The Cure

Entitled Lost Wishes, the proceeds from the four track cassette tape went to charity. Their fourth album, The Soft Parade (1969) saw the band struggling to maintain momentum; an attempting to expand the group's sound with strings and brass, it is generally considered the least successful of their LPs with Morrison, who was by then developing a serious drinking problem and becoming increasinglly difficult and unreliable in the studio, with the result that sessions were now dragging on over weeks, where they had formerly taken days. As a promotional exercise with the Our Price music chain in the UK, a limited edition EP was released consisting of instrumental outtakes from the Wish sessions. The album features superb performances recorded on their 1968-69 American tours and includes a full-length live performance of "The Celebration Of The Lizard". The Cure also embarked on the "Wish Tour" and released the live albums Show and Paris. Apparently trying to escape the image of "The Lizard King" that had come to dominate him, Morrison put on weight and grew a thick beard, forcing Elektra to use photos taken earlier in his career for the cover of their excellent Absolutely Live LP, reeleased in late 1969. "Mixed Up" was followed in 1992 by the album Wish, which went straight to #1 in the UK and to #2 in the US. In the last two years of his life Morrison curtailed his former herculean intake of psychedelic drugs and began drinking heavily, which in turn soon began to affect his performance, both on stage and in the studio.

In 1990 The Cure released a collection of remixes called Mixed Up, a collection which was roundly panned by both critics and fans (Smith says that he expected this, but decided to release the collection anyway). Before one concert when the announcer introduced the group as "Jim Morrison and The Doors", Morrison in a rage refused to appear unless he announced the group again, solely as "The Doors". This tour featured some of the band's longest ever shows; their final gig at Wembley Arena (announced By Robert as "probably our last show") lasted over three and a half hours. While Morrison as the lead singer received the most attention of the group, as well as getting a far larger image of himself on album covers, he was quite adamant about all the members of the group getting recognition. The Cure embarked on the "Prayer" tour. My eyes have been opened up a bit.". In 1989 they released the album Disintegration, which became their highest-charting album to date at #3 and featured four Top 20 singles ("Lullaby", "Fascination Street", "Pictures of You", and "Lovesong"). Shortly before the release, Tolhurst left permanently, leaving Smith as the only remaining founding member of The Cure. But I guess it was a valuable experience because before the trial I had a very unrealistic schoolboy attitude about the American judicial system.

In 1988 the band history Ten Imaginary Years was released, and Lol Tolhurst, though he had not yet left the band, was replaced by Roger O'Donnell. About a year and a half. In 1987 The Cure released the double album Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, and embarked on the "Kissing Tour.". Morrison said: "I wasted a lot of time with the Miami trial. Throughout 1986 Lol Tolhurst's alcohol consumption was interfering with his ability to perform, and Roger O'Donnell was frequently called upon to stand in for him. The incident remains inconclusive. The album's title was taken from a line in the song "Killing an Arab." This release was accompanied by a video version called Staring at the Sea and by another tour, as well as a live concert film called The Cure In Orange. The misdemeanour charges stuck.

Following this release and another world tour, the band released Standing on a Beach, a collection featuring all The Cure's singles and B-sides. Misdemeanour and felony charges were brought against Morrison. In 1985 the new lineup released The Head on the Door which reached #7 in the UK and #59 on the American charts. In one known incident, at a 1969 concert in Miami, Florida, Morrison allegedly exposed himself. Robert Smith later expressed his satisfaction with the reunited Cure, saying "we're a band again.". Singer Grace Slick once recalled seeing Morrison at a concert, high on drugs, and so active that he needed to be pulled off stage. At the end of the tour, however, Anderson was fired and replaced by Boris Williams, and Thornalley was replaced by returnee Simon Gallup. However, Morrison sang the original line instead, and on live television with no delay ABC was powerless to stop it. Morrison on stage gave a whole new life to a rock band on stage in concert, and Manzarek recalled that Morrison stopped being himself on stage and became more of a "whirling dervish", or shaman, showing things of a more primeval nature.

