#in between days
So uhhh… Ashes is a *deep inhale* new wave, generation x, post-punk, art rock, goth rock, non-conformist, occult enthusiast. *exhale*
In all seriousness, his design was the most fun but also the most challenging to execute. JEEZ! Do you know how many times I made myself listen to In Between Days just to get into the right head space to design this guy????!!!!!
I never ever ever wanna hear that song again.
He goes by Ashes even though that’s not his real name. It’s Ashton. But OBVIOUSLY Ashton doesn’t conjure up lonely nights in a graveyard reading Edgar Allan Poe by candle light.
Ah but do you know what he REALLY REALLY doesn’t want you to know?
…He’s Elwood’s older brother.
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I was an awkward kid back in the day, and among other things I searched around a lot for who I thought I might be, and something about the whole Goth aesthetic kinda chimed a note with me. I liked a bunch of the music, too (Sisters of Mercy, Siouxsie & the Banshees, great stuff), but there was never ANY of them I loved more than THESE GUYS. Years since I left the whole Goth thing behind after I finally became (relatively) comfortable in just being me, these guys are STILL one of my VERY favourite bands to ever ply their trade, and these are my top tracks from them …
10. DREDD SONG (Join the Dots: The B-Sides & Rarities)
There are VERY FEW real redeeming features to the bloody awful Sylvester Stallone movie of the classic Judge Dredd comics, but this is VERY MUCH one of them. This came about because the band’s phenomenal frontman/main creative driving force Robert Smith is a HUGE fan of the comics, and is SO BLOODY FANTASTIC that it ALMOST redeems the crappy movie it’s attached to. Dark, edgy, moody and really quite beautiful, this is WAY better than anyone had any right to expect.
9. CLOSE TO ME (The Head On the Door)
There’s nothing I love more than The Cure’s thoroughly irrascible sense of FUN, and this is definitely one of the very BEST examples of them fully indulging in that. It’s a wonderfully lovable track, full of fuinky little elements (particularly in the jazzier elements present in the later remixed version which injects a brass section, and I love the way that, instead of relying on samples or keyboards for that, when they’re playing live Robert Smith always just SINGS the trumpet solo himself). But, this being The Cure, there’s also a darker side to the song, a deep creepiness when you listen to the lyrics …
8. PICTURES OF YOU (Disintegration)
Feelings of nostalgia, regret and frustration are writ large upon one of the strongest standouts on what is pretty much the band’s BEST album, with Smith waxing most lyrical indeed about a fire that swept through his home, destroying many of his mementos of his wife, Mary Theresa Poole, only for him to later find a photo of her in his wallet. It’s a haunting song, but also tentatively hopeful, a think of truly fragile beauty.
7. LULLABY (Disintegration)
You don’t get much more memorable than this one when it comes to Cure tracks, Robert Smith bringing his horrid nightmares borne from the damaging childhood stories from his rather malicious dad to vivid, cathartic life in this wonderfully weird and deeply twisted jet black fairytale about “the Spiderman”, which also resulted in the band’s VERY BEST music video.
6. DISINTEGRATION (Disintegration)
You should know my rule by now, if you got a title track on your album it BETTER be a proper corker, and this one from what’s pretty much their best album is one of the very best examples I’ve EVER come across over the years. It’s a beautifully powerful track, Smith singing of the depressive downward spirals that often grip him that he tries to battle through his creativity, but musically this is a stangely moving and even somewhat uplifting piece of work, full of spiky experimental wonder and magic.
5. A FOREST (Seventeen Seconds)
Without a doubt the VERY BEST of their early material, this beautifully stripped back superdark masterpiece of edgy early 80s alt rock precision is powered by a phenomenally relentless bassline from masterful bass player and ubiquitous founder member Simon Gallup, one of the very best in rock music history as far as I’m concerned. A perfect example of The Cure at their most full on GOTH.
4. BURN (The Crow: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Boy, this one ALWAYS takes me back … back in the day, when my town still had a really great rock club where we could dance to all our favourite music and get a decent drink, this one was always GUARANTEED to fill the dancefloor. This is BY FAR their best soundtrack contribution, a perfect standout fromone of my very favourite movies EVER. I just fucking LOVE THIS SONG …
3. JUST LIKE HEAVEN (KIss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me)
Occasionally you get a genuinely HAPPY song from these guys, and this is an absolutel corker, a blissfully happy-go-lucky track that dances and flits about gleefully as Smith sings about the joyful euphoria of just being in love. This is the boys are their most sweet, light and whistful, and so much fun because of it.
2. IN BETWEEN DAYS (The Head On the Door)
Despite being about the breakup of a relationship, this is another wonderfully happy song from ther boys, Robert Smith hopping about with clear musical glee as his sinks his teeth into some enjoyably effervescent vocals and enthusiastically catchy guitars. Forming the perfect opener to one of their very best albums, this is about as fun as The Cure gets.
1. FROM THE EDGE OF THE DEEP GREEN SEA (Wish)
My very favourite Cure track of them all sits comfortably at the heart of my OTHER favourite album of theirs, but even better this is (RIGHTLY SO) one of the core fixtures in their live shows and ALWAYS brings the house down in spectacular style. Powerful, palpable and darkly seductive, this is as good as The Cure gets, the band at the very height of their powers and every single one of them coming together with utmost preceision to create something truly magnificent …
