Track Listing

1. Accuracy
2. Another Day
3. Fire In Cairo
4. Foxy Lady
5. Grinding Halt
6. It's Not You
7. Meat Hook
8. Object
9. So What
10. Subway
11. 10.15 Saturday Night
12. Three Imaginary Boys

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #140329 in Music
• Released on: 2001-03-26
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

An absolute classic
I first got this on LP from my brother in the late eighties when I was 15 or 16 and 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 and 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 and 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?

seminal is SO overused, but...
i felt i had to write in, as i'm just re-listening to it and i'm realising that there isn't one single track that i would skip- and 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 and 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 and charming this record is. i love the way he sings and he is a truly exceptional and innovative guitarist whose style can be seen in loads of what later came to be indie music from blur, mogwai and bloc party and so on.

this is definitely their best record and it works so well as there is a real flavour of all the different moods and 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 and 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 and 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 and at times poignant gem of a record- something about robert smith is quite amazing in his ability to evoke certain feelings and mood- a bona fide class blending of pop, punk, post-punk, garage, crooning, nightmare chamber pieces and 'throwaway' fun that still fits together so perfectly- yet i still get surprised, even after all these listens!

It's magnificent
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 and you gradually realise they are magnificent.

My brother bought this record in 1979 after seeing the band at the Marquee, and after our initial fascination with the cover and anonymous songs fell in love with it. It was the first album of the post-punk era to be unashamedly catchy and yet safely uncommercial, a very difficult balance to strike.

The atmopshere is incredibly gloomy and 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 all, 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 and mood is established within about 10 seconds thanks to the precision yet not virtuoso playing and 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 and will always remain a great party trick piece.

Fire in Cairo and 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 and the extraordinary So What? Over a slick and catchy tune Smith drunkenly reads out the words on the back of a bag of sugar, occasionally 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, and heartbreaking.

The album's real trick though is the occasional rough edge, the sounds of tuning up and larking-about, which heighten the tightness of the actual picees and 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 all in the moment.

And the cover of Foxy Lady is fun too, despite what many people think!