The Cure then embarked on their "Top Tour" with Thompson, Anderson, and bassist Phil Thornalley on board. The Doors quickly earned a reputation as a challenging and entertaining live act, as well as having a rebellious reputation. In one appearance with a live performance on the American Broadcasting Company network, the network's censors demanded the group change its lyrics in its song, Light My Fire, altering the line, "Girl we couldn't get much higher" to "Girl we couldn't get much better". In 1984 The Cure released The Top, an album on which Smith played all the instruments except the drums (played by Andy Anderson) and the saxophone (played by returnee Porl Thompson). The song received some criticism at the time for its resemblance to The Kinks' 1965 hit "All Day And All Of The Night". Reduced to the duo of Smith and Tolhurst, the Cure released four studio singles and their B-sides as the album Japanese Whispers. The singles from this period were uncharacteristically upbeat and accessible, though Smith would soon return to writing more melancholy (if not as somber) material. While Morrison and Manzarek were walking on the beach in California, they passed an African-American girl, and Morrison wrote the lyrics to Hello I Love You in a single night, referring to the girl as the "dusky jewel". The same year, Smith also recorded and toured with Siouxsie and the Banshees, contributing his writing and playing skills on their Hyaena and Nocturne albums, as well as recording the Blue Sunshine album as The Glove (see above). Many of the songs made by The Doors were done in a communal way, reflected Manzarek, with Morrison usually contributing the lyrics and some melody, while the others hammered out the beat and flow of the song.

Perhaps because of the rumours, Pornography became the band's first UK Top 10 album, hitting the charts at #9. To fans of the Doors, the music included socially, psychologically and politically charged lyrics mostly written by 'the Lizard King', Jim Morrison . In 1982 The Cure recorded Pornography, a bleak, nihilist offering that led to more rumours that Smith was suicidal. They scored another major hit around this time with the single "Touch Me", which featured saxophonist Curtis Amy and a small orchestra. The band members' lives began to be marked by increasing drug use. It also included the song "The Unknown Soldier", for which they created another superb self-directed music video, and "Not To Touch The Earth", excerpted from their legendary thirty-minute concept piece "The Celebration Of The Lizard", although they were reportedly unable to record a satifactory version of the entire piece for the LP. Smith's increasing depression was embodied in the album, Faith, released in 1981. It became their first #1 LP and the single "Hello, I Love You" was their second US #1 single.

In the next two years, I genuinely felt that I wasn't going to be alive for much longer, and I tried pretty hard to make this feeling come true" (1). Their third LP Waiting For The Sun (1968) showed the band beginning to branch out from their initial format as they exhausted their original reportoire and began writing new material. Now 21, Smith "didn't see that there was much point in continuing with life. The second Doors LP Strange Days was almost as strong as the first and it cemented the group's reputation. Carnage Visors was used as a "tour support" film for their "Picture Tour". With his saturnine good looks, magnetic stage presence and skin-tight leather trousers, Morrison quickly became one of the major pop sex symbols of his day, although he soon became frustrated with the strictures of stardom. In 1981 came the album Faith, which hit #14 on the UK charts, as well as an instrumental soundtrack for the film Carnage Visors (these were packaged together as a long-play cassette called Faith/Carnage Visors). Released in January 1967, the album caused a sensation in music circles and the first single released from it, "Light My Fire", became a major hit, establishing the group alongside Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead and as one of the top new American bands of 1967.

The Cure set out on their first world tour, at the end of which Matthieu Hartley left the band. Morrison and Manzarek also directed an innovative promotional film for the single "Break On Through", which was an important stepping stone in the development of the music video genre. "A Forest" became the band's first UK hit single. With the band at the peak of their form and bristling with energy and ambition, the album was recorded in only a few days, almost entirely live in the studio, with most songs captured in a single take. In 1980 the 4-piece Cure released "Seventeen Seconds" which reached #20 on the UK charts. Their self-titled debut LP featured most of the major songs from their set, including the ten-minute musical drama, "The End". Member Michael Dempsey left the band, and Simon Gallup (bass) and Matthieu Hartley (keyboards) joined. Rothchild, the band were signed to the Elektra Records label beginning a long and successful partnership with Rothschild and engineer Bruce Botnick.

