This Album Is Underrated! THE CURE's The Top [Album Review]

Andee Blacksugar offers a defense of The Cure's oft-maligned fifth album.
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[@cybertaiga9534]

This is honestly the best review I have seen of any Cure album. It does not get better than this. The way you take a historical approach and give this album a proper context is what makes your review so convincing and appealing. Undeniably, the best I have seen to date and I love your usage of various adjectives in describing every song here. You are a genuine admirer of The Cure's music.

[@KowankoMusic]

thank you so much! happy 35th birthday to The Top!

[@ozzygonzalez8858]

Q

[@SK-sm9mn]

@@KowankoMusicIt’s an utterly superb album review. I rewatch it at regular intervals

[@todd9524]

I always like the start of the song "The Top" with the sound of a child's top toy getting wound up, then ends with it spinning out and falling. Love this album! RIP Andy Anderson.

[@russellmurray3964]

Thank you for a great and thorough review of this neglected masterpiece by The Cure. The Top has always been one of my favorite Cure albums and I've never understood the critical animus toward it as being a "lesser" or "stopgap" Cure album. The way I interpret the album is as a musical journey through the universe of The Cure, with Robert Smith playing the part of the carnival barker on "Shake Dog Shake", inviting the listener inside the tent with "follow me to where the real fun is". Each song unfolds like a self-contained Cure short story, culminating in the final stop along the tour with the title track, where the listener gets the full measure of the alienation and loneliness that accompanies The Cure experience. The title track is even more powerful when we find out that the line "'it's Jesus brilliant', you used to laugh" refers to "it's Jesus brilliant" being a familiar catchphrase of former band member Simon Gallup, and the spinning top that is the band has cast off an essential band member, with the plea "please come back all of you" aiming squarely for Simon's return (which he did on the next album, The Head On The Door). Some fun facts about The Top: "The Empty World" was a sequel to "Charlotte Sometimes", and "Bananafishbones" was based on a short story by J.D. Salinger.

[@KowankoMusic]

Love this comment and love meeting other people who are passionate about this misunderstood gem of an album!

[@Kdschaak]

This comment is Jesus Brilliant! Thanks for the insight.

[@clovispatten4039]

This was the first Cure album I owned. I really liked the sound and playfulness of it. It is simular to previous albums but progressed from them. RIP to Andy Anderson

[@spiffy8576]

Shake Dog Shake is probably a top 10 Cure song for me.

[@kentune38]

Great review. Bought it at the time and always rated it. You're absolutely right - it's a leap beyond single note cul-de-sac Smith had got himself into with Pornography. It brims with invention and pop sensibility while still capturing the bleak sensibilities showcased on Faith & 17 seconds. The more psychotic songs such as 'Shake Dog Shake' and 'Give Me It' remain in the mind suggesting careful crafting rather than disposable improvisation. Maybe what we hear is a final unification of the way the Cure started - that first album is brim full of taut pop tunes and marrying this to Smith's more gothic tendencies is something he's uniquely successful in doing.

[@leewhizzkid]

the last studio album they did for fucking ages that wasn't out & out pop. i like it.

[@jasonsmith5428]

My favorite Cure Album..Bravo great 👍 Doc /Review

[@willlovell7289]

Thank you for making this. The Top has always been one of my favourite albums. Truly a neglected masterpiece

[@KowankoMusic]

thank you for watching! - andee

[@katze7]

Thank you for this thoughtful and thorough review. Even The Cure’s own website maligns this album and I just don’t get it. It’s such a creative and fruitful time for The Cure - experimental, but yet their signature sound was really starting to jell. Pearl returning to the band at this time was significant in this, IMO. I really love everything from this era, especially the B-sides.

[@jjupitercrash]

18:11 the line “stiff as toys and tall as men” is actually a line from the book charlotte sometimes! i read it the other day and found a lot of familiar phrases (like “splintered in her head” + the lyrics to charlotte sometimes, of course). it was really good! it’s a children’s book, but it handles some darker themes and can be enjoyed at any age. to anyone who hasn’t read it yet, i’d definitely recommend it !

