The Cure: The Top - 1984

Rather like Siouxsie & The Banshes did during the same period, The Cure suddenly decided to make their music more accessible, giving it an attractive, eclectic melodic pop veneer (comparatively). 

A fine example of this is the gently rhythmic and nicely acoustic strains of The Birdmad Girl. It is not all as easy going, however, as the punky, visceral Give Me It shows. Dressing Up finds the band using an Andean-sounding pipe sound which once more gives the album its feeling of comparative variety. Had the Cure gone all Sandinista!? Maybe. 

Check out the bizarre and lively sounds on The Caterpillar and the World Music influences on Piggy In The Mirror. The jazzy, singalong single, The Love Cats, had preceded this album too. The reputation of Faith and Pornography as the gloomy products of merchants of misery began to fade a bit here as the band became much more musically experimental. It all sort of fitted in with the carefree spirit of 1984. 

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