy Paris 12/85 – bootleg audience recording)”
It was back in 1978 when the band, The Cure, was formed.
While band members have come and gone, singer/guitarist Robert Smith has been the consistent frontman of the band and keyboardist Lol Tolhurst. And in 1985, the band released their sixth studio album “The Head on the Door”.
Along with Smith and Tolhurst, the album featured the return of Simon Gallup on bass (Gallup had supported the band since 1978 when he was with the band Lockjaw), the return of Porl Thompson (who played with the band during their earlier years) and a new drummer, Boris Williams (who worked with the Thompson Twins).
Inspired by Siouxsie and the Banshees “Kaleidoscope” and “Dare” by the Human League, Robert Smith. Smith would say that what he liked about “Kaleidoscope”was that the album had “different sounding things, different colours” and with “The Head on the Door”, you do get a mix of styles. But if anything, shedding a little bit of that “doom & gloom” style for upbeat pop sound as evident with their singles from the album “In Between Days” and “Close to Me”.
And the fans loved the album as it would reach No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart, and became their most successful album on the album charts.
It’s important to note that I am going to review the 2006 remastered “Deluxe Edition” release which comes with the original ten tracks but then you get 15 additional tracks of home and studio demos recorded in 1984-1985 and three live bootleg tracks recorded at Bercy Paris on December 1985. So, there are a total of 28 tracks in the Deluxe Edition.
I have often said that there are three groups in which if there were album releases, I am definitely buying it. And these three groups are Depeche Mode, The Cure and The Smiths.
For me, I have been a fan of the Cure when I discovered the group when I moved to Southern California and listening to KROQ 106.7 (a legendary radio station in Los Angeles in the ’80s and ’90s known for playing new wave and alternative rock music).
The song “In Between Days” was the No. 4 song of 1985 for KROQ 106.7 for their “Top Songs of 1985” and the song was No. 99 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming their first single to enter the US chart.
The song is no doubt upbeat and catchy compared to tracks from their past albums which tend to be dark and gloomy. But the upbeat nature of the music to this song and the music video, I do feel it was a big introduction for many people in the US to be introduced to the music of The Cure and also to Robert Smith and the band.
Granted, the video was dangerous to shoot because it involved a heavy camera being held by cables and it even worried Smith who refused to shoot the video unless it was deemed safe.
But while the song is upbeat, the song is actually sad in a way because it’s about being hurt by someone you love and never wanting to see them again, but missing that person despite them hurting you and wanting them back in your life.
The second track on the album is “Kyoto Song” and the keyboard melody is something that stands out for me and it’s a melody that hypnotizes you. Although the lyrics is a bit dark and about having a nightmare of a death of someone you care about. Robert Smith would go on to say that it was a dream that his wife Mary had, death in a swimming pool and also of him eating someone. Of course, not sure if Robert Smith was joking around, but I found his explanation to be quite humorous.
If “Kyoto Song” grabs you because of the keyboards, the third track “The Blood” captivates you through the acoustic guitar, with a touch of Portuguese Flamenco and also mideastern influences. But the song is influenced by a cheap Portuguese wine known as “The Tears of Christ” that featured the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus and drunk by many people. The song can also be about Christians being blinded by their own religion.
For the fourth track, some people discovered the song “Six Different Ways” through the film soundtrack of “The Rules of Attraction”. It is said the song is about Robert Smith lying to the press when they ask stupid questions. But it’s another cool song in the album.
For the fifth track, “Push” is a very awesome song that could have been a third single off the album if it had lyrics to go with it. But the song is primarily an instrumental track for the majority of the song, until Smith sings 2:20 into the song. The song has different meanings for everyone. But may it be to push a person away in a relationship or breaking free from the chains and wanting to be free.
The sixth track is “The Baby Screams” and is a song about feeling helpless and you can feel frustrated or depressed like a baby screaming. I think it’s a tongue and cheek type of song, which Robert Smith is known to writing. Almost like how people say “just kill me now” because they don’t want to be forced to endure something so mundane, I kind of interpret that song to be in the same type of manner.
The seventh track is the popular “Close to Me”. I absolutely love this song, but believe it or not, there are other versions of this song. This one is the album version, not the single version.
In fact, the remix version featured in The Cure’s 1990 remix album “Mixed Up” is the most popular versions of this song and it reached No. 13 on the UK Charts (the original reached No. 24). It became the second song from The Cure to break the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 97.
But hte song is about getting excited for something very important (like an event) and having a bit of anxiety because of it.
The eighth track on the album is “A Night like This” and it’s a rock track with a sax solo, which you don’t typically get in a song from The Cure. The song, as I interpret it is trying to change a person that you love and trying to make them know what they are doing in their life is not cool. But a very cool song overall!
The ninth track is “Screw” and I think if there was one track that sounds very ’80s in this entire album would be this song. The bass is no doubt the instrument that stands out. Many can have interpretations of this song, it can also be meaningless. Or someone who keeps trying to look perfect and making changes to themselves.
Similar to “Push”, the song is primarily an instrumental track with the vocals sung about 2:00 into the song. But my interpretation of this song is that it’s about depression and tricking oneself and everyone else, but deep inside, you are feeling twisted and weak.
As mentioned that the Deluxe Edition features 25 home demos, such as the instrumental home demo versions of “In Between Days”, “Push” but home demos for songs such as “Kyoto Song”, “Six Different Ways”, “Close to Me” and many more songs. But also many other songs that are not featured on the album, you get the F2 Studios Demo versions which is a cool addition.
And the album concludes with three live tracks from December 1985 for “The Baby Screams”, “The Blood” and “Sinking”.
Overall, my feeling is that “The Head in the Door” is an essential album from The Cure that people will want to own. I do feel it”s a direction that took the band away from it’s dark and gloomy style of music and to make it more accessible. With “In Between Days” and “Close to Me” are still favorites among fans, the songs are probably the songs that introduced many fans to The Cure during the early to mid 80s.
Granted, four years later, The Cure would reach popularity with their popular 1989 album “Disintegration” and 1992 album “Wish” among the masses and would be featured on MTV and popular shows at the time like “Melrose Place” and their music would be played on commercial radio.
But I do believe that “The Head in the Door” was the album that would elevate the band to popularity among the alternative (or gothic) rock music fans of the early to mid-80s. While their 1982 album “Pornography” would become more brighter and radio-friendly (for alternative rock stations, not mainstream commercial radio stations), “The Head on the Door” is the album which lit the match and showing that gave fans the sense that there were going to be great years of music to come from The Cure with this more catchy sound. And the fact the two songs broke through to the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time, is a big indicator of that.
The Cure’s “The Head in the Door (Deluxe Edition)” is definitely worth checking out!
Click here to purchase The Cure’s “The Head on the Door (Deluxe Edition)” from Amazon