[@clumsiii]

i got this on tape when i was 14 in 1990 and it was an immediate favorite. forever burned in my mind and vocal chords

[@johnklein7127]

This is by far one of the best cure albums.. it's textures are superb..

[@BraxtonWages]

Never understood the hate towards this album. It is literally the blueprint of every Cure album that would come after. At that time Cure were still growing and Smith found his niche in this album with dark heavy songs contrasted with pop songs. The song The Snakepit on Kiss Me is like a remake of The Top’s Wailing Wall. The Top is intensely dark and disturbing but also silly, infectious and fun.

[@KowankoMusic]

Exactly!

[@KarenKayH]

Best review ever for The Top. So well done!!!

[@KowankoMusic]

cheers!

[@jacqueshebert5604]

One of my favorite cure album!

[@looking-glass-girl]

thank you, amazing review & video. "the top" is awesome ❤

[@tobiasseibel6467]

Truly Genius short documentary

[@matthewreese8064]

This is my favorite Cure album.

[@RichStoz]

A superb overview. Bravo

[@olgak4911]

Thank you so much! I absolutely love The Top, and I find your review of this album spot on, it is truly one of the most articulated and detailed reviews out there. I wish people talked more about The Top.

[@KowankoMusic]

thank you for your kind words! it's been great meeting fellow Top Fans

[@vivamia]

Excellent review!!! I remember buying this album in May ‘84 when it came out in the U.S. A few months before it’s release I bought the 12 inch of The Caterpillar with Happy the Man and Throw Your Foot Away on the B side. Robert Smith was alll over the place musically after Pornography, in a good way. I didn’t care much for Lovecats when it came out, but loved the Japanese Whispers compilation and his work with The Glove. The Top was another big change in direction in such a short period but I really embraced it. I still write my T’s in the style of The Tops artwork to this day! People can’t make it out sometimes, but that was something else I liked, the artwork. I think Porl did that.

[@KowankoMusic]

Great testimony! Yah absolutely adore this whole period in Robert's creative journey

[@RadioactiveKetchup]

I bought this album when I was really young, and I don't think I got anywhere past Shake Dog Shake, but I always remembered it. Now, after going back to it, its realy one of my favs from the cure and I think its really special. Its cool to see a video on it because i really think its underappreciated, even if I don't think its perfect (I really dislike Give Me It)

[@karenw.7809]

Thank you for this! I've long loved this album and it's nice to see it getting some much deserved love!

[@KowankoMusic]

thank you for watching! love seeing my fellow Top fans come out of the woodwork.

[@PapaAllfonsoTerzo]

I Simply Adore this record.

[@miketunky2277]

Great review. The Top will always be my favourite Cure album. I bought it when it was released in 1984 and 38 years later have never grown tired of it’s magic. After this album I think they lost their edge and mystery. I just missed the Top tour but it was wonderful to hear them playing the whole album at Hammersmith, London in 2014.

[@daniell9977]

Thank you for this! The Top has always been my favourite Cure album. I actually remember listening to the world premier of it on CFNY in Toronto. It has a dream-like, experimental quality. I attended the Top tour concert with my brother at The Concert Hall in Toronto....honestly one of the happiest memories of my life.

[@KowankoMusic]

thank you for your feedback! - andee

[@KlausBahnhof]

Hearing The Top for the first time felt like discovering some exceptionally rare treasure. Your review touches on all the reasons it remains beloved by so many of us to this day. It's Smith's most Bowie-esque album, especially The Empty World which reminds me of the song She's Got Medals from his debut in 1967. Also, many thanks for including the delightful Throw Your Foot in the credits. Easily one of The Cure's very best b-sides, and that is no small feat (feet?)

[@KowankoMusic]

Why thank you for your lovely comment! It was worth it to make this video just to find out how many other smart fans of The Top are out there

[@beecreationslabs4815]

Fantastic! Thanks, Sir.

