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The Cure “Three Imaginary Boys”

sfilzen — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 17:20:10 +0000

The Cure “Three Imaginary Boys” 1979. Fiction Records. Yesterday, April 21st, was Robert Smith’s 65th birthday (b. 1959). Three Imaginary Boys was the band’s debut LP, a no-frills post-punk guitar-driven masterpiece released only the UK. Boys Don’t Cry, a sort-of comp, was released in the US, Canada and Australia in 1980 and most of the same tracks in a different order. That record adds the single “Boys Don’t Cry” and drops the Cure’s Devo-esque Jimi Hendrix cover of “Foxy Lady” that features Cure bassist Michael Dempsey on vocals. Supposedly that track was not supposed to be on Three Imaginary Boys at all; it was added by producer Chris Parry.

I really love this entire album but my favorite tracks are “10.15 Saturday Night” with the tap drip drip drip dripping; it was the B-side to their single “Killing an Arab.” Also great is the boppy rhythm of “Accuracy,” the frenetic pop energy of “Grinding Halt,” the buzzy Buzzcocky snark of “Object,” and the way “Fire in Cairo” taught me to spell Cairo in a lilting singsong fashion. The best track is the album’s title track “Three Imaginary Boys” which portends the direction The Cure would take: a goth-pop sound that borders on sinister but is still kinda danceable.

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The Cure “Boys Don’t Cry”

sfilzen — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 16:23:55 +0000

The Cure “Boys Don’t Cry” released 40 years ago today, February 5th, 1980. Fiction Records. Their second release, the compilation album (which was a pretty ballsy move considering it came out just one year after their debut album and just two months before their second studio album Seventeen Seconds) includes mostly tracks from Three Imaginary Boys: “10:15 Saturday Night,” “Accuracy,” “Grinding Halt,” “Another Day,” “Object,” “Subway Song,” “Fire in Cairo,” and “Three Imaginary Boys” (one of my all-time Cure favorites). Also appearing on Boys Don’t Cry are three stand-alone singles: the title track “Boys Don’t Cry” which hit #22 in the UK, “Jumping Someone Else’s Train” and “Killing an Arab,” The Cure’s first single from late ‘78. Plus “Plastic Passion” and the intense, almost industrial-punk “World War.” Fiction Records released Boys Don’t Cry after the UK success of Three Imaginary Boys in an effort to increase the band’s international sales (our copy is the US release on PVC Records).

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The Cure “Three Imaginary Boys”

sfilzen — Thu, 11 May 2017 18:05:45 +0000

The Cure “Three Imaginary Boys” released either on this date, May 11th, 1979, or possibly May 8th, or maybe June. Whichever, Three Imaginary Boys was The Cure’s debut album and it’s brilliant in its post-punk starkness, atmospheric lyrics and sound. Allmusic describes it as “a semi-detached bit of late-‘70s English pop-punk. Angular and lyrically abstract, it’s strong points are in its utter simplicity. There are no dirges here, no long suites, just short bursts of energy and a rather strange cover of Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady.” [VinylfromtheValut note: I find “Foxy Lady to be very Devo-esque. Also: The “Foxy Lady” soundcheck, with vocals sung by Michael Dempsey, was not supposed to be on the album, and was removed for the American release.] For some, this is the last good Cure record, many fans of this album being in no way prepared for the sparse emptiness and gloom that would be the cornerstone of future releases.”

I really love this entire album but my favorite tracks are “10.15 Saturday Night” with the tap drip drip drip dripping, the boppy rhythm of “Accuracy,” the buzzy Buzzcocky snark of “Object,” “Subway Song” and its brush drums conjuring up dark alleys and skulking men wearing sunglasses and trench coats, and the way “Fire in Cairo” taught me to alway spell Cairo in a lilting singsong fashion. The best track is the album’s title track “Three Imaginary Boys” which portends the direction The Cure would take: a goth-pop sound that borders on sinister but is still kinda danceable.

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The Cure “Boys Don’t Cry”

sfilzen — Fri, 05 Feb 2016 17:10:10 +0000

The Cure “Boys Don’t Cry” released on this date, February 5th, 1980 in the UK. Fiction Records/PVC Records. The US version was released in August of 1980, both as an alternate version of the band’s 1979 debut album Three Imaginary Boys with a slightly different track list. The record falls in a grey area between an official release and a compilation record.

Boys Don’t Cry includes three singles not on Three Imaginary Boys: “Killing an Arab,“ ”Boys Don’t Cry“ and ”Jumping Someone Else’s Train.” Tracks that overlap are “10:15 Saturday Night,” “Accuracy,” “Grinding Halt,” “Subway Song,” and, one of my favorite Cure songs, the beautifully haunting “Three Imaginary Boys.” Allmusic reviewer Chris True describes this time in The Cure’s recording catalog as “More poppy and representative of the times” and “a semi-detached bit of late-‘70s English pop-punk, angular and lyrically abstract..utter simplicity.”

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