Customer Reviews

Japanese Whispers

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Some of the harsh criticism here from the darkling seeds is unwarranted and shows their lack of range, while this release showed the band increasing their musical boundaries. True that it is more pop I suppose, but it was hardly mainstream at the time. "The Walk" is the closest they ever came to synth pop, but it still had a haunting tone and mysterious subject matter. So did "LaMent", the tale of a dead young girl whose body is seen drifting under a bridge; the corpse is poetically described as the "ice cream river body" probably describing the diffuse, blurry way the submerged body would look - this song feels a bit like "Charlotte Sometimes without the bass. Also dark and mysterious is the nervous, paranoid "The Upstairs Room". Hold on, I'm getting a theme here. This album may have been bouncy and had some beat but it was still quite morose and way left of center. In fact, most Cure fans I know loved this collection of 3 singles. For sure, it wasn't there best, more of a short, sweet anomaly... but certainly not bad.

"Let's Go to Bed" was maybe their 1st U.S. hit before "Head on the Door". It's fun and takes a playful approach to sex; it was a refreshing shift from their previous stuff. "Lovecats" is one of the most refreshing hit records ever written with its charming standup bass usage, boppy rhythm and Robert actually doing a bebop scat thing of some sort... a classic by any standard.

Stated shortly, this was a very strong release that just happened to be a departure from previous releases. And here's a note to Rozzy and others who are probably a bunch of 13-year-old Goths (nothing against 13-year-old Goths... I may have been one)... I was alive at the time this came out and actually to listening to it as it was released - not some modern collector looking back 20 years after the fact. This album was enjoyed by Cure fans at the time who loved the blackest moments from before but needed a change just to keep the music alive. Variety is the spice, ain't it?

"Japanese Whispers" is an album that marks a departure point for the Cure. This is where the music was starting to become more commercial, after the bleak, tormented, soul-wrenching anguish of "Faith" and "Pornography".

"Let's Go to Bed" was Robert Smith's attempt to write "a silly pop song". Apparently Smith hated the song so much he wanted to release it under a pseudonym. Luckily he was talked out of it.

Every Cure fan will know the hit single "Lovecats" of course. At the same time this album came out the Cure film-clips were starting to look more exciting, thanks to the creativity of Tim Pope. In the clip to "Lovecats" Robert Smith doesn't look the least bit depressed. "The Walk" is one of those songs that sticks in my head. It's very 1983.

"Japanese Whispers" is a neat little package of songs. This is one of the first steps in the evolution of the Cure musically, after being fashionably depressing, then darkly depressing, then morbidly depressing. It takes the Cure out of the murky swamp of despair into the light of wider acclaim. (Although these songs still appealed to alternative listeners.)

This was the first album to prove that the Cure isn't all gloom and doom. They showed a quirky side too.

I honestly don't know how terrible it must have been to have your
gothy mascara run (from the tears) after hearing The Cure daring to deviate from their one-dimentional gloomy course before becoming a parody of themselves and release the refreshingly lighthearted, fun single "Let's Go To Bed".
I'm sure it was a bitter pill to swallow (giggle).

Don't get me wrong. Seventeen Seconds is my favorite Cure album but I think this collection of synth-heavy songs should not be dismissed just because of its' not-so-goth pop (as opposed to their familliar goth pop) status.

Sire records issued the six song The Walk EP (later they issued Japanese Whispers & The Top), which is basically the same as JW minus "Lovecats" and "Language".
I listened to that tape untill I wore it out.

Some of these songs are up there with their best material.
"The Upstairs Room" is brilliantly catchy and original.
"Just One Kiss" is chillingly perfect Cure and would not have been out of place on Disintigration (same goes for "Lament").

"Let's Go To Bed", "The Walk" and "The Dream" are all great catchy idiosyncratic pop songs.

Their "It's got to be jazz" sloganeering on the "Lovecats"
single sleeve may have been a bit of a mis-step, but proved enjoyable all the same.
As "Speak My Language" is a starting reference point for boozy Smith ramblings.
A fine little stop-gap release!