[@WalkTheNight]

Bananafishbones is manic af, I love it; fave song on the record. Also love that you closed off with the album's best b-side.

[@tbwatch88]

you hit it out of the park with this one, mate. love The Top. far & away the most underrated Cure LP. it may be the most sadly neglected album by any major so-called 80's band. can't wait to see what/if they'll do next. ditto MBV.

[@KowankoMusic]

cheers! yeah i'm just glad RS gave it the proper deluxe reissue treatment it deserved!

[@inaminute1826]

Remarkable and my thoughts exactly but also more insight than I would of did for sure. This review is 10/10 (the song The Top is such a mood. So dark .....to say the least very much a favorite)

[@basehead617]

it has to be in their top 10 songs

[@HerveBoisde]

Amazingly complete and entertaining review. I've always thought the songs were great but they were let down by the brittle and claustrophobic sounding production. But even the production is an authentic reflection of the eccentric freakout mentality of the band, and especially Smith at that time.

[@KowankoMusic]

good points, thank yoU!

[@cybertaiga9534]

Magnificent review. I second whatever you said. As a hardcore Cure devotee, The Top is one of the most special albums in The Cure's catalogue. This is where The Cure became truly colourful, experimental and multidimensional. Also, it is very close to being Robert Smith's solo record. Except for drums, he played all the instruments and even co-produced the album. Lol Tolhurst and Andy Anderson, although vital members, were more or less like session musicians on this project.

[@trippyfra6051]

The sound at the begin of the title track actually is a spinner top, and that's amazing. However this album is a nonsensical masterpiece. I absolutely love it! P.s. Rest in peace Andy Anderson

[@russellmurray3964]

I've read that it took an entire day in the studio to get the top sound recorded properly, just spinning the top over and over again trying to get the sound that was in Robert Smith's head.

[@pabloci5545]

I feel very identified with your review. It´s a great album because it all depended on nearly only one person, and that person was Robert Smith, and at that particular time of his life. When you are young and talented you can be in the group of inconformists, moving all the time from one place to another, seeking for new experiences, sounds, relationships, an sensations RObert was always part of this group of people, and a record like The Top es the result. Letting your influences, ideas, and feelings fly without remorse... What a truly great state of mind for an artist!

[@michaeljaye8776]

You nailed the song descriptions, especially Bananafishbones.

[@LucLauck]

AWESOME! I think it was one of the best cure videos i've seen in a while. Thank you.

[@KowankoMusic]

thank u!

[@rebor9832]

Nice review. The 'torture sounds' as an intro to the final song I recognize as a 'Humming Top' listen at 53 seconds kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6e1launjs6dnbc But then starting the top more slowly. Haven't heard these songs for over 35 years. Thanx

[@pequalsa]

Great goob on this review! The Top was my intro to The Cure around 1986 after my bro picked it up on cassette. However, The Caterpillar was the first song I heard as it was on side 2 when I put it on. I was instantly taken by the odd songs and use on multiple instruments.

[@sabrinagibson3197]

The Top was so wacked out, I loved it, one of the first cure records I actually owned. I would endlessly play it. You're a Curefan's delight.

[@KowankoMusic]

woohooo thank you!

[@michaeljaye8776]

It sounds like the druggiest Cure album. Not avant garde, but very odd/strange sounds and melodies. Top 3 for me.

[@1974dormouse]

I 100% agree with the title of this video

[@thomasford5813]

Excellent review. Thoughtful, comprehensive, well edited and I really appreciated the pre Top history. I was a teenager in the mid 80s and The Cure's albums from The Top to Wish made a huge impact on my life, especially Disintegration. What a legacy of music!

[@KowankoMusic]

Thank you and I concur!

