The Head on the Door [EXTRA TRACKS] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

The Cure

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 8, 2006)
• Original Release Date: August 8, 2006
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B000GGSM76
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #25,236 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

• This item is part of The The Cure Deluxe Reissues Series.

Track Listings

1. Inbetween Days [Disc 1]

2. Kyoto Song [Disc 1]

3. 10. Sinking [Disc 1]

4. Disc 2

5. 1. Inbetween Days (RS Home demo) [Disc 2]

6. Inwood (RS Home demo) [Disc 2]

7. Push (RS Home demo) [Disc 2]

8. . Innsbruck (RS Home demo) [Disc 2]

9. Stop Dead (Studio demo) [Disc 2]

10. Mansolidgone (Studio demo) [Disc 2]

11. Screw (Studio demo) [Disc 2]

12. Lime Time (Studio demo) [Disc 2]

13. Kyoto Song (Studio demo) [Disc 2]

14. A Few Hours After This... (Studio demo) [Disc 2]

15. Six Different Ways (Studio demo) [Disc 2]

16. A Man Inside My Mouth (Studio demo) [Disc 2]

17. A Night Like This (Studio demo) [Disc 2]

18. The Exploding Boy (Studio demo) [Disc 2]

19. Close To Me (Studio demo) [Disc 2]

20. The Baby Screams (live bootleg) [Disc 2]

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This is The Cure's 6th studio album--brilliantly-fused brooding, artistic experimentation with pop instincts to propel the band onto the American charts for the first time.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Cure for musical ennui , February 14, 2007

By	Alison Ross (Atlanta, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Whenever I'm mourning the death of our old friend, Good Music, I just slap any Cure CD onto the disc player. The Cure is the definitive "80s and beyond" band. Their mercurial pop melodies mingled with singer Robert Smith's Poe-meets-Rimbaud-meets-Dr. Seuss lyrical musings and plaintive wail make The Cure a truly mesmerizing presence. All of its albums are stunningly solid efforts, including the recent "The Cure" and "Bloodflowers," but 1985's "Head on the Door" is its most intriguingly layered offering, serving up an experimental foray into various musical styles; bits of flamenco, Japanese new wave, funk, hard rock, and even jazz sneak their way onto this magical album. The best part is, the Cure manages all the musical genre-melding without surrendering its trademark surrealistic sound.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Cure Get Their Foot in the Door (of American Pop Culture), August 14, 2006

By	Thomas D. Ryan "American Hit Network" (New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After releasing the bleak and unconvincing collection of songs called "The Top," something extraordinary happened to Robert Smith. In a manner that was almost completely unpredictable, Smith abandoned his own prejudice against acoustic instruments, hummable melodies and `pop' arrangements. The result was "The Head on the Door," the most accessible Cure album yet. Maybe it was because Smith finally found bandmates who were willing to wear their hair in the same ridiculous bat's-nest style that he was known for (the photos are hysterical), but there is a simpatico sensibility to the look and the sound of this band that makes "The Head on the Door" the most fully realized collection of songs released by any incarnation of the Cure.
Things are immediately promising when the lead-off track is as compelling as "Inbetween Days." The subject matter is rather typical for Smith, dwelling on his own misery, but here he actually manages to make the listener feel sympathetic as he extrapolates past self-loathing and toward genuine emotional expression. "The Kyoto Song" regresses back to the bleak hopelessness that Smith lapses into too easily ("A nightmare of you, of death in the pool, wakes me up at quarter to three..."), but "The Blood" once again finds something deeper than hopelessness for its subject, utilizing religious imagery as a metaphor for dichotomy, and it is all the better for it.
"Push" may be the most hook-laden song ever recorded by the Cure, allowing over two minutes for the music to develop and set up the vocal melody. Tonally, it falls somewhere between the Psychedelic Furs and early U2, which makes it a perfect snapshot of `80s pop music. Just as convincing is "Close to Me," which utilizes a maddeningly simplistic keyboard riff and drum-machine rhythm to express self-doubt, while unconsciously convincing you to dance. Coming on the heels of such bleak fare as "Pornography" and "The Top," it is a bit of a revelation to hear Robert Smith find his expressive voice in settings that are so pop-music friendly, but that is exactly why "The Head on the Door" is so accessible, and why it holds up so well even after twenty years. The bonus disk offers an additional eighteen tracks of demo recordings and live material.
B+ Tom Ryan

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Re-issued Masterpiece!, August 13, 2006

By	anthonious "anthonious" (Rancho Cordova, CA United States) - See all my reviews

The Head on the Door may just be the best of the Cure's re-issued catalog yet. Being a long standing fan of the band, I have owned every release, in every known format, vinyl, cassette, analog CD... finally songs like INBETWEEN DAYS, KYOTO SONG, CLOSE TO ME, and A NIGHT LIKE THIS, leap from the speakers with the sound they deserve. The bonus tracks are a great concept too. Instead of each track being a different version of a song that has been remixed 1000 times, Robert Smith is actually trying to show the progress of each record as it was taking shape. Far more bands should follow in these steps... All of these new discs are must haves for fans of the band. Don't listen to the reviews of people fretting about re-touched vocals or lost song intro's... Damn Man! Get a life, kiss a girl. This series is a true gift from Robert to those of us who have taken the journey with the band in our own ways.