- Purchase a product from the Music Store sold by Amazon.co.uk and receive £1 to use on an album download in our MP3 Store. Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
|
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Commerce being commerce, bands rarely have the luxury of writing their own epitaphs--after all, posthumous compilations can be tweezed from careers one-twentieth as long or as influential as the Cure's. But according to Robert Smith, the moving, strangely dignified Bloodflowers is, in every sense that matters, the Cure's full stop; a concept album about not making albums any more. And if you're the sort who never believes au revoir hype, one listen should put paid to your scepticism, and two should prove it's a keeper on musical grounds alone. Two years in the making, this companion to Pornography and Disintegration begins with the words "we'll look back at it all ... wide-eyed" and ends with the title track's Socratic dialogue between mutability and constancy; faith and loss. In between, there's a subdued tone but no weariness in its shape-shifting beats ("The Loudest Sound"), statements of intent ("Maybe Someday" insisting "Don't want what I did"), a true-hearted, sweetly ridiculous love song ("There Is No If") and a fearless eye-to-eye with age (the "How Soon Is Now"-ish "39"). And, everywhere, those yearning, depthless, ravishing flanged guitars. Simply put, it's that rarest of things: a goodbye that's deliberate, thoughtful, fond and gentle, and yet as tough-minded as most pop is wilfully craven. --Jennifer Nine
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A hazily romantic return to form from The Cure:,
By A Customer
This review is from: Bloodflowers (CD) (Audio CD)
Bloodflowers is The Cure's 20th album in 22 years and is reputed to be the final part in a trilogy begun in 1982 with Pornography and centred around the band's creative highpoint, 1989's Disintegration. Most of what they've released before and after Disintegration inevitably fell under the shadow of its epic, swooning grace. Perhaps wisely, the band have never tried to recreate the elegant mystery contained therein and instead ploughed a lighter furrow throughout the nineties. Until now that is:Arriving 11 years and seven albums (only two of which containing new material) later, Bloodflowers is a worthy sequel to Disintegration. Clocking in at almost an hour, with only nine tracks, there's little room here for throwaway pop. Every song has been carefully thought out and exceptionally rendered. That unmistakable yearning quality has returned to singer Robert Smith's voice as the music sweeps the listener along in endless innocence. Indeed the whole album feels like a luscious manifestation of childhood dreams and secrets. Opening track Out of this World is simple yet effective. It builds on a gentle acoustic guitar, reminiscent of Disintegration's Untitled, as Smith wistfully reminisces "when we look back at it all as I know we will, you and me wide eyed. I wonder will we really remember how it feels to be this alive". Better still is The Last Day of Summer, where melodies fall from the sky as Smith laments the changes life forces upon you as you grow older in the most beautifully naïve way: "Nothing I am, nothing I dream, nothing is new, nothing I think or believe in or say, nothing is true. It used to be so easy, I never even tried". Elsewhere 39 and, particularly, Watching Me Fall evoke memories of Disintegration's glorious title track. The bitterness and regret are now directed inwardly as Smith cries on 39 "I used to feed the fire, but the fire is almost out. Now there's nothing left to burn". It seems adversity and frustration bring the best out of this band, they've never sounded more alive. Ultimately Bloodflowers has nothing new to say, and certainly won't win the band many new fans. It is however, a creation of longing beauty that should be treasured alongside Disintegration, Suede's Dog Man Star and Spiritualized's Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space. The Cure have returned to what they do best and long may they continue.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Is The Cure Over The Hill?,
By A Customer
This review is from: Bloodflowers (CD) (Audio CD)
Not since "Disintegration" has a cure album affected me in such a deep way. Just when you might doubt he still has it, Robert Smith releases "Bloodflowers;" which is a little irony in itself as the song "39" is about that very doubt. There is something ineffable about The Cure, something that touches our souls. This album is very dark, and ponderously melancholic. To answer the question that many of you have been dying to know, does this album harken back to "Disintegration?" I can answer yes and no. It's dark and very similar to "Disintegration" but different. Robert is philosophical in songs like "Where Birds Always Sing" and is expressive of his feelings, in songs like "The Loudest Sound" and "There is No If," both songs are about the tragic nature of love and life and reminiscent of "Faith" and "Disintegration," but closer to "Disintegration." There are songs that are tragic, angry and sad like "Watching Me Fall" (where we find out that Robert can still hold a note. It reminds me of "Prayers for Rain") and "39." The theme is that we get old, and that nothing lasts forever. It is neither fair nor unfair, most poignantly demonstrated in "Bloodflowers," " The Last Day Of Summer," and "39" which also happens to be Robert's age--hard to believe, yes? I never thought I would see the day when my favorite rock artist would see 40. So is The Cure over the hill? Not, if they keep this up! I know I will be spending many rainy nights with this album. Like "Disintegration" I can't say I have a favorite song. It depends on my mood; one day it might be "The Loudest Sound," another "39" or maybe "Watching Me Fall." This album is profoundly sad, but finds sanctuary in all the gloom offering some hope and solace. One thing for sure is, we can all find hope in that The Cure has recaptured what we liked best about "Disintegration," but has given us something new with "Bloodflowers."
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Just My Review.....,
By A Customer
This review is from: Bloodflowers (Audio CD)
The Cure edged into new territory with Wild Mood Swings, but nevertheless drew scorn from certain quarters because it eschewed goth rock for pop, both pure and twisted. For 2000's Bloodflowers, Robert Smith decided to give the people what they wanted: a classic Cure album, billed as the third part of a trilogy begun with Pornography and continued with Disintegration. That turns out to be more or less true, since Bloodflowers boasts all of the Cure's signatures: stately tempos, languid melodies, spacious arrangements, cavernous echoes, morose lyrics, keening vocals, long running times. If that's all you're looking for, Bloodflowers delivers in spades. If you want something transcendent, you're out of luck, since the album falls short of the mark, largely because it sounds too self-conscious. As one song segues into the next, it feels like Smith is striving to make a classic Cure record, putting all the sounds in place before he constructs the actual songs. That makes for a good listening experience, especially for fans of Disintegration, but it never catches hold the way that record did, for two simple reasons: there isn't enough variation between the songs for them to distinguish themselves, nor are there are enough sonic details to give individual tracks character. While Disintegration had goth monoliths, it also had pristine pop gems and elegant neo-psychedelia; with a couple of exceptions, the songs on Bloodflowers all feel like cousins of "Pictures of You." The album is certainly well made, and even enjoyable; however, its achievement is a bit hollow, since it never seems like Smith is pushing himself or the band. Nobody else can come close to capturing the Cure's graceful gloom, but it's hard to shake the suspicion that Bloodflowers could have been something grand if he had shaken up the formula slightly.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