[@thomasford5813]

@@KowankoMusic please review every Cure album, whenever you can find the time of course. 🤗 Okay, let's compromise, at least Head, Kiss, Disin & Wish, PLEASE

[@HeyBulldog-Beatles-Tribute]

Many many thanks for that rewiew Black sugar! I'm really agree with you, The top is one of the best Cure album ever, and really underatted! ;-) Could you please trig on the subtitles in this video (on your creation studio parameters)? It would be easier to understand all for Non-English fans (as I am...) ;-) Cheers! Friendly from France

[@efwaves4665]

This was awesome. Thank you for this excellent review. And, to the ones that don’t know this album, it’s masterpiece. Give it a listen and you won’t regret it.

[@KowankoMusic]

many thanks

[@adrianokury]

Cure's trajectory is giant... strange music spanning decades, zillions of sales, classic tracks, style changing. I started listening to the band with 17 seconds, then my fave Pornography, etc. The Top phase for me is highlighted in the black live album. And by sheer luck they stopped by here in Brazil for a few gigs.

[@basehead617]

The title track is absolutely beautiful!! I don’t know why i never see any cure fans mention this song.. it has a seventeen seconds feel to it but more lush

[@something_in_the_radiator1665]

this video deserves more views. i love The Top. well done on this review.

[@KowankoMusic]

many thanks! good to find so many fans of this album

[@DisjectaMembra]

Wonderful Andee! Comprehensive, insightful and thoroughly enjoyable. Great work on compiling archival footage too.

[@hellterskeltor]

Very good review as a fan of the cure of 40 plus years I'm happy too see the top album have the justice it deserves and it's such a great album..love it.

[@mommaluna4211]

I love this album! Bananafishbones is my favorite song! Thank you for this❤I’m totally fangilling and I’m 49!

[@KowankoMusic]

wonderfully loopy tune, that one

[@nunovicentemello2393]

One of the best album reviews I've seen. Not just what you talk about and what you say but the way everything is put together, the music and imagery. Never sticking to something for too long but also not really missing anything. Also like the bit about The Top (song) being about Simon but not really telling either. Again, not sticking to it for too long. Good stuff! Personally, I really like The Top and recently my appreciation for it has grown. In 2018, after a string of arguments and bad behaviour on my part towards my best friend, I decided to just leave and not come back, which she did not want. Around that period I was listening to the song The Top a lot and it made me think of her. Start of 2021 I began listening to the song again a lot and, along with a few other songs, this made me rethink the situation, so I got in contact with her again and now we're much closer than we ever were before. I also mention that my favourite songs on the album, aside from The Top, are Piggy in the Mirror, Birdmad Girl, Dressing Up (that Paris version, wow) and Happy the Man, which I find to be one of the most obscure songs in the album.

[@KowankoMusic]

Thank you!

[@chronicdreammusic]

It’s easily in my top three favorite Cure albums

[@michaeljaye8776]

Top/Head On The Door/Kiss Me are my top 3.

[@chronicdreammusic]

@@michaeljaye8776 same. Kiss me and Disintegration are tied for me, simply due to Disintegrations B-sides alone.

[@michaeljaye8776]

@@chronicdreammusic Has any other band had such strong b-sides? Most of them are album-worthy (Babble/Japanese Dream/Snow In Summer/Another Journey by Train)

[@chronicdreammusic]

@@michaeljaye8776 U2 and Echo & the Bunnymen had a handful of good ones during the 80’s, but not as many as the Cure. Same with Depeche Mode, they had 4 or 5 strong ones.

[@chronicdreammusic]

@@michaeljaye8776 this is a good one from Echo, one of a handful of good ones. This one isn’t available on streaming. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qYiwomBtf7uFZpY

[@markjamie4002]

Great review, but whatever the respective merits of each song, I can't lie to myself that I enjoy listening to any more than 3 or 4 tracks (The Top, The Caterpillar, Empty World and Shake Dog Shake).

[@bornflippy1]

Fantastic Review BST, I agree with your sentiment that this album is an important piece of The Cure's discography. This album was then and is now, criminally under rated ..This album is a damn masterpiece.

[@KowankoMusic]

word!

[@charlesmilner8699]

I've been a Cure fan since the beginning. This is a great album. Fantastic job on the review. I'll definitely revisit this. It's been a while.

