LP - Side 1
2. Accuracy
3. Grinding Halt
4. Another Day
5. Object
6. Subway Song
LP - Side 2
1. Foxy Lady
2. Meathook
3. So What
4. Fire in Cairo
5. It's Not You
6. Three Imaginary Boys
7. The Weedy Burton
Album Art Cover
The first thing that strikes one when considering Cure’s 1979 debut UK LP ‘Three Imaginary Boys’ is the bizarre album cover depicting a lamp, fridge and vacuum cleaner. What the heck? As it turns out, the Cure had no say in the cover ‘art’ or in the song selections (ie Hendrix’s Foxy Lady). Producer Chris Parry made those decisions with Robert Smith’s consent. In addition, the vinyl cover and disc label had no song listing, but rather pictograms of each song (in random order) were included on LP back cover. Good luck figuring out what song was what, especially in pre-Internet days. Finally, the inner sleeve also had strange photo of a house and colour-coded credits / references. Very unique and strange packaging for a debut LP!
Band and Music
Let’s shift to the band and music. Robert Smith is the Cure, but he began by playing piano, and assumed role of frontman/guitarist only when the lead vocalist of Easy Cure resigned in 1977. Michael Dempsey is the bassist (but left due to concerns of musical direction in subsequent LPs ie the ‘Dark Trilogy’), and Lol Tolhurst was the drummer (until fired for alcohol/drug abuse during ‘Disintegration’ recording sessions). A band with three boys!!! This record is a fascinating primer for the Cure and the musical genres and themes that follow throughout the 1980s. The music is tight and varied, while the lyrics address themes of depression, sexual tension, existentialism… just your average teenage concerns.
Comparison to ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ LP
The Cure’s US debut LP is ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ in 1980 featuring a number of similar tracks from ‘Three Imaginary Boys’, although in different track sequence, in addition to three previously released singles; the controversial Killing an Arab based on Albert Camus’ novel ‘The Stranger,’ Boys Don’t Cry and Jumping Someone Else’s Train. The cover art of 'Boys Don't Cry' is the pictogram for Fire in Cairo from the back cover of ‘Three Imaginary Boys’ LP.
In my opinion, ‘Three Imaginary Boys’ is the definitive debut LP by the Cure and the more consistent in terms of song selection and sequence of the two LPs.
Original Vinyl LP – Side 1
We are introduced to The Cure’s debut LP with the atmospheric opening track 10:15 Saturday Night. It was the B-side of their single Killing an Arab, based on Albert Camus’ novel ‘The Stranger.’ It was also released as a single in France, with Accuracy as the B-side. The song starts with a low sound that builds in intensity (guitar riff) and eases into a steady bass line. Can you hear that slight sigh of breathe towards the end? Good use of musical pacing and lyrics to convey emotional pain, longing and isolation. With Cure lyrics, often there are two streams of meaning. Is this song simply about the anxiety of waiting for your loved one and not knowing where they are? Is it a deeper existential wail? Is it like ‘Waiting for Godot’? You decide.
“And the tap drips
Drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip”
The second track Accuracy has a groovier bass driven sound. The lyrics are cryptic (are you surprised?) but hint at a player, a manipulative seducer, who practices his art of deception to perfection. But there is a sinister threat uttered:
“Look into my eyes / We both smile / I could kill you / Without trying”
Grinding Halt is next track, an upbeat bopping song despite its minimalist pessimistic lyrics:
“No sound / No people / No clocks / No people…. Stopped / Short / Grinding halt”
Is the world coming to an end? Should we be worried or rejoice? Is this similar to R.E.M.’s ‘It’s the End of the World (I Feel Fine)’ or with a dark edge. Well, the song ends with the sound of the vinyl record slowing to an abrupt stop. My interpretation is apathy rather than fear.
Next up is Another Day, a slow brooding song that speaks to the paralyzing power of boredom and depression often experienced at that impressionable age. Waking up, waiting for the new day to end, even before it has begun:
“The eastern sky grows Cold / Winter in water colors / Shades of grey”
The fifth track is Object, a song with a driving sound and interesting use of echo. The tone is one of a conflicted seducer or one being seduced? A sad statement of sexist objectification of desire at the expense of a meaningful relationship. Getting to really know and respect someone is much harder than simply getting laid. The words are macho but hint at pain of rejection and hurt.
