In 1996, thus in the thick of Britpop fever, the pioneers of the new wave seem to come from another era. The fault lies with a highly uneven album, of which only a few tracks endure.
The Cure’s tenth album did not materialize in serenity. After the tumult of the mid-nineties (the lawsuit pitting Smith against Tolhurst, Gallup’s alcoholism, Thompson’s departure, etc.), Robert Smith managed to assemble a small troupe around him. Dave Allen exits, the producer who had coproduced The Cure’s albums between 1983 and 1992. It falls to Steve Lyon to undertake the immensely daunting task of unifying the sound of a deeply eclectic record, which shifts from one mood to another with contagious enthusiasm, yet sometimes disconcerting.
Spanish guitar, electric sitar, a bit of guitar work (not enough, as fans will complain) and synthesizers are all present. If the melodies remain respectable (one can relish the dreamlike flyaways of Numb), the instrumentation suffers from a real lack of coherence. All the more so because after months of recording, Fiction had grown tired and asked Smith to hand in his copy pronto. Hence a somewhat botched mix…
An Intact Sense of Melancholy Balladry
After a prodigious Want opens the record, we move to the sitar-tinged electric rock of Club America, then to the pretty ballad fed by strings and synth This Is a Lie, to the candy-pop Strange Attraction, to the post-Just Like Heaven rock of Mint Car, lively and effective, not to mention the more classic (and assertive) rock of Trap or a curious track with mariachi influences, The 13th.
Between uneven pop tracks (Round & Round & Round, Gone!) and eternally melancholic ballads such as Jupiter Crash, Treasure or the stunning Bare, there is enough to find one’s happiness. Or not: if it sometimes dangerously brushes against bad taste, Wild Mood Swings mainly suffered from appearing in the middle of Britpop fever, which relegated it to the shelves of tacky records, without any chance to defend itself. Thirty years later, we realize that it has aged very well indeed. The Cure are bigger than you think.