The next single "Boys Don't Cry" was a minor hit in the US, and Three Imaginary Boys was repackaged for sale there as Boys Don't Cry. After being spotted by producer Paul A. In 1979, The Cure released the album Three Imaginary Boys and embarked on an extensive period of touring, during which they performed with various other iconic bands such as Joy Division and Siouxsie & the Banshees, leading eventually to a collaboration between Smith and Banshees member Steven Severin, released under the name The Glove. The band took their name from the title of a book by Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception, which was in turn borrowed from a line of poetry by the 18th century artist and poet William Blake: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it truly is, infinite.". The Cure released their first single "Killing an Arab" to both acclaim and controversy; while the single's provocative title led to accusations of racism, the song is actually based on French existentialist Albert Camus' story The Stranger. The single was packaged with a sticker label that denied the racist connotations. The latter two, with a female bass player, were rapidly recruited and the band took up a number of club residences first at LA's London Fog and later the Whisky A Go-Go. The B-Side to the single "Boys Don't Cry", "Do the Hansa" was The Cure's way of getting back at Hansa Records for not signing them. Manzarek was already in a band called Rick And The Ravens while Krieger and Densmore were playing with The Psychedelic Rangers, but knew Manzarek from shared meditation instruction.

A year later, following disagreements about the direction the group should take, the newly named The Cure were signed as a trio (minus Porl Thompson) by former Polydor records scout Chris Parry's new Fiction label (distributed by Polydor). Morrison sang Manzarek some of his poetry and song lyrics including Moonlight Drive. In 1977, The Easy Cure auditioned for Hansa Records and received a recording contract worth £1000. The group started in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, after a meeting between UCLA film school students Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek. They began writing their own songs almost immediately, and quickly amassed both an impressive repertoire of original material and a growing following. 1946). Wilfrid's Catholic Comprehensive School in Crawley, Sussex. 1947) and John Densmore (drums, b.

In 1976 Robert Smith, a 17-year-old student, formed The Easy Cure with classmates Michael Dempsey (bass), Lol Tolhurst (drums) and Porl Thompson (guitar) from St. 1939), Robby Krieger (guitar, b. The band is often considered as being part of the Gothic genre, possibly because of lead singer Robert Smith's image, but Smith rejects this, saying that he considers the band to be mainstream. 1971), Ray Manzarek (organ, keyboard, b. The Cure is a British rock band widely seen as one of the leading pioneers of the British alternative rock and post-punk scenes of the 1980s. The Doors were a musical band of the 1960s and early 1970s, consisting of Jim Morrison (lead vocals, b. 1943 d. Jason Cooper (percussion; member 1995-present). Riders on the Storm: My Life With Jim Morrison and the Doors, by John Densmore, Delta Books, ISBN 0385304471.

Perry Bamonte (keyboards, guitars; member 1990-present). No One Here Gets Out Alive, by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman, Warner Books, ISBN 0446602280. Roger O'Donnell (keyboards; member 1987-1990 & 1995-present). Light My Fire: My Life With the Doors, by Ray Manzarek, Berkeley Publishing Group, ISBN 0425170454. Boris Williams (percussion; member 1984-1994). Download sample of Break on Through (To the Other Side) from The Doors. Andy Anderson (percussion; member 1983-1984). Bright Midnight: Live In America - 2002.

Greatest Hits. Waiting for the Sun - 1968. Galore. Strange Days - 1967. The Cure Play Out. The Doors - 1967. Picture Show.

The Cure in Orange. Standing on a Beach. "I want to be old" - demo from '77/'78. "Need Myself" - demo from '77/'78.

"Listen" - demo from '77/'78. "Meathook" - demo from '77/'78. "See the children" - demo from '77/'78. Join the Dots: B-Sides and Rarities, 1978-2001 (The Fiction Years) (2004) #106 US.

Greatest Hits (2001, compilation of singles 1978-2001/two new tracks) #33 UK, #58 US. Galore (1997, compilation of singles 1987-1997) #37 UK, #32 US. Show (1993, live) #29 UK, #42 US. Paris (1993, live) #118 US.

Mixed Up (1990, remixes) #8 UK, #14 US. Integration (boxed set). Entreat (1991) (songs from Distintegration live) #10 UK. Standing on a Beach (1986, singles compilation) #4 UK, #48 US.

Available only on cassette. Concert and Curiosity (1984), The Concert album with unreleased tracks on the b-side. Concert (1984, live) #26 UK. Happily Ever After (Seventeen Seconds and Faith together U.S.-only release).

Faith/Carnage Visors (1981), a special long-play cassette. Three Imaginary Boys (2CD Deluxe edition)(2004). The Cure (2004) #8 UK, #7 US