[@KowankoMusic]

cheers!

[@reddays8448]

At first the album was at the bottom for me to me it was good but later on my friend convinced me to listen to the top again and now I love it even more than I did back then to me it is a masterpiece like every cure album (Pornography disintegration and head on the door are my personal favorites)

[@KowankoMusic]

glad you've seen the light!

[@gavinconner]

that was awesome! hope you do more CURE album reviews!!! cheers!

[@KowankoMusic]

many thanks!

[@annloken]

Ahhhh I love The Top🙏🏻🖤

[@annloken]

Fantastic video btw!!!

[@jameschavez6400]

This album shown with a black label seems a lot darker than if you had only knew it with it’s bright yellow label with purple -sire on each side it makes a difference on the one I

[@TimoDcTheLikelyLad]

wow i really love your skill to describe properly!

[@seanp8220]

Thank you so much. I'd love you to review the kiss me bsides as well as the gorgeous To the Sky

[@jimbombadill]

always felt a bit confused that this album comes so far down on many lists...i love it, it has individually realy GREAT SONGS. shake dog shake, birdmad girl, wailng wall, bananafishbones, caterpilar,the top, piggy in the mirror and even empty world are some of the best songs they made

[@KowankoMusic]

agreed!

[@PROGROCK-tr9hw]

Agreed.The other two are the only songs not great on the album.I would put it in my top five.Head on the door,Disintegration,Seventeen Seconds,The top and Pornography.

[@allowyou9225]

Always listened to this album way more than I ever did The Head on the Door...

[@zoeherriot]

Ironically - there was a drum machine on 100 years, but no drum machine on Let's Go To Bed.

[@infov0y]

Just a minor correction - I think - Lol was referred to as playing "other instruments" until the Disintegration sleeve was he?. But fantastic review: more please :)

[@infov0y]

Some extra info too... "stiff as toys and tall as men" is a quote from the "Charlotte Sometimes" book by Penelope Farmer; which makes it the third Cure song about that book (the others being the obvious "Charlotte Sometimes" and its B-Side "Spintered In Her Head" which also has the "stiff as toys" line.). And "Bananafishbones" is influenced by "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" by JD Salinger.

[@KowankoMusic]

Thank you! And Lol was indeed credited with 'other instruments' on both The Top and Disintegration (just checked)

[@infov0y]

Didn't know that (and didn't want top dig the vinyl out!).. thanks for the info too :)

[@allowyou9225]

@@KowankoMusic yeah the other instrument was alcohol

[@ElGatoVato768]

Let´s see: Shake Dog Shake, The Wailing Wall, The Empty World are the highlights for me.

[@darkwolf9253]

I've always liked this album, and it has even grown on me over the years... It is underrated.

[@KowankoMusic]

i think its stature has risen in recent years.

[@noelwhitman1788]

I bought it when it first came out and it is still one of my favorites.

[@ImaginaryBoy.]

the time right after Pornography truly is the most interesting in The Cures history

[@KowankoMusic]

quite!

[@dhontski]

The Top was 1 of my least liked, and crawled up slowly to one of my favorite albums of The Cure. It definitely is like good whine, every listen adds new layers.

[@petewiseman]

It's a great album. Respect to your review ;)

[@KowankoMusic]

cheers!

[@kunumiverdun]

BRAVO!!!

[@polystyleneman]

Yes

[@3padr598]

God I love the cure

[@JustSheilz]

I LOVE this album!

[@jasonmassplayingmusic5533]

This is a great review...

[@RyanField-vl5vi]

Well done

[@CMZIEBARTH]

Where does that Birdmad Girl footage come from?

[@renelouischarite6534]

My first lsd experience

[@playamaqui]

impeccable record! 💖

[@KowankoMusic]

quite!

[@sachacauvin2966]

Great, great review :)

[@jjisdead]

Great review

[@KowankoMusic]

thanks!