“You know you turn me on / Eyes so white and legs so long
But don't try to talk to me / I won't listen to your lies”
Side 1 ends with the creepy horror vignette Subway Song. Packed in the brief 2:00 minutes is an vivid atmosphere of approaching doom, with very few words. There is a Cabaret feel to it, with fingers clicking, toes tapping (tip top tip top), and a harmonica. The music fades….. you think the song is over… then the terrible SCREAM (via distorted reverb) or the CRASH of the train running over the victim? MURDER she wrote! Full lyrics below:
“Midnight in the subway / She's on her way home
She tries hard not to run / But she feels she's not alone
Echoes of footsteps / Follow close behind
But she dare not turn around / Turn around”
Original Vinyl LP – Side 2
Side 2 begins with a sound check. Yes and the band are jamming to Foxy Lady by Jimi Hendrix. How did it make this album? Blame it on the producer! Robert Smith was not happy with this song’s inclusion. But upon careful (and repeated listening), the selection works. This version is edgier, less distinct (Michael Dempsey is actually singing) interpretation. It belongs on this album. Sorry Robert Smith, you have been over-ruled! (Lyrics not re-printed due to copyright by a guitar legend).
After the shock of a Hendrix jam session, we move into an original Easy Cure (1977) composition Meathook. The sound is cool, assured with neat bass pattern. But the lyrics are anything but clear. What is going on here?
“That butcher man was some... Lady
He really stole my heart
He hung me up on his meat hook
A real piece of... Slaughterhouse art”
The third track on Side 2 is So What, a song with anxious singing and non-stop rambling words. Sounds to me like the barrage of advertising and consumerism we are exposed to on a daily basis. The chaos and noise of modern life. I can’t get no …. Satisfaction!
Fire in Cairo is a wonderfully crafted catchy ‘pop’ song that could have easily been a single. It is a seductively suggestive love song, wonderfully depicting the fire of passion:
“Shifting crimson veil, Silken hips
Slide under my hand, Swollen lips
Whisper my name, and I yearn
You take me in your arms, And start to burn”
The repetition is alluring: F-I-R-E-I-N-C-A-I-R-O, F-I-R-E-I-N-C-A-I-R-O. But in the end is it real or a dream? “Then the heat disappears / And the mirage Fades away”
The next track is It’s Not You, an upbeat tune with a pronounced guitar riff. The lyrics are straight-forward:
“Well I'm tired of hanging around / I want somebody new
I'm not sure who I've got in mind / But I know … That it's not you”
The debut LP ends with the title track Three Imaginary Boys, a haunting evocative (early gothic?) and complex composition. The music is even-paced, hypnotic as if under a trance! The themes explored are depression, loss, existential angst, fear of being alone. Comprehensive choice of words are deployed to convey these feelings: “footsteps, shadows, statues, echoes, scared, empty feeling, heart beats, nighttime, disappearing, moon, cracked reflection, whispers, silence, pressing.”
“Scared of what the morning brings / Waiting for tomorrow …. Never comes”
Who are the Three Imaginary Friends? The song appropriately ends with the plaintive cry “Can you help me?”
This would be the end of the record, but for a hidden thirteenth track, now referred to as the Weedy Burton. Personally, the 1:04 minute instrumental bar song doesn’t add a thing to the flow of the record. In fact, it sounds as if someone left the tape running. The producer’s in-side joke perhaps???
Assessment
What an audacious debut LP! From the strange cover art, the missing track listings, hidden track, Hendrix sound check track, but assured and varied musicianship…..to the broad existential themes, hints at the ‘darker’ gothic records to come, and their decision to be anti-celebrities (no band photos during their first 4-5 LPs), the Cure staked their claim as a band that could not easily be labeled. An incredible accomplishment.
Rating
LP Rating: 5/5
Vinyl Rating: NM
Dedication
I would like to thank a work colleague, Julie Proulx, for graciously donating her vinyl records for my discovery and review. 'Three Imaginary Boys' was amongst those records, as well as the near complete vinyl Cure collection. As I learned, Julie is a knowledgeable Cure fan. I must admit, I had not had the pleasure of listening to the first 4-5 Cure records, being exposed to the Cure largely during the mid 1980s (Love Cats, The Walk, In Between Days). This is the main reason for this blog. Exactly to re-discover great music I had missed the first time around. Thanks once again Julie!!!!
