 The Cure A sort of overlooked entry in the Cure catalog, Entreat is an excellent live document from the Disintegration tour, recorded at Wembley Arena in July 1989. It's an official release, but came and went with little fanfare at a time when the Cure was releasing tons of stuff and their popularity was not questioned. Sound quality is very good, very present given that it's an arena show, and very light on crowd noise. It is probably out of print by now, but shouldn't be too hard to scare up, as there are always people getting in and out of the Cure, as they get real jobs and/or antidepressants and just move on. I would never sell this disc, though, because Disintegration is still one of my all-time favorites and this is a great complement. Eight tracks, all from that album, looser and a bit more raw than the studio versions, and also quite a bit faster. Certainly it does not replace the original album, but it does nicely package a bunch of live tracks that originally appeared as b-sides into one coherent package. Its brevity is novel, too, since Cure shows are generally pretty exhaustive. This is tight and focused, not as deep and desparate as the studio album, but for anyone who is heavily into that album or the band in general, Entreat is a must-have. The "hits" are not represented, except for "Pictures of You" and "Fascination Street," which are faster in pace. The songs that shine are the less-traveled album tracks, like "Closedown," "Homesick," and the always wonderful "Prayers For Rain," which is as depressing a song as has ever been written, God bless it. "Disintegration" doesn't match the intensity of the studio version, but it couldn't. It's still pretty intense. "Untitled" is really good, a great close, very rainy and hard not to get hit in the heart by. This CD reminds me of my darkest and direst days – needless to say, I don't listen to it a whole lot anymore, but like my "cutting" kit, it's nice to have around "just in case." Whoa, I think I lost whatever the joke was that I was going for there. Ah well, I guess creepy discomfort is a good second choice to nervous laughter for my readers.
Review by Cristál Bohensson |