Rd 30
Pornagraphy - The Cure (1982)
easily the heaviest and most claustrophobic work the band ever did ... this here platter is why they got slapped with the "Goth" tag, for better or worse.
Smiff was in a real dark place during this phase, and maybe his time around Siouxsie rubbed off on him, as well ... lotta drugs n' drinking, and the band on the verge of collapse.
so what does he do?
well, instead of trying to release a more accessible record to maybe bolster sales/interest, he lays out this mammoth slab of atmospheric doom ... they would go on to release more successful and "radio friendly" material, but this is THE one album the great majority of Cure fans will point to as the band's most compelling and ambitious work, as well as their greatest.
this is the one that helped kickstart a movement, and made them the force they were to become in it's wake ... Smiff never reached this high (or low, if you will) again with this particular ambiance/theme for a whole recording session ... there were continued forays and explorations into the darker/gloomier recesses, but nothing as consistent as this entire album's worth.
nothing else touches this, imo ... my favorite of theirs by a very wide margin, and the tour de force that established Smiff as the ####### genius he is.
The Hanging Garden
One Hundred Years