Trying to shrug off the unwarranted "Goth" tag that saddled the Cure after the one-two-three punch of 17 Seconds, Faith and Pornography, singer-songwriter-leader Robert Smith recorded this series of ultra-pop singles, most of which work very well as such. And those fans who complain that the Cure "sold out" by recording these songs only need to look to their debut album and the few singles recorded around that time. "Boys Don't Cry" in particular is as undeniably "pop" as anything they have ever recorded. Japanese Whispers should rightly be seen as more than just a stop-gap, or a novelty. It is precisely this, the lighter side of the Cure, that makes the darker, more serious material even more so. These songs are at turns winsome and fluffy, and (lyrically, at least ) a bit more esoteric and quirky. What holds this release back from a five star rating is the atrocious sound quality ( hopefully the re-release next year will tidy that up ) and the fact that the first ten or so seconds of "Just One Kiss" have been taken out ( a discordant drum and piano intro that I distinctly remember from the cassette edition that Sire Records released in 1983 .) As a whole, Japanese Whispers is a nice addition to your Cure collection, a breath of fresh air, and the perfect antidote to the sometimes stifling and claustrophobic work that preceded it.

Proceeding here as a duet, Robert Smith and Lol Tolhurst utilize sythesizers and sounds of The Orient to make "Japanese Whispers," which contains only eight songs, most of which are less than four minutes long (in fact, the entire album times in at less than 30 minutes). I've never particularly loved the "silly" side of The Cure. Although "Let's Got to Bed," "The Walk," and "Lovecats" are fun, they are not representative of the songs that make them a great band, although I appreciate the sharp departure from the all too bleak "Pornography." I really do like "Just One Kiss" and "La Ment" which could easily have fit well on other albums.

"Japanese Whispers" is not one of "The Cure's best, but it is quite enjoyable.

In 1982, The Cure released the brilliant Pornography - one of the most agressively unhappy albums ever recorded. How do you possibly follow up such an album? With a series of poppy and often goofy singles, of course! Japanese Whispers collects those singles and their b-sides together, and it makes for a fascinating and entertaining listen.

Japanese Whispers is a must-have, if just for "The Upstairs Room," one of my all-time favorite Cure songs. It deserves to be right along side the classic singles included here. "Let's Go To Bed," "The Lovecats" and "The Walk" are the Cure at their best, and the other material is not too shabby either, especially "Just One Kiss." It's all vintage 80's Cure, and worth picking up.

This is a little different than the darker previous albums.It's really a breath of fresh air. If you are a fan of Depeche Mode or New Order, you will really love this album.It's a clever mix of japanese noises, I guess thats why it's called "Japanese Whispers". If you live in the U.S.,you won't find this c.d. in stores. Even if the c.d. is a little shorter than 30 min., it really is a great techno-alternative c.d.Please do yourself a favor and pick it up!

This album should be held in the highest regard. It spotlights some of Robert Smith's best songwriting skills, and some of the bands most truly "wild mood swings". Lament has always been one of my favorite songs. This album should be remastered, re-packaged, and held high up on a pedastal!

One of my favorite albums by The Cure. Robert Smith calls it idiot pop, I call it brilliance. These are the singles and accompanying b-sides. A must have for any fan.

Up to this point in the Cure discography if you haven't thrust yourself from this mortal coil due to the bleak collection of albums before this one, congratulations here's your prize. Japanese Whispers is about the closest thing I've heard to The Cure tampering with Synth Pop techniques, and I have to say I'm saddened that they never really did an album like it again. Although this album consists of only eight songs clocking in at just over a half an hour, it's one of the best collections of songs used seamlessly to fit the eerie mood conveyed by this album, and you'll definitely appreciate this if you're into the more artsy, "out-there", and eccentric side of The Cure. I liken this album to The Cure's "Head on the Door" LP, as it's really a work apart from aetypical Cure albums. Albums like "Japanese Whispers" and "Head on the Door" are examples of one thing that drives me crazy about The Cure, how they go on musical tangents on certain albums, making something incredibly unique, but then you realize it was a phase and chances are you'll end up getting a slew of "Wild Mood Swings" before getting anything else worth a damn. I'm starting to rant about WMS again...Where was I? Japanese Whispers is one of the best Cure albums on the market, and I highly recommend getting it and "Head on the Door" to hear two very different directions that The Cure went in around a small period of time.

Key Songs: Let's Go To Bed, Lament, The LoveCats