OVERVIEW
Disintegration is The Cure's eighth studio album, released
in 1989. It peaked at #12 on Billboard's Top 200 Album countdown.
Released: 2 May 1989
Recorded: --
Genre: Gothic Rock, Alternative rock
Length: 71:42
Label: Elektra Records, Fiction
Records
Producer(s): David Allen, Robert
Smith
HISTORY
The album is considered part two of Robert Smith's "trilogy", also including Pornography
and Bloodflowers. In 2002, they performed all three albums in their entirety to a Berlin audience, and it was released on DVD as Trilogy in 2003.
The Cure had pigeon-holed themselves as a dark and brooding
goth-rock band in the early 80s with albums such as Faith and Pornography. They broke away from this image with
light pop singles, such as "Let's Go to Bed" and "The Lovecats" and their accompanying Tim
Pope videos. The following albums The Top, The Head on the Door and
Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me had largely continued in the more upbeat direction, although all three showed elements of Smith's
darker side, both musically and lyrically. Disintegration represented a return of the earlier, darker styles while
still retaining some of the newer ones.
It was the first Cure album to be specifically recorded for CD and this is the reason that the vinyl release is without the songs "Last Dance" and "Homesick". The
CD version is over 71 minutes in length, well over the average rock album's length. In fact, half of the songs on the 12-song
album are over six minutes in length.
The album debuted at #3 in the UK and slowly climbed to #12 in the US during a 55 week stay
on the Billboard Album Chart. It was certified gold by the RIAA on June 28, 1989. The album was also certified platinum on October 20 of the same year. On July 1, 2004, the album was multi-platinum twice.
In the South Park episode
Mecha-Streisand, Kyle
Broflovski declares Disintegration "the best album ever".
In 2003, the album was ranked number 326 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
TRACK LISTING
All songs by Gallup, O'Donnell, Smith, Thompson, Tolhurst and Williams.
- "Plainsong" - 5:12
- "Pictures of You" - 7:24
- "Closedown" - 4:16
- "Lovesong" - 3:28
- "Last Dance" - 4:42
- "Lullaby" - 4:08
- "Fascination Street" - 5:16
- "Prayers for Rain" - 6:04
- "The Same Deep Water as You" - 9:18
- "Disintegration" - 8:18
- "Homesick" - 7:06
- "Untitled" - 6:30
"Last Dance" and "Homesick" are only on the CD and cassette versions.
PERSONNEL
SINGLES
- "Fascination Street", released
only in the U.S. in December, 1988
- "Lullaby" released in April,
1989
- "Lovesong" released in
August, 1989
- "Pictures of You" released
in January, 1990
CHARTING SINGLES
