Disintegration (CD - 1989)

The Cure: Robert Smith (vocals, guitar); Lol Tolhurst (various instruments); Porl Thompson (guitar); Simon Gallup (keyboards, bass); Roger O'Donnell (keyboards); Boris Williams (drums).

Recorded at Outside Studios, Berkshire, England.

Expanding the latent arena rock sensibilities that peppered Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me by slowing them down and stretching them to the breaking point, the Cure reached the peak of their popularity with the crawling, darkly seductive Disintegration. It's a hypnotic, mesmerizing record, comprised almost entirely of epics like the soaring, icy "Pictures of You." The handful of pop songs, like the concise and utterly charming "Love Song," don't alleviate the doom-laden atmosphere. The Cure's gloomy soundscapes have rarely sounded so alluring, however, and the songs -- from the pulsating, ominous "Fascination Street" to the eerie, string-laced "Lullaby" -- have rarely been so well-constructed and memorable. It's fitting that Disintegration was their commercial breakthrough, since, in many ways, the album is the culmination of all the musical directions the Cure were pursuing over the course of the '80s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Dark, dreamlike and magical, Disintegration surely represents one of the Cure's finest hours. Although retaining the darkest elements of the earlier albums, it pointed the way towards the band's later, more commercial work on Wish. The intoxicating music draws the listener inexorably downwards, but somehow one remains buoyant - rarely since this album has Robert Smith surpassed the beauty and yearning of 'Pictures Of You', or the poignant pop of 'Love Song'. The nightmarish 'Lullaby', however, increases the pressure, and by the final tracks, all hope quite literally disintegrates. A unique and emotionally raw album, Disintegration evokes the sensation of inevitable, but desirable, death by drowning. minimize