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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A hazily romantic return to form from The Cure:, 22 Feb 2000
By A Customer
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.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Is The Cure Over The Hill?, 21 Feb 2000
By A Customer
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."
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ghosts Of The Past - Ghosts Of The Future, 5 Mar 2005
Evrey time I listen to this album, and I am listening to it now, it changes and it changes me... it coalesces the various stlyes through which The Cure have migrated through - their past incarnations - to create a uniquelty disquieting, haunting album. It is so much Seventeen Seconds, so much Pornography and Faith, but it is also so very much more than all The Cure were... in 1989 There was Disintegration... which was though to be The Cure's Swan Song, but, 11 years later Bloodflowers bloomed and heralded The Cure's rebirth.
This is all The Cure were... and yet it is so much, so very much more; it is still, obviously the spirit and the esence of who The Cure are, but it is also a style that matured into a terrifying nightmare of love and loss and hope.
Musically and lyrically it is so delightfully hanunting... it lingers in the mind like a dream you just don't want to let go of. Soft, yearning keyboards and harsh, slicing guitars combine to create and dreadful anticipation... catching and killing and resurrecting every aspect of love and leaves you wanting more, always wanting more. Robert Smith's voice seems to have taken on a new and darker tone than ever before... a tone that, combined with those spitting, biting guitars, chews deeper and deeper into me!!! I repeat, this album is so much more than the sum of its parts - it is a haunted house of secrets just waiting, wanting to be found... And it is a rebith, a re-emergence of one of the most profoundly talented bands I have ever had the pleasure of listening to.
I have said this in previous reviews and will say it again... The Cure's ability to evolve, to metamorphosise is part of what makes them so consistently unique; they are not lead by the influences of others because they are the influence to so many others. There are no classic Cure albums: All Cure albums are Clasics in their own right!!!
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