[@alfaboy1554]

Wasn't it Disintegration of 1989 and not The Top Album of 1984 where Lol was credited as playing "other instruments". He played keyboards in The Top Album. I'm pretty sure Lol was only credited with other instruments on a reissue of The Top some time after they had a falling out, after Disintegration...

[@KowankoMusic]

both albums feature that credit

[@acidperex]

Great review!

[@KowankoMusic]

cheers!

[@thebartolo3873]

I've never thought of it as an underrated album, it's just that people didn't like it too much.

[@applebutter4036]

I feel strangely validated by this.

[@KowankoMusic]

Hahah excellent

[@Incuensuocha]

I love this album, but I can understand it not carrying the weight of some of the Cure’s other albums. Being sandwiched between Pornography and The Head on the Door, two masterpieces, has done it no favors.

[@tylerskiss]

According to whom? The Top is well loved among all Cure fans I’ve known.

[@KowankoMusic]

according to critics, fans and the band itself

[@christoohunders5316]

Vocally RS is rather weak on this album, but knowing that he does here most of the multitrack instruments, it's brilliant ! and there's amazing creativeness in many songs, I listen to it with renewed pleasure.

[@clumsiii]

No way Christoo! Bananafishbones? Give Me it? The song about being a polar bear? This is epic RS and he brings so much magic to it

[@nomorenever2782]

1984"s The Top? A possible precursor to 87's Kiss Me...take away Gallup's restrained bass, add Anderson's respectable but forgettable drumming, add LSD, and Robert Smith's near-solo effort The Top comes to fruition. Is The Top the weakest release in the band's back catalog? Nay.....that dubious honor goes to 96's Wild Mood Swings...(with apologies to Jupiter Crash, Want, Bare, and Treasure)

[@KowankoMusic]

I'd still argue that WMS took more risks and had more adventure than Bloodflowers, which to me is the first time The Cure sounded like they were writing for their audience.

[@nomorenever2782]

Brooklyn Volume of course 'Wms took more "risks" than Bloodflowers...' Most anything after Disintergration can be considered as being "writing for their audience..." IMO, most of the material written post-'92 (and including about half of Wish) is aimless, pointless, and regurgitated dross.....kind of like a weathervane in a strong breeze, looking for a artistic direction. The exception, of course, is the associated b-sides from this period, not to mention the unreleased singles, ie; Please Come Home, A Boy I Never Knew, etc. Part of Robert's problem is trying to sound too poppish, too mainstream "samey..." Now, having espoused the above-mentioned rubbish, I LOVE THE TOP! And you did a right-proper defense of it! Can you do the same with WMS? 2004's Self-titled? Curious minds would like to know.... All the best, nmn.

[@KowankoMusic]

I'm thinking about doing one for WMS....as for 2004's self-titled, I couldn't really mount a credible defense for that one. Thanks for weighing in!

[@nomorenever2782]

Brooklyn Volume if ya do one for WMS, keep in mind that the album could have been so much more if some songs were dropped, and b-sides were added...( A pink dream, Waiting...)

[@nomorenever2782]

Brooklyn Volume and now im listening to The Top.... Complete with glitches, and subpar audio...stupid original recordings.. Lol!

[@lucianogoyenechea8704]

solo album but the name...

[@KowankoMusic]

as indicated in the video

[@Gottico69]

I would say this is the most overrated album of the cure, one day I was watching tier list of the cure, and The Top was olways in S,A or B and I would say is a D. But that is my opinion

[@DreamWizard9]

Still for me The Top is their weakest album.

[@veerchasm1]

No, it’s usually correctly rated

[@KowankoMusic]

yawn. we already know that take.

[@sobrevalorado]

No, it's not. It's the worst Cure album until Wild mood swings, etc. (But not Bloodflowers). It's boring, there's no dark tension, there's no luminous pop. And the sound is poor

[@graphix6529]

Lol blood flowers is their most boring album. The top is alot of things..boring is not one them

[@KowankoMusic]

@@graphix6529 Agree, Bloodflowers is a self-conscious snooze.

[@gouvyrock]

for me the worst cure album😮😱