{"id":3622,"date":"2008-10-27T01:07:11","date_gmt":"2008-10-26T23:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jensunmack.dk\/wordpress-3\/?p=3622"},"modified":"2008-10-27T01:07:11","modified_gmt":"2008-10-26T23:07:11","slug":"die-young-stay-pretty-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jensunmack.dk\/wordpress-3\/die-young-stay-pretty-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Die young, stay pretty"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ovenst\u00e5ende Blondie-sangtitel fra Eat To The Beat-pladen m\u00e5ske en relevant – og for sen – konstatering omkring gamle helte The Cure, der i dag udsender 4:13 Dream, en lang karrieres 13. album. Har ikke h\u00f8rt s\u00e5 meget som \u00e9n tone derfra endnu, men en mindre tsunami af skuffede anmeldelser giver desv\u00e6rre kun bange anelser og ulyst. Tag nu bare begrundelsen for de kun to bl\u00e5 stjerner i The Times:<\/p>\n

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Portents of an impasse were detected as long as four years ago, when Robert Smith of the Cure talked about the process of sifting through his archive for the 2004 box set,\u00a0Join the Dots. \u201cEverything I\u2019ve written for the new album, I\u2019m discovering I\u2019ve already sung,\u201d said the spiritual godfather of postemo stadium fillers such as My Chemical Romance and 30 Seconds to Mars.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sure enough, there isn\u2019t a song on this, the Cure\u2019s 13th album, that doesn\u2019t sound like an inferior version of one they have already written \u2013 indeed, in the case of the 23-year-old\u00a0Sleep When I\u2019m Dead, an actual version of one they have already written.<\/em><\/p>\n

Underneath the Stars\u00a0is a sluggish variation on a theme better realised by\u00a0Plainsong\u00a0from the 1989 album\u00a0Disintegration. Scoot to the jivey spook-pop of\u00a0It\u2019s Over\u00a0and your thoughts turn to the fraught urgency of the superior\u00a0From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, from\u00a0Wish\u00a0(1992). And so on.<\/em><\/p>\n

Becoming your own tribute band is, to an extent, unavoidable. And if we don\u2019t begrudge a degree of repetition from Neil Young or AC\/DC, say, there\u2019s no point in giving the Cure a hard time for it.<\/em><\/p>\n

But what seems doubly strange about\u00a04:13\u00a0is the airless, joyless execution of songs such as\u00a0This.\u00a0Here and Now. With You\u00a0and\u00a0Reasons Why\u00a0\u2013 a problem compounded by lyrics that appear to have been spat out by some sort of Cure lyric randomising software package, with all the conviction that that entails.<\/em><\/p>\n

Perhaps the real problem is boredom.<\/em><\/p>\n

At 49, Smith is beginning to sound like a man burdened by the narrow expectations of a loyal, loving fanbase. At what price a wholesale rethink? It would, if nothing else, be brave. But when creativity is reduced to a mere act of franchise maintenance, something has to give.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Pete Paraphides\/ The Times<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Ovenst\u00e5ende Blondie-sangtitel fra Eat To The Beat-pladen m\u00e5ske en relevant – og for sen – konstatering omkring gamle helte The Cure, der i dag udsender 4:13 Dream, en lang karrieres 13. album. Har ikke h\u00f8rt s\u00e5 meget som \u00e9n tone derfra endnu, men en mindre tsunami af skuffede anmeldelser giver desv\u00e6rre kun bange anelser og … L\u00e6s videre Die young, stay pretty<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n