Track Listing

1. One Hundred Years
2. A Short Term Effect
3. The Hanging Garden
4. Siamese Twins
5. The Figurehead
6. A Strange Day
7. Cold
8. Pornography

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2802 in Music
• Released on: 2005-09-05
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 43 minutes

Customer Reviews

The shock of what was new
It's a shame in a way that nowadays this album seems to fit in with a vast amount of similarly aggressive and agonising music. On it's release it was the first of it's kind and to describe its impact as harrowing would be a serious understatement.

Seminal it undoubtably was but where other bands strive to achieve the same effect they fail because 'Pornography' is so sincere. Only Nirvana reached the level of outright desperation that brutally stabs out of this recording. But cacophony in itself is not enough. These are really great songs produced by a man who was driving himself way too hard.

In amongst the relentlessly attacking sound, evidence of a great songwriter emerges in moments of astonishing beauty. This is why the Cure's more recent releases fail. Smith was still discovering his ability and wrote as a man in some kind of genuine purgatory. Now, he's wealthy and comfortable and no matter how hard he digs, the well of desparate memories and wondrous revelations have run dry.

So considering it's utterly uncompromising sound it's not surprising that this shocking album didn't sell on release. It left people either stunned (like watching someone having a nervous breakdown at a party) or alienated, after all, it's predecessors were low key and fanciful in comparison.

It marked a change in Smith's life. Although the following album had it's moments of crushing beauty he moved firmly into the land of the 'Lovecats', commercial success and some kind of weird happiness. And unlike Kurt Cobain there really was a happy ending.

Dark and Ugly
The Cure are a band of many faces, and 1982's `Pornography' is one of the ugliest. Recorded during a time of band turmoil and drug abuse, the results are abrasive and punishing, but not without their charms. One particularly note-worthy aspect of this album is the way it is mixed. Most albums are mixed in such a way as to accommodate the various instruments within the song. On `Pornography', an instrument will come into the mix as loudly as possible, and then stay that way as everything else is packed on top of it. So, drums pound mercilessly, bass grinds and throbs, and guitars swirl and churn, all at odds with each other, but also strangely complimentary.

The mood of the album is dark and heavy, and it feels as though some kind of emotional battle is being played out throughout the grooves of the record. Despair and hopelessness are key themes to the album, and many of the songs feature disturbing imagery about being trapped in certain circumstances, but being powerless to do anything about it.

But, as with everything about the Cure, first appearances are often disturbing. Yes, the album is heavy and oppressive, but it is also melodic and inventive. All of these songs (with the exception of the title track) have very memorable tunes. `The Hanging Garden', a harrowing and disturbing song, actually managed to be a chart hit for the Cure when it was released as a single, which give some idea of how the band managed to make their brand of misery accessible.

The other highlights on the album are the opening track, `One Hundred Years', which sets the scene perfectly for the rest of the album, conjuring up a palatable sense of dread, and the churning, spiralling guitar part from `A Strange Day' which always threatens to go over the edge, but somehow never does.

A quality of its own...
This is the Cure's best album, there is no denying that; it also their most impenetrable, especially for the casual listener and to those new to the band. If you are coming to the Cure from their later releases - such as "Disintegration", "Kiss me" or even "Head on" - then you might be in for a shock.

It's hardly surprising that this record appealed to me when I was a teenager. It is loud and filled with a superficial layer of anger and angst that suit persons of the teenage disposition. However, when you strip away these superficial references you are left with a piece of work that is infinitly better than the sum of its parts. This is an album with long term appeal.

The multitude of cultural and political references spewed out within the first track, 'One hundred years', are simply overwhelming. The rigid, martial staccato drum patterns (mostly played by Robert Smith, I understand) set the percussive mood for the rest of the record. The many references to the ultimate political tool are surely not coincidental, and are very relevant in our own troubled times.

The tangible insanity contained within 'Short term effect' and 'Siamese twins' is perhaps the most disturbing element within the first side of this record. This has personal resonance.

Side two opens with the exceptional 'Figurehead', the meaning of which continues to intrigue me over twenty years later. Smith has a wonderfull way of capturing my imagination with diverse subject matter; for instance Chinese art and American girls. The gently applied reverb/ echo effect is also noteworthy.

The closing track 'Pornography' deserves special mention. The subject matter remains distrubing and relentless to the very end and is a million miles distant from images of Perrelli calender girls wrestling in body lotion (sic). A very powerful song.

Although I've highlighted Smith's songwriting, and the wonderfully martial quality of the drumming, I should also direct praise towards Simon Gallup's bass playing - brilliant. Smith's guitar playing; a mixture of (Fender) Jaguar barritone and more typical Fender (tones) equally stands out.

If you already own the Cure's more mainstream recordings, I would recommend "Pornography". However, I would caveat my recommendation: you need to give this record time to get under your skin - you will be rewarded.