The two The Cure albums Robert Smith thought would be their last
Despite an eternally moody and overcast catalogue, The Cure has entertained an impressive spectrum of sonic approaches over the past half-century. On a fundamental level, the band has moved through two major chapters of several different movements. The first chapter, taking place before the mid-1980s hiatus, contained the most punk-derived and abject material, while the latter chapter contained more melodic pop-conscious material.
As the music might let on, The Cure’s path to fame and glory was fraught with frown and acrimony. Relations within the group reached a nadir in 1982 with the arrival of Pornography. Although the album received universal praise and sold well despite its morbid nature, a rift between Robert Smith and bassist Simon Gallup threatened to break The Cure up for good.
The acrid aura was enhanced by the young trio’s unstable relationship with alcohol and drugs at the time. Smith sought respite and recorded Pornography, intending it to be the band’s bookending product. “I had two choices at the time, which were either completely giving in or making a record of it and getting it out of me,” the frontman revealed in Never Enough: The Story of The Cure. “I really thought that was it for the group. I had every intention of signing off. I wanted to make the ultimate ‘fuck off’ record and then sign off.”
In 1982, the band entered a hiatus, during which Smith played guitar for Siouxsie and the Banshees. The following year, Smith regrouped with drummer Lol Tolhurst to polish off a couple of ideas, leading to the interim compilation album Japanese Whispers. Home to the popular singles ‘Let’s Go to Bed’, ‘The Walk’ and ‘The Love Cats’, the album was a significant departure from previous works and indicated the more radio-friendly direction of the releases that brought The Cure to global prominence in the late 1980s and 1990s.
Seminal albums like The Head on the Door and Disintegration saw the band embarking on major arena tours that dwarfed their early punk years. After playing in front of 44,000 people at the New York Giants Stadium in 1989, Smith reflected in a characteristically moody fashion, “It was never our intention to become as big as this.” Ostensibly, Smith has a love-hate relationship with The Cure in that he appreciates the colossal following but pines for the days of cult popularity.
In the run-up to almost every album since Pornography, Smith has suggested that the next would be the last. In 2000, The Cure released their 11th studio album and seventh since Pornography, Bloodflowers. In an interview at the time, Tonino Cagnucci called Smith out on this trend, wondering whether it was simply a shrewd publicity stunt.
Smith vehemently denied the supposition, affirming his deep adoration for Bloodflowers. “I had every intention of Bloodflowers being the last Cure record,” he said. “I thought it would be fantastic to finish with the best thing we’d ever done, but I wasn’t sure we could pull it off.”
Following Bloodflowers, The Cure released two additional albums in the 2000s, The Cure and 4:13 Dream, and allegedly have two albums in the pipeline for the 2020s. Continuing, Smith revealed why he fancied returning to the studio after Bloodflowers. “The weird thing is I really enjoyed doing it,” he revealed. “I love how it’s turned out, and I’m really enthusiastic about the band again, which I haven’t been for a while. So, it’s made me have a bit of a rethink about it being the last album.”
In March 2022, Smith revealed that The Cure has two albums under production. While he refrained from detailing when fans might expect a follow-up to 2008’s 4:13 Dream, he confirmed that one is named Songs of a Lost World. After two years of silence, it seems that Smith is fine-tuning the records and awaiting the perfect moment for release.
