If you rip The Cure's The Head On The Door 1985 album, you will find this extended disc information from the CD database (CDDB):
Originally Released January 1985
AMG EXPERT REVIEW: The Cure refocused and ultimately hit their stride with Head on the Door, producing an album which not only more effectively depicted gloom, but also showed enough pop smarts to make it memorable (and even danceable). The band scored a hit with the infectious, New Order-ish "In Between Days" (which even managed to beat New Order at their own game) and the highly memorable "Close to Me," but the album's outstanding trait is its diversity -- they managed to combine a wide variety of influences, not only that of contemporary dancefloor peers, but also by incorporating rhythms from the Far East and South America to fine effect. The Cure made more accomplished albums later on and had bigger hits, but none combined artistic ambition with really catchy songs as well as Head on the Door. ~ Chris Woodstra
Amazon.com Editorial Review This is the Cure album to start with. Robert Smith and company's best and most coherent statement, The Head on the Door is a successful, if schizophrenic, synthesis of the best of '80s rock, boasting danceable Eurobeat anthems ("In Between Days"), world-music-flavored exotica ("Kyoto Song," the Latin-tinged "The Blood"), and more sullen statements of post-modern angst from the band that gave you such downer epics as Faith and Pornography. More than any other Cure album, Head rewards those who don't subscribe to the darker side of the group's ethos. The use of Spanish guitar and other colorful arrangement touches help to create a rich dynamic. The softer, more introspective cuts (like the claustrophobic "Close to Me," Smith's confessional classic) are also far more effective for them. --Don Harrison
Amazon.com Customer Review My Head on the Speaker, November 25, 2001 Reviewer: Scarlett (New Orleans) In my opinion, this is simply the best album by the Cure. Drummer Boris Williams joins the line up on this album, and is an extreme improvement over Lol Tolhurst who moved to keyboards. "In Between Days" is the closest to pop perfection that Robert Smith has ever been, and "The Baby Screams" and "Screw" are way ahead of 1985. If these songs were played on the radio today, they would be instant hits. "Close to Me" is such a catchy song that can't help but make you want to dance around the room and clap your hands along. And for you Christians out there, "The Blood" is not blasphemous. Robert wrote it about a drink called The Blood of Christ that got him really drunk. This album would be flawless if it weren't for the unnecessary "Push." What Robert was thinking when he wrote that, I don't know. But since every Cure album has one really annoying song, this completely fits the formula. Why are you wasting time reading this? Go out and buy it!
Amazon.com Customer Review knocking....., September 8, 2004 Reviewer: J. Brady (PAWLEYS ISLAND, SC United States) This is the sound of the Cure knocking on mainstream America's door in hopes of an answer. After suffering "oscure British new wave/ pop-rock- art " status for the first few years of their existance, they presented a trio of Ultra-Pop singles ( Let's Go to Bed, The Walk, and The Lovecats ) along with some silly videos, finally exposing them to a ( limited ) US audience that was hungry for something new. This is the sound of an "all Cure for all fans" sound. A few still exhilerating singles ( InBetween Days, Close to Me ). A few punchy pop/rock/electronic tracks ( the excellant Push, the Baby Screams and the down-right freaky Screw.) A few somber moments ( a Night Like This, featuring some fine sax work from Porl Thompson, and Sinking, which is incredibly sad, and reminds me of something from Faith or Pornography).Rounded out by a few experimental works, ranging from the Flaminco flavoured "the Blood" to the Eastern influenced "Kyoto Song." this is, in a nutshell, the head on the Door. You could go wrong with other Cure albums only because they mostly contain song cycles which tell a story or set a mood through the entire album ( as in the above mentioned Faith and Pornography.) This is the first album they made that is as varied musically as it is, but really works as a whole, and doesn't sound like a compilation disc.
Amazon.com Customer Review Bringing down the light, January 6, 2001 Reviewer: Chris T. (Regensburg, Germany) Giving up the self-imposed exile from which "The Top" emerged and deciding to break through to mainstream pop audiences and daytime radio airplay, Robert Smith ended up creating the band's overall most varied and experimental album. There's a seemingly conscious effort by both the band and the production not to allow this release to be pigeonhold, be it through surprisingly groovy dance songs like "Close to me" or by playing around with styles that no one would have expected from Robert a few years earlier. A significant step forward in the band's rapid sonic evolution during the mid-'80s is the initially promising opener, "Inbetween days". Very similar to New Order's more organic songs like "Age of consent" or "Regret", this song is as catchy as pop music can be - a strong, rumbling rhythm combined with fast-paced acoustic guitars, simple keyboard melodies, and certainly this Hooky style of bass playing. Such tracks are very spontaneous and have an unpolished edge, almost sounding like they were recorded live instead of being put together in the studio. Robert himself said, "Eight songs (out of ten) are first takes, which is something we haven't done since we made 'Seventeen seconds'". It makes perfect sense, since he wanted to abandon productions like "Pornography" where he used to work in the studio for more than 20 hours a day to ensure total control over the project. "Kyoto song" and the ponderous "Six different ways" are the closest to throwaways, but the strong flamenco flavor of "The blood" redeems everything, complete with tasteful musicianship and appropriate vocal performance. "Push", actually the album's centerpiece, demonstrates both the pop-oriented side and the darker undercurrents of "The head" in full effect, as the band delivers arena-rock with lyrics about physical and emotional desolation. "The baby screams" and "A night.." (with saxophone solo) also follow the theme of the aforementioned song and manage to be both rocking and atmospheric. "Close to me" is easily one of the most quirky dance songs of the '80s, mixing shuffling drum beats with a funky bass line, mimicked toy piano, and minimal organ backing. Perhaps it provided a blueprint for some of the Aphex Twin's recent efforts. The drilling, abrasive bass line of "Screw" is another fairly strange element of this album, but the Cure do not completely turn their back on the sound of previous efforts: "Sinking" brings the album to a fine conclusion with its thick layers of synthesizers and ominous bass throb. Overall, "The head" appears as a transitional work, neither eschewing the trademark approach of the band nor quintessentially Cure-sounding like the band's early-'80s work. Like the subsequent "Kiss me..", it forced critics to question their penchant for labelling the Cure as goth-rock, but provided no easy answers. Those who like their '80s independent rock spiced with variety and eccentricity will certainly enjoy this work; personally, "The head" is not among my favorite Cure albums. Its mood doesn't go as deep as that of, say, "Disintegration", and the whole affair is a little disjointed and uncohesive. Simply put: Another solid album with two strong hit singles, but not recommended as first purchase.
Half.com Album Credits Dave Allen, Engineer
Album Notes The Cure: Robert Smith (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Porl Thompson (guitar, keyboards); Laurence Tolhurst (keyboards); Simon Gallup (bass); Boris Williams (drums, percussion).
Additional personnel: Ron Howe (saxophone). Producers: Robert Smith, Dave Allen, Howard Gray.
With THE HEAD ON THE DOOR Robert Smith and the boys achieve a distinctively Cure-like pop sensibility. These 10 songs combine the dreary dreamscape that is Smith's mind with melodies that are about as catchy as Goth music gets (just try not clapping your hands to "Close to Me"). Included on the album are "In Between Days" and "A Night Like This," each a successful single, and each a staple of the Cure's live show.Also noteworthy are the haunting lyrics of "The Blood" and "Kyoto Song," which Smith sings in his trademark high-pitched howl. Despite the gloom, this album represents perhaps the Cure's first real pop effort. It also represents a transition from the sparse instrumentation that characterizes the early Cure sound, to the fuller, more complex incarnation typical of the almost psychedelic soundscapes of later albums.
