By Cliff Hicks
Staff writer
What a great post-Valentine’s Day
gift. The Cure’s new album,
“Bloodflowers,” is set to be released
on Feb. 15th here in the United States,
the day after Valentine’s, and it’s the
perfect soundtrack for lonely hearts
across the nation.
Many Cure fans felt let down by
1996’s “Wild Mood Swings,” an
album that seemed guided by its title.
Where were the swirling guitars of
1992’s “Wish,” and where had the
doom-and-gloom mentality of 1989’s
“Disintegration” gone?
“Bloodflowers” is just the return
the Cure needed.
Cure frontman Robert Smith was
quoted in several interviews last year
saying that this album would form a
stylistic triptych with 1982’s
“Pornography” and 1989’s
“Disintegration,” and this was no
exaggeration.
Musically, “Bloodflowers” strad
dles the line between “Wish” and
“Disintegration,” taking the harrow
ing emptiness of the latter and mixing
in the dizzying guitars of the former.
The horns of “Wild Mood
Swings” are nowhere to be found,
thankfully.
Combinations of soft acoustics
and slippery electrics meld the Cure’s
heavy guitar sound together. This is
an album best listened to on head
phones at full blast.
None of the songs on the album is
short, and it’s obvious Smith is reach
ing for a much more epic feel.
Only one song clocks at less than
five minutes. The album’s longest run
is just more than 11 minutes. But
none of this detracts from the songs at
all.
“Bloodflowers” also marks a
return to the bleaker lyrics of the past,
the despondent and depressed pleas
of heartache and solitude.
It’s exactly what to get a single
person for Valentine’s Day, or the per
fect way to say it’s over to that not-so
special-anymore person in your life.
Smith sings in a sorrowful, bitter
whisper on the title track' which clos
es the album, “This dream always
ends/I said/This feeling always
goes/The time always comes to slip
away/This wave always breaks/I
said/The sun always sets again/And
these flowers will always fade.”
It’s a depressed resolve of some
one who’s come to terms with his
depression but hasn’t overcome it.
Most of the album is like this - not
directly sad, but more bleak, which is
what puts it in the same field as
“Pornography” and “Disintegration.”
^Bloodflowers
| | ARTIST: The Cure
LABEL: Warner Bros.
GRADE: A -
FIVE WORDS: Return
.y: . .. to form for Cure.
And yet the aching beauty of the
music played along with the lyrics
gives that much more definition to the
album.
There is a small strike against the
band, as one of the best songs on the
album, “Coming Up,” is only on the
vinyl and Japanese CD versions.
According to the band’s .Web site,
it’ll be available as a B-side eventual
ly, but the song provided an energetic
contrast to the rest of the melancholy
album.
The songs range from the buzzy
guitars of “The Loudest Sound” to the
acoustic splendor of “The Last Day
Of Summer.”
From the opening notes of “Out
Of This World” to the closing whis
pers of “Bloodflowers,” the album is
one big, beautiful, intense downer.
Ultimately, though, Smith is at his
finest in years, and “Bloodflowers”
ranks as one of the best albums the
Cure has done to date.
WANTED:
Comedians
Amateur Comedy Night
Every Friday
Winner selected by audience vote.
Bring your voting friends.
*Grand Prize*
Trip for two to Las Vegas!
The SIDETRACK
10th & 0 St. 438-7776
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I —■ ——a——: . = warnbb a i
.' Civil Engineering \
Data Processing (Analysis /Programming)
R ^recitatives hem the N fara^a D ^artm ent of Roads
invite you to stop at our table at the Engineering and
Technology C areerFairon Ffaruary 10th, fan 9 *30 am.
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W e are the state agency responsible for the planning,
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Stop by the Department of Roads booth for information.
.... _.
Theatrix one acts
open new season
The beginning of the Theatrix
semester offers a promising loo.k
at the talent inside UNL’s own the
ater department.
The Masquer’s One Act Play
Festival opens the semester with
four never-before-performed
works written by UNL students.
The productions promote the
work of student playwrights, stu
dent directors, designers, actors,
technicians and producers.
Theatrix is the student-produc
ing organization of the UNL
Theater Arts department.
“Eye Patches and Parking
Garages,” written by Kenneth
McCarthey, will be directed by
Erin Walker and centers on a “nice
guy” named Adam with an odd
view on life and an even more
interesting real life.
“Sex and Metaphors,” written
by Eric Salonis and directed by
Kaitlin Byrd, is a comedy about
the absurd desire for love and sex.
“Hobbitsville,” written by
Mike Semrad and directed by
Jessica Deans, develops around a
group of kids living in a Mormon
town and their trials to live a “nor
mal” life.
“Channels,” written by Eric
Salonis and directed by Sandy
Kaye Lemen, tells the story of two
families: One uses TV as a means
to dull the pain of life, and the
other has a seemingly beautiful
relationship - until the two fami
lies’ sons begin to fall in love with
one another.
The one-act plays will be per
formed Feb. 10-12 at 7:30 p.m. at
the Studio Theater in the Temple
Building, 12th and R streets, on
the UNL campus. Admission is $4
at the door.
For information, call the the
ater department at 472-2072.
Be Earth friendly.
Recycle your DN.
Open House - 2 Days ONLY
This Friday 11 th 9am - 7pm
and Saturday 1 2th 9am - 7pm
The Tanning Place
333 N. Cotner (Cotner & “R”) 464-0001
Appointments Suggested
F\Ti«V bay: hiols wds OF kins
brim; (.ns to school
Mud out how to act puis
out of the hands of children.
1 -800-WE-PREVENT
\n( one more liH life.
Not one more arievins family.
Not one more.
write us...we want
to hear from you
www.dailyneb.com
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