Pornography

It's a must have for the collection

Anyone only familiar with Cure songs like "Friday I'm In Love" and "Just Like Heaven" will be taken aback by this album, possibly the most depressing in the history of popular music. This is beyond "goth", this is pure darkness and depression. One could argue that this album leans too hard to the "mope" side of things, and if that's you, you have a point, but what separates this album from other depressing music (other goth albums, doom metal, etc...) is that the mope is extremely convincing. You can totally feel how big-haired vocalist Robert Smith was on a depressive streak of the highest degree during the writing process of this now-classic record. This is most apparent on the last two tracks; the tear inducing "Cold" and the downright scary title track "Pornography", a track which one should under no means be advised to listen to right before going to bed. Those are hardly the only standouts on this album, just listen to the harrowing opening track "100 Years" with it's opening line "It doesn't matter if we all die" and you'll be compelled to listen to the rest of the album for sure. Either that, or quickly remove it from you're stereo system due to being too creeped out to go forward. One unexpected aspect of this album is that there is some definite variety among the songs, anyone thinking that this album is a monotonous wrist-slitting fest would be sorely mistaken. Here, you have the up-tempo "Hanging Garden" with it's tribal drumming as well as the swirling, dreamy "A Strange Day", and don't forget the plaintive minimalism of "Siamese Twins". One complaint I do have about this album is the drumming. Not a single song on here has a rhythm change whatsoever, it's one beat the whole song through, but fortunately, the guitars change frequently over these beats, enough to avoid total monotony as I mentioned above. Still, this is a classic of post-punk music, and If you're into the dark side of things then this album will certainly not disappoint, and perhaps it will make you an entirely darker being.

Having been a diehard CURE fan since I was a child. Ive always loved DISINTEGRATION and even remember when the album in 1989. The band even had a follow up tour that year and ended up in my small college hometown,a fluke im sure. Enough rambling, on with the BLOODY review of PORNOGRAPHY. This album is like no other, it is way ahead of its time and has stood the test of time. You could pit this album up against any talentless music of this decade and to this year of 2013 and totally blow it out of the water. The sounds lyrically are otherworldly and the drumming yet repetitive are amazing, an almost experimental of sorts. Having artists by the likes of Trent Reznor and others in sheer envy of the raw talent exhibited in this album. Pornography is album that cant be duplicated by no other and I'm sure there will never be an album that even comes close by any artist EVER!!!! For me personally my 3 most favourite tracks have to be "Short Term Effect" , "Pornography" and "100 Years" , the chaos, gloom,despair,Blood thirsty erotic LUST,depression and HURT are best reflected in these three. The album makes you feel Normal in comparison to, even if you hadn't previously . It has a primal quality that is raw and stripped down and at times in your face. Probably the best glimpse into whom Smith was/is and even the band because it has an unguarded, sincere quality of desperation you are hard pressed to find in their other polished fueled by wealth of latter years. In summing up if you love the CURE then this C.D. is a must have.

Pornography is probably the darkest album I've ever been blessed to listen to. The album is more of an audio experience than just pure music. It's not the type of music you'll want to play for easy listening. The atmosphere created by the instruments and Smith's voice has the ability to transplant you into a dark, bleak world. I must commend Robert Smith and the other band members for having the gusto to create "Faith" and "Pornography", albums that they probably never imagined would go on to become classics. Their recording company must have had its panties in a knot when presented with these two gems for release. In an era where upbeat pop music dominated the charts, the thought of releasing depressingly dark musical soundscapes was probably the last thing on the minds of record company execs. Fortunately The Cure persisted and their albums have stood the test of time.Not a whole lot needs to be said about Pornography. It's one of The Cure's best efforts, I rank it as being their 4th best album overall, with only "Faith", "Disintegration", and "The Head on the Door" surpassing it. The extras included on the 2nd disc are exceptional and they are the real highlight of this 2 disc set. The alternate version of "Hanging Garden" is superb and actually surpasses the album version. The quality of the demos "Demise", "Temptation", and others are top notch and surpass the quality of the demos included on the Faith or Seventeen Seconds deluxe sets. The live recordings are also of good quality too. This set is one that can't be missed. Unfortunately I think they've already stopped producing them, so if you don't have it already you'll probably have to churn out the extra $$$ to buy it secondhand.

Did not come with expected hype sticker stating "Remastered by Robert Smith". The barcode checks out and it sounds pretty good, so I suppose it's legit.

I'd been after this version of Pornography on vinyl for a few years now. And after listening to it against the original 1982 vinyl and Robert Smith's remastered vinyl version, I really have to disagree with the comments others are making here regarding sound quality. High, mid, and low ends are well separated. And there's plenty of low end going on, both in synthesizer drones and Simon Gallup's bass, which is how I like to listen to my music. But at no time does it get muddy. Vocals (and there are a lot of them on this record) are clear and as decipherable as they're ever going to get.As for content, well if you've heard the album before then you know its no upbeat joyride. From the opening drum pattern of "One Hundred Years" till the abrupt ending of the title track, its an exercise in doom, gloom, paranoia, and pessimism. Which, given the relationships within the group at the time of recording, is hardly surprising. But the musicianship and production are brilliant. Easily the Cure's finest moment (IMO) and the final act of their first four albums' chartered course from new wave/post-punk to gothic splendour. Its little wonder Bauhaus split up not long after this album was released. 10/10

As a review for the album - it's one of The Cures finest works. From the dark era - been meaning to get this on vinyl for a very long time.The pressing I found was great (having only had an old CD that was notoriously not that great).A good buy indeed!

Their darkest album and all the more brilliant for it...

had this years back so was great to hear the early cure sound again with no vinyl clicks on what was probably my favourite album.A strange day was as good as ever and the popular 100yrs and hanging garden stand out as the oldie favourites.Disc 2 is nothing special containing some poorly recorded live tracks( but not awfull) from the period but what was nice was the studio demo songs some instrumentals and a good early version of hanging gdn,100 yrs plus a couple of little surprises.Probably worth paying the extra cash for the 2nd disc.

Great service, great album before they turned to pop