Wish – The Cure
It’s 1992 and I’ve just picked up my first Cure album. It’s ‘Wish’. I’d only heard High and Friday I’m In Love. Christmas will bring a stereo with a CD player, so for now it’s a tape on a mono cassette recorder. I was on holiday down near Glastonbury when I bought Wish, I remember listening to it on the car stereo hardly being able to hear it, not getting the chance for a proper listen until I got home.
Wish is an album about three things, a distinctly different response to Disintegration, relationships and not being afraid of using a wah wah pedal.
Open
The review of Wish from back in the day read “The album begins with The Cure drunk at a party.” I suspect somehow it’s something a little bit stronger. These days it could be viewed as an anxiety driven response to someone who finds such social events taxing.
Open is unusual as it’s the only song which isn’t about relationships with people, but alcohol and other substances. The guitars sound they they want to pull you in close and wrap around you like blanket, that bit too warm and too uncomfortable, like a fever is kicking in. As the song ends, it’s easy it imagine Bob collapsed in a heap on the floor puking his guts up as the camera pulls back slowly and begins to fade out.
Open feels a bit like it shouldn’t fit on the album, it could be perceived as a bridge between the darker sounds of Disintegration and the much lighter, brighter sounds on Wish.
Factoid I want to throw in but it doesn’t quite fit in: Open has an unusual guitar tuning, Bb Bb G F Bb G.
High
Perky and upbeat, The Cure were always good at knocking out a good upbeat pop song. This is a song that the band never quite managed to capture polished sound/atmosphere of the recorded version. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though.High is the dizzying sounds of a new relationship that capture the hearts of those involved. I’d been getting into music and stumbled across this when it was released, High was my introduction to The Cure.
Apart
A sharp contrast to the previous song, Apart is about two stubborn whose relationship is falling apart and if they just talked they could perhaps reconcile. A gentle and quiet song, whispered vocals, soft wind instruments and subtle guitar. Notably the guitars were recorded at a distinct distance, at least a room away from the microphone to give it more of a distant sound. These days I have much more appreciation for the quieter songs, younger me was looking for the fast, loud songs. This songs sits beautifully in the lush landscape of Wish.
From The Edge of the Deep Green Sea
A staple of live Cure gigs. This is the sprawling soundscape at the heart of Wish. A tale of repetition, regret and never finding what he’s looking for. I can’t really think how to describe this, because I can’t do it justice.
Wendy Time
W is for Wish, Wendy Time and Wah Wah. Here we see the wah wah getting a good bit of exercise. Someone trying to seduce Bob. It is often one of the more forgettable songs, it could easily have been a b-side. I could easily be replaced by This Twilight Garden if it didn’t feel close to Apart. Maybe Scared As You from Friday, or The Big Hand from A Letter To Elise? It’s always going to be difficult to find a song to follow From The Edge of the Deep Green. I remember a young Douglas coughing over the swearing in “Feel or follow or fuck, she said” when listening to it in the car when I got it, in case my parents heard it.
Doing The Unstuck
Another pop song, and one that is so upbeat and happy, I can see why the single release was abandoned in preference to A Letter To Elise to showcase a different sound on Wish. It’s not bad song, it’s anything but. The 12″ Version on “Join The Dots” is worth seeking out. Though destroying everything and starting again, seems an unusual way for celebrating being happy, then again is it?Think of people who are happy to have gotten out of a relationship that was making them miserable and the idea of a fresh start is blissful.
Friday I’m In Love
It’s the Cure’s brightest, happiest pop song. Bob’s voice is that bit higher and more cheerful sounding. If you try playing a long to the original and live versions, and you’ll be wondering why it sounds wrong playing along to the original but not the live version. The secret was that the recording was pitched up half a tone. It brought The Cure to a wider audience. There are die hard miseries who feel this is the Cure shitting on their hardcore fans. It’s not, it’s a brilliant pop song. The Cure never afraid to go from a devastating song to one that’s pure pop in the blink of an eye.
Trust
Another quiet one to cool down after all the excitement. Piano led, sombre, feelings of insecurity being admitted to, or is it an admission of guilt for cheating?
A Letter To Elise
This song has drawn criticism from some fans, partly because musically some of the patterns are reminiscent of ‘Pictures Of You’ from Disintegration, and lyrically pictures are swapped for a letter. It is a nice quieter paced bass led sounding tune. There is something about the guitars building the solo getting higher that speaks to me with this song.
The remixes of this are worth looking out the ‘Blue Mix’ from the 12″ / CD is particularly worthwhile, louder drums more plodding bass/synth sounds. There’s an “extended mix” kicking about with a load of synth strings on it which isn’t half bad either.
Cut
We’re back to heavier guitars and more Wah Wah, here we see a someone seeing the other side to someone in a relationship and how that person has changed and are cutting their losses. The wailing guitars displaying that energy, anger and frustration. A song that I think is quite underrated.
To Wish Impossible Things
For me this is the other song at the heart of Wish, the album’s opposite to From The Edge of the Depp Green sea. It’s musically hopeful, soft, gentle, lyrically he is feeling tired and had been looking for a certain feeling or experience, but never quite got there, all of this building towards the next song.
End
Here is someone who has reached that point in life where they’re giving up, because everything seems pointless and has been done before, putting things on the fire slowly, one by one and the fire gets bigger and bigger, yet it’s not cathartic, it’s an empty experience. At the time Robert was stating he’d done everything he wanted, and that he would record every Cure album as if it was the last.
Wish could be interpreted as someone going to a party (Open) meeting someone and being happy about it. (High), then it all goes wrong (Apart). On the rebound seeks random encounters (From The Edge of the Deep Green Sea). Approached by an older person (Wendy Time) then falling in love again with someone new (Doing The Unstuck and Friday I’m In Love), but oh no! It’s going wrong again (Trust) followed by lamentation (A Letter To Elise), it’s works! However the person is wrong for him (Cut) and then reflects on his past mistakes (To Wish Impossible Things) leaving the feeling that everything is always the same and pointless (End).
I don’t think it is but the pairings of positive and negative and opposing styles and sounds make it a great piece of work. I’ll end by taking a quick peek at the artwork.
The artwork for Wish is probably my favourite Cure artwork. Produced by Parched Art, of member of which is/was Cure guitarist Porl, now Pearl Thompson. I can’t quite put my finger on why it appeals to me.
