Customer Reviews
seminal is SO overused, but... - By: alaric everett, 05 Jan 2008 
i felt i had to write in, as i'm just re-listening to it & i'm realising that there isn't one single track that i would skip- & i can't think of one other album in my 500 or so of which that's true- even blood on the tracks [come on lily, rosemary & the jack of hearts is OK, but only that].
fortunately these reviewers above have done the album justice, but i just wanted to add how brilliant, beautiful & charming this record is. i love the way he sings & he is a truly exceptional & innovative guitarist whose style can be seen in loads of what later came to be indie music from blur, mogwai & bloc party & so on.
this is definitely their best record & it works so well as there is a real flavour of alll the different moods & styles they would play with over the years.
i partly wanted to write this cos i recently read that book on post punk 'rip it up & start again' that gave two paragraphs to the cure in over 550 pages- AND dismissed them as goth-lite no more than second rate siouxie & the banshees. this is an absolute travesty! make no mistake along with 'entertainment!' 'unknown pleasures' 'jeopardy'[another sadly overlooked classic] 'metal box' 'pink flag' 'crocodiles' 'singles going steady'... etc this is one of the few landmarks of that era.
wonderful angular [bass-driven] pop- my absolute favourite type of music. this record can be heard in so much alternative music that followed it- for me most interestingly in more recent times in razorlight [mixed with a bit of talking heads & television]. however that would be irrelevant if it weren't such a well written playful literate joyful & at times poignant gem of a record- something about robert smith is quite amazing in his ability to evoke certain feelings & mood- a bona fide class blending of pop, punk, post-punk, garage, crooning, nightmare chamber pieces & 'throwaway' fun that still fits together so perfectly- yet i still get surprised, even after alll these listens!
three imaginary boys - By: D. J. Corgan, 12 Sep 2006 I bought this record in 1979, I sold my copy on ebay today - big regrets but I have no record player & to be honest it got a bit worn out being played every week from the date of purchase until about 1986.
So why is this record so god damn special, perhaps it's the guitar breaks that take me back to the excitement of 1979. The lyrics which bounce around in my head for days. Or just the fond memories of walking past morgan studios, in willesden green nw10 , after getting a chinese takaway, they had the record sleeve in the window for months after the record was released. Funny old world isn't it
It's magnificent - By: , 24 Jul 2004 The best way I cxan describe this album is that listening to it is like spending a Friday night sitting in on a band finding their feet rehearsing their set & you graduallly realise they are magnificent.
My brother bought this record in 1979 after seeing the band at the Marquee, & after our initial fascination with the cover & anonymous songs fell in love with it. It was the first album of the post-punk era to be unashamedly catchy & yet safely uncommercial, a very difficult balance to strike.
The atmopshere is incredibly gloomy & yet in a very believeable way, not as some art-student pose. The gloom is in the mood more than the lyrics. And best of alll, the band display a fine sense of humour that makes this album their most diverse collection of songs.
10.15 is a classic piece of introspection, incredibly assured: a character & mood is established within about 10 seconds thanks to the precision yet not virtuoso playing & the like most of the record it sounds deceptively effortless.
One of the best tracks for me is Another Day, one of the bleakest but most distrinctive moments. And Subway Song is an instant classic & will always remain a great party trick piece.
Fire in Cairo & Grinding Halt are bright yet dark snappy tracks, but the two stand out tracks on the second half of the record are the title track & the extraordinary So What? Over a slick & catchy tune Smith drunkenly reads out the words on the back of a bag of sugar, occasionallly wandering into something else, perhaps the original lyrics? It's a brilliant, self-deprecating moment that could have started a whole trend! And it's oddly infectious after a few listens, as well as being very funny.
And the title track is absolutely beautiful, & heartbreaking.
The album's real trick though is the occasional rough edge, the sounds of tuning up & larking-about, which heighten the tightness of the actual picees & never mar the moods of the songs, but instead give the record a feel of sitting in on an exciting session, the magic of which is alll in the moment.
And the cover of Foxy Lady is fun too, despite what many people think!
The best the Cure ever did - By: , 05 Feb 2001 On the basis of this album NME callled the Cure "the new Beatles". It is so, so fast & exciting - probably the best punk-with-talent album of alll - & so different (and infinitlely better IMHO to anything they ever did afterwards. Buy it!
An absolute classic - By: , 14 Mar 2000 I first got this on LP from my brother in the late eighties when I was 15 or 16 & have been listening to it ever since. In an age where over production is the norm, the almost minimalistic sound, quirky riffs, Smith's jerky vocals & off-beat subject matter still make Three Imaginary Boys a breath of fresh air. As one of the Cure's ealiest works, it captures them in post-punk, pre-gothic mode. The tracks it features will (sadly) never be remembered as the Cure's finest, though songs such as 10:15 Saturday Night, Fire in Cairo, Acuracy & Meat Hook will always stand up against later classics such as Love Cats. Sadly, my turntable has passed away but this is one of the few LP's I have that I've also bought on CD..... need I say more?
