Bloodflowers

The Cure | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 15, 2000)
• Original Release Date: February 15, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B00004GOVO
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (269 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,008 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #49 in Music > Alternative Rock > Goth & Industrial > Goth
  • #93 in Music > Alternative Rock > New Wave & Post-Punk > Post-Punk

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

No one revels in the sumptuous pleasures of melancholy like Robert Smith, the Cure's leading mopemeister. In Smith's world, it is always raining, comfort and happiness are fleeting, love is epic and torturous. On Bloodflowers, the band's 11th studio album, his lyrical prowess continues to astound. Considering the subject matter, Smith's always managed to steer clear of the clichéd, bad-high-school-poetry trap, and on Bloodflowers, the imagery is some of his most vivid and stabbing. On "The Loudest Sound," a story about a couple who are, of course, growing apart, he sings of their tension: "She dreams him as a boy / And he loves her as a girl / And side by side in the silence without a single word / It's the loudest sound I ever heard." The music grows out of the same dichromatic marriage of love's eternal hope and heartbreak's inevitable bleakness. Layers of the Cure's signature ethereal, buoyant guitar licks are paced at the momentum of a lava lamp, while melodies lurk only in an understated synth or distorted guitar. None of the songs scream "radio hit" like Wish's "Friday I'm in Love" anomaly; and although Bloodflowers is less abstract, comparisons to Disintegration are easily drawn. If this really threatens to be the last Cure album--no, really, the real end--it's a vision of loneliness and loveliness, a low note rarely surpassed in beauty and breadth. --Beth Massa

Product Description

Austalian version of the new wave goth legend's 2000 release with the bonus track 'Coming Up'. Standard jewel case. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

407 of 421 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Cure Leaves Pop Sound to Return to its Roots, January 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Bloodflowers (Audio CD)

An album of great depth and commendable sound, Bloodflowers swirls with mid-to-slow songs (completely lacking the fast, obvious singles that Wish gave us) and is a return to the Cure's dark side. The album is cut from the same mold as Disintegration and Faith, though it is not a re-make by any means, and bears a hint of the mood of Seventeen Seconds. For WMS fans, think Treasure, Want, Numb, and Bare mixed-up with a splash of Jupiter Crash for lyric-mood, though Bloodflowers as a whole is not as diverse in mood, sound, or style as WMS was. "There is no if" is probably the album's most beautiful love song, while "39" and others express Robert's ever-present phobia of losing his touch. If you are looking for cheerful pop songs, try Japanese Whispers or The Head on the Door instead; this recording is for those who find beauty in the bleak, depth in philosophical ponderings, and appreciation in honestly-expressed emotion. As always, Robert's lyrics are among the best in the business, and the more one listens to Bloodflowers, the more one will appreciate its brilliance.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars gorgeously grey, February 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Bloodflowers (Audio CD)

sometimes i think to myself, "shouldn't i have outgrown the cure?" being in high school in the mid-80's, the cure and the smiths and depeche mode were everything. it was all so cool. but gosh i'm almost 30 now - you'd think the cure would be faded adolescent memories. well, with a great set of tunes like bloodflowers, i realize i could never tire of the poetry of robert smith. i've read a few reviews which tag this album as "the logical follow up to disentegration" - and i agree...it is. the mood, the dense atmosphere, is very disentegration. the two main differences that help the albums compliment each other rather than making the new one sound like rehash is that this album is even less pop - there's no "love song" (i remember feeling back then that robert had really sold out with that tune), no "pictures of you", or "lullaby". and that's not a bad thing - my favorite cure had absolutely no radio potential. the other noticable difference is that bloodflowers is very concise...very direct. disentegration was much more meandering and sometimes overly poetic. the four stars - because there will never be another faith or pornography (actually my favorite cure is from the out of print "cure in orange" concert movie). this is definitely their best music since 1989 but nothing compared to the old classic stuff.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A solid return to form, February 16, 2000

By 

Michael H. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bloodflowers (Audio CD)

While many reviewers have compared this album to the Cure's classic '89 album "Disintegration" (which is, to my mind, the Cure's seminal work), I have a hard time understanding such comparisons. "Bloodflowers" is indeed a dark album -- but so is the majority of the Cure's work, save the awful "Wild Mood Swings" and some cuts from "Wish." The Cure's latest features most prominently layers and layers of harsh, ugly and highly intense guitar riffs. Sure, the classic cure melodic style is mixed in, but at least half of the songs on this disc are brutal, cutting tunes. (Watching me Fall; 39; Bloodflowers; Maybe Someday -- though this one mixes in a certain pop element as well). These tracks, to my mind, are quite reminiscent of the louder tracks from "Wish." They are also, save track 4, *very* effective. The remainder of the songs feature a blend of softer percussion with Robert's now-classic simple, emotional guitar melodies. Each one is really quite beautiful, with somber lyrics that have really touched me (particularly "The Loudest Sound" and "There is no if..") There is not a weak song on this album, save perhaps "Maybe Someday." The other eight are thickly layered, raw, and highly emotional. Personally, I would have liked to hear more keyboards on this disc; as it is, they are merely a background element (another factor distinguishing this album from "Disintegration," where lush keyboards abound). Ultimatley, a powerful return to form, with a raw edge that really gets beneath the skin.