Feel awash on a mixture of emotions. On the majorly positive side, I am getting married in two weeks time to the wonderful soon to be Mrs. 17 Seconds, there are only four days left until the end of term (it’s basically videos next week, which takes the stress out of having to do too much planning), and I am alive. On the negative side, the weather in Scotland has been wet even by the usual standards (so we are looking at a wet wedding at this rate), Ash are apparently about to release their final album, and Fopp, a scottish independent chain have closed their doors. Not good news. At all. From a slightly selfish point of view, I loved shopping there. From a more concerning point of view, there are many sources that indicate that staff have not been paid for the last month’s work (talk about alienation of labour, as Marx would have said), and as a former employee of the company, there is a sense of ‘There but For the Grace Of God go I.’ As the owner is a millionaire he should damn well make sure his staff are paid a.s.a.p.

Who to blame? Anyone who suggests bloggers (not that anyone has. Yet.) is frankly talking out of an orifice that’s not their mouth. I wish supermarkets would stop selling CDs at discounted prices, and that people bought their music from independent stores rather than big chains. I know I have put links to online stores when encouraging people to support music, which is as much of a disclaimer I guess, but the little men and women should not be having to suffer. The staff in small music stores are generally much better informed than staff in the big stores (I should know, I worked for one briefly and it was quite a dispiriting experience generally). I don’t doubt that there are people who work in supermarkets who are very well-informed about music, but the reality is that they are not going to have the time to talk to and advise customers. Most importantly, supermarkets are only going to stock titles by established bands, rather than stocking vinyl and CDS by new and up and coming artists. This is not to anyone’s advantage.

I know I’m ranting, but this is from the heart, as it concerns things I feel passionately about, namely the people on minimum wage jobs or precious little better, and music.

Is there anything we can do? I refuse to accept that we are powerless. Support independent music stores rather than big monoliths, make sure that workers’ rights are recognised, and encourage small companies to operate as co-operatives rather than aiming to be corporate.

Related to this, a purchase a couple of months ago from Fopp, which I have picked some covers from, by my all-time favourite band, The Cure.

The Cure-‘Hello I Love You.’ mp3

The Cure-‘Hello I Love You (Slight Return mix).’ mp3

The Cure-‘Purple Haze (Unreleased Virgin Radio version).’ mp3

The Cure-‘Purple Haze.’ mp3

The Cure-‘Young Americans.’ mp3

The Cure-‘World In My Eyes.’ mp3

(For the benefit of anyone who genuinely doesn’t know who the originals are by, aaargh! The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie and Depeche Mode).

These tracks are taken from The Cure‘s Join The Dots boxset. After everything I have said, if you like what you hear, go and buy it from an independent store. The mp3s will be up for one week only.

By the end of 1983, The Cure seemed to have it made. After all the years of being a cult act, if a highly revered one, they had shown that they were more than a goth/raincoat band, and broken through into the charts. The two core members, Robert Smith and Lol Tolhurst, had put the sacking of bassist Simon Gallup behind them, and were having hits. Pop hits. ‘The Walk’ had reached no.12 and ‘The Lovecats’ had reached no.7. So, a pop album was to be the next thing, surely?

Surely not. If history has told us anything, it’s that geniuses are anything but predictable (Who would have thought in 1975 that two years later David Bowie would have fled Los Angeles and plastic soul for Berlin and electronic music? Still if we knew the winner of the Derby in advance, we’d all be rich).

The Cure’ next album The Top is arguably the nearest Robert Smith has ever come to putting out a solo album under the moniker that has served him and his merry men for thirty years. The album credits Smith as ‘Instruments and voices’, Lol as ‘Other Instruments’ and Andy Anderson on drums with Porl Thompson on saxophone. The single released from the album ‘The Caterpillar’ might have seemed like a logical progression from ‘The Lovecats’ but it’s almost out of place on its’ parent album.

Psychedelia is the name of the game here. Whatever drugs Mr. Smith and his merry men were ingesting -hallucinogenics, he has indicated subsequently-were giving him some bizarre visions. The album isn’t as gothic as Faith or as downright terrifying as Pornography, but there must have been some innocent souls who were freaked out by what this band had done in the space of a few months.

The lyrics seem bizarre-still plenty of animals but lots of blood and paranoia. Musically this is one of the Cure’s most adventurous albums. Not in terms of ‘How many styles can we cram onto one album?’ (see 1996’s Wild Mood Swings for that), but just how way out it sounds.

This album can seem inaccessible at first hearing, and yet, like so mnay of the best albums, repeated listenings reward. There are moments of utter gorgeousness, like ‘Dressing Up’, though the later live version on Paris is even better. Title track and closer ‘The Top’ is one of the most atmospheric things The Cure ever committed to vinyl. ‘Wailing Wall’ can take you to that very place, truly hypnotic with the riff invading your brain.

Within a year, the Cure had changed their lineup again, and released an entire album of pop songs, the rather gorgeous The Head On the Door. That’s another story, and one when The Cure were truly a band. But for sheer experimentalism, maybe The Cure, for better or worse, never sounded like they’d messed with their audiences expectations -or heads!- in this way again. Yet… : )

The Cure-‘Birdmad Girl.’ mp3

The Cure-‘Wailing Wall.’ mp3

The Cure-‘Bananafishbones.’ mp3

The tracks will be up for a week only. If you like what you hear, buy The Top here.