Lomography

The Cure never produced such a successful album as Disintegration, and never would again. It's combination of memorable pop and dark gothic themes make it truly enduring. A classic album.

From classicrockmusicblog.com

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic.com has called Disintegration the “culmination of all the musical directions The Cure were pursuing over the course of the ’80s…”

Throughout the early 80’s the Cure’s music had been darker, more introspective. This was a return to form. A gamble on Singer Bob Smith’s part, he hadn’t envisaged The Cure as a massive stadium rock band, and wanted to move away from this. His attempt failed as Disintegration produced a variety of hit singles and itself reached number 2 on the US Billboard chart.

Disintegration became one of my all-time favourite albums when I discovered it in the mid 90’s. It saw me through my teens and has a special place in my heart.

Photo by adam_g2000

Plain Song: The theme of everything coming to the end runs through the lyrics of this song – it’s a terrifying moment made calm by the relationship of the two protagonists, I’ve chosen my own image called “nothing will survive when the sun explodes” to depict the end of the world.

Photo by susielomovitz

Pictures of You: The main lyric from the chorus helped me choose this. “…I wouldn’t be breaking apart, all my pictures of you”.

Photo by anyway

Closedown: “I’m running out of time i’m out of step and
closing down…”

Photo by mikahsupageek

Lovesong: “However far away, I will always love you…” I love the artificial distance created here. The two reaching for each other as if miles away.

Photo by vicuna

Last Dance: Robert Smith has this thing for Christmas, it’s mentioned in a few of his lyrics, always in a sad way. “But Christmas falls late now, flatter and colder, And never as bright as when we used to fall…”

Photo by kokakoo

Lullaby: A classic from the Lubitel book. If the hat fits…

Photo by robolomo

Fascination Street: I’ve always felt this song is about the superficiality of consumerism. I could be wrong.

Photo by stoonja

Prayers for Rain: “…drearily and tired the hours all spent on killing
time again all waiting for the rain.” A beautiful yet sad and dreary image.

Photo by adam_g2000

The Same Deep Water as You: Another theme that runs through Robert Smith’s lyrics is drowning. This one sounds like a suicide pact. The water is bigger than the event, than the lives. After the moment has past it’s calm and eternal.

Photo by billy_chan

Homesick: To enter the door, or “…to never go home”.

Photo by adam_g2000

Untitled: The music doesn’t tell the same story the words do.

Photo by sixsixty

Disintegration: “Screaming me over and over and over i leave you with photographs pictures of trickery stains on the carpet and stains on the memory songs about happiness murmured in dreams when we both of us knew how the end always is…”