A little something nice to start the summer (linktastic edition)

If you know me, you know I love the Cure. I was 14 when Andy and I first started sneaking tapes from his older brother's room and dubbing copies. It started with songs like "Boys Don't Cry" and Plastic Passion but I soon became literally infatuated with the their then, most recent release Wish (1992). It is still my favorite album--and I suppose that makes me unique as a fan. Most site their 89 album Disintegration as their best, and I agree that it is an amazing album, but Wish just captures my adolescence so perfectly. The songs were easy to play on guitar; I was only just learning. The guitarist Porl Thompson had a unique sound that I fawned over and tried to imitate--found most prominently on cuts like "From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea" and "Cut." And the tunes were, for the most part (and despite the "gloom and doom" persona that Robert's hair and make-up may have incited from casual observers of the posters on my wall [parents]), the band was at least 50% pop. The pop tracks were fun to sing and the intense songs were the perfect foil for my mild brand of teenage angst. Both songs were fun to play. In many ways, Only Anything (the greatest teenage band ever to have not gotten big in Tucson circa 93-97) was born of The Cure.

In 96 the Cure released Wild Mood Swings which became an album full of songs that Tina and I now consider the soundtrack of our early courtship (especially "Mint Car" and "Jupiter Crash"). 2000 saw the release of Bloodflowers and later in 2003 they released an eponymous album. Both didn't connect with me as much as their previous work had--which is likely due to changing tastes. Still, a day rarely goes by that I don't hear a Cure song or two.

A new album is due in September--their 13th studio album (Next year is the band's 30th year together so there are other exciting things rumored to be on the release horizon), but they are going to release a new single every month until then on the 13th of that month--kinda cool.

This first single "The Only One" is great. It reminds me of one of the reasons that I started liking the band to begin with--the pop love. Check out Porl's head tattoos! Woah!