The Cure “Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me” 1987. Fiction Records. Today, April 21st, is Robert Smith’s birthday (b. 1959) so I’m taking The Cure’s 7th studio LP out for a spin. This copy is a relatively new reissue (remastered by Robert Smith); I got my original copy of Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me on cd, one of the first cd’s I ever bought actually, back in ‘87. It went to #35 in the US (their highest chart position to that point) and to #6 in the UK. There’s a lot of great tracks on it, but I think they veered too far into pop for a chunk of it and it is one of my least-played Cure albums in my collection – though in ‘87 I was moving toward harder punk so that probably has a lot to do with it. I like the gothy, swirly, psychedelically exotic tracks the best, like “The Kiss,” “Torture,” “If Only Tonight We Could Sleep,” the epic “Snakepit” and “All I Want,” that are reminiscent of their earlier material. But with Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, The Cure broke through to the American mainstream with highly pop-orientated and somewhat jazzy singles like “Why Can’t I Be You?” (#54 US, #21 UK), “Just Like Heaven” (#40 US, #29 UK) and “Hot! Hot! Hot!” (#68 US, #45 UK) which are tracks that I’m not that crazy about (in reference to other Cure songs: compared to a lot of other stuff they’re pretty great). The single “Catch” (#27 UK) was not released in the US and listening to, it’s pretty obvious why – it’s not very pop at all: super-emo with an alt-violin up front and center (that same violin pops up again in “How Beautiful You Are…”).