The Cure
Wish


4.0
excellent

Review

by Tom93M USER (139 Reviews)
July 15th, 2011 | 203 replies


Release Date: 1992 | Tracklist

Review Summary: That Friday feeling…

“10, 9... 6, 5... 2, 1!” The fireworks exploded in the midnight sky, at different times in different locales, with different languages and different traditions; all uttered the same notion in one way or another - “HAPPY NEW YEAR!”. 1991 had come to close and the face of music was a different beast to what it was just three short years ago when The Cure were riding high on the success of their magnum opus, ‘Disintegration’. That record, despite sounding far from the poppy ‘Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me’, or the radio-friendly ‘The Head On The Door’, went big - bigger than Robert Smith and his ever-changing gaggle of Goths probably could’ve ever imagined. The record went on to sell over 3 million copies worldwide and the disc itself, along with its singles, shot The Cure into chart positions they had never felt the pleasure of before.

There is a point to all this rambling - The Cure had a massive amount of pressure and expectation placed upon their tenuous, black-clad shoulders come the time ‘Disintegration’s follow-up was due to be put to tape. The group were left with the unenviable question of how to follow-up such a colossal album; whether to make a similar sounding record, or do something else - be that a return to a former phase of the band’s eclectic past, or trying something new.

The result was… well, neither really. It’s not another gothic album, nor is it the most poppy effort the boys did. It tends to lie somewhere in-between those two extremes - taking elements of nearly all The Cure’s phases and dabbing them here and there, making for a pretty eclectic mix. At times it does the melancholic, moody stuff, like the trudging ‘Apart’, and the gorgeous ‘Trust’; at other times it shoots for the poppy heights achieved by earlier, radio-friendly singles, and succeeds with the album’s unreserved, glistening gem, ‘Friday I’m In Love’; and to a lesser extent with the bizarrely funky ‘Wendy Time’.

But upon first hearing ‘Wish’, with the gloomy grandeur of ‘Disintegration’ still in mind, the album feels a tad underwhelming. It’s frustrating, as one can’t really put a firm finger on exactly why one feels slightly unimpressed when spinning this record - it’s a very strong effort, after all, with touching, sentimental pieces like ‘A Letter To Elise’, with its lovely riff; the wonderful opening cut, called… er, ‘Open’; and of course, ‘Friday I’m In Love’, with its eloquently superb riff and quality lyrics and vocals from Smith - a catchy and concise Cure classic in every way. The aforementioned are just a few highlights, so it becomes increasingly irritating when one still struggles to place ‘Wish’ in any concrete, hierarchical rank in The Cure’s discography.

But the answer to said frustrations is starkly simple and easy to understand. In fact, this writer has made several indirect references to exactly why ‘Wish’ seems, upon its surface, inexplicably underwhelming. It essentially boils down to the fact that it was released when it was - the crucial detail being that it was the follow-up to one of the greatest alternative rock albums of the eighties, ‘Disintegration’. That album is an unbelievably difficult body of work to follow, and that’s precisely why ‘Wish’ feels weaker at first glimpse.

With all that in mind, it becomes advisable that ‘Wish’ is best approached without thought of ‘Disintegration’. If you hit play without any expectations or notions of what this record should be it really begins to shine, and show off of its strength - its consistency acting as flexing muscles, inspiring appreciation and awe in observers. If you don’t think of this as the follow-up to ‘Disintegration’ and instead, just chalk it up as another Cure record (which it is, at the end of the day), then after several plays, ‘Wish’ slowly but surely begins to mark itself out as a very enjoyable album - on a par with ‘Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me’ and trailing not too far behind ‘The Head On The Door’ - two exceptional reasons to make sure this album finds its way into the sweaty palms of any Cure admirer who’s been putting the record off, for far too long.



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user ratings (961)
3.8
excellent


Comments:Add a Comment 
Gyromania
July 15th 2011


37530 Comments


Another great review. Keep it up man.

Tom93M
July 15th 2011


1105 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

Gyromania - Cheers, dude.



Voivod
Staff Reviewer
July 15th 2011


10959 Comments


IT'S FRIDAY I'M IN LOOOVE!!!


So this is the album...

Cheers man, will read the review later.




Tom93M
July 15th 2011


1105 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

Voivod - Yup, this is the one. Enjoy.



Just realised i've posted this on a Friday! Brillant.

Titan50
July 15th 2011


4588 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I have a Friday I'm In Love shirt. It's awesome

Tom93M
July 15th 2011


1105 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

Titan50 - * Jealously *



Titan50
July 15th 2011


4588 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

http://www.dsgnwrld.com/wp-content/uploads/zoom.gif

Tom93M
July 15th 2011


1105 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

Titan50 - Wow, that's pretty cool.



Acanthus
July 18th 2011


9812 Comments


Nice review sir.

Tom93M
July 18th 2011


1105 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

Acanthus - Thanks, bud, missed your encouraging comment back when i posted this.



BigHans
July 20th 2011


30959 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Friday Im in Love might be the greatest pop song ever written

Tom93M
July 21st 2011


1105 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

BigHans - Perhaps. It's so damn loveable.

Meatplow
August 12th 2011


5523 Comments


Friday, I'm In Love is so good. rest of album is excellent too

keesvdhema
September 21st 2011


7 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

I've been listening to this album and nothing else for two weeks now. It's such fuckin great record. Very diverse as well. I think Open, Deep Green Sea and Cut are the highlights. They're so freakin powerful, especially the drums. However Disintegration overall is better, Wish is at some points just slightly bigger. And I just can't understand that their popularity and status decreased after Disintegration. I mean, I believe this is a great album, there's nothing wrong with Bloodflowers and I even actually think Wild Mood Swings is a great record. So I guess I'm just a big Cure fan

Mickeymau5
August 29th 2012


1614 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

Apart is such great song.



"How did we get this far apart?

We used to be so close together

How did we get this far apart?

I thought this love would last forever"

someguest
January 16th 2013


30205 Comments


I DON'T CARE IF MONDAY'S BLUE

sinsexsodomy
February 7th 2013


263 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

*listens to Friday I'm in Love then The Hanging Garden"....yep this is the beginning of the end of The

Cure. The more upbeat and poppy tracks after the 80's feel so damn forced. Not to mention The Cure

works better with a darker atmosphere in their/his music

Mickeymau5
February 7th 2013


1614 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

listen to Open

Funeralopolis
May 6th 2013


14586 Comments


open rocks

Mickeymau5
May 7th 2013


1614 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

Really amazing opening



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