[Demented Pop Cure] -- Forty years ago this week, The Cure released Japanese Whispers. It was their second compilation album, but their sixth album overall. Japanese Whispers consisted of three previously-released, standalone singles and the B-sides to those singles. All three singles – "Let's Go to Bed," "The Walk," and "The Love Cats" – were a 180° turn away from the darkness and gloom of The Cure's 1982 release, Pronography (misspelling intended). That was a gutsy move given that, despite the initial poor reviews, Pronography had been a commercial success; it was their most popular album up to that point. However, recording Pronography had been a terrible experience, all but bringing the band to a total collapse.
Only Robert Smith and Lol Tolhurst, The Cure's the two founding members, were involved in writing and recording Japanese Whispers. So, the switch to a brighter and more pop-friendly sound might have been a calculated move, and a necessary one for The Cure's collective health and longevity. It's not completely bright and poppy. I think both "Just One Kiss" and "La Ment" sound decidedly at a midpoint between the gloom of Pronography and the brightness of Japanese Whispers. And either one of them could have been a single, too.
In my mind, Japanese Whispers comes across as the love-child of synthpop and gothic rock. I mean that in the best possible way, if such a way is possible. This album feels like Smith and Tolhurst were experimenting with how to write pop songs, feeling their way from what The Cure had been to what it could become. So, of course, the results are kind of demented, but they work. And the tonal and lyrical shifts here set the band's direction for the next several albums.
Flashback: Japanese Whispers (December 6, 1983)
And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.
I'll see you in seven!
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