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Wild Mood Swings
Wild Mood Swings is the tenth studio album by English rock band the Cure, released on 6 May 1996 by Fiction Records.[3] The album charted at number nine on the UK Albums Chart, staying on chart for six weeks, and charted at number 12 in the US Billboard 200.[4][5] Four singles were released from the album, the first being "The 13th", released in 22 April 1996, followed by "Mint Car" released on 17 June, "Strange Attraction" released in United States on 8 October and "Gone!" released in Europe on 2 December 1996. The album saw the band explore various styles, similar to their double album Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me (1987),[6] incorporating jangle pop, with Mint Car[7] and Return,[8] jazz, with Gone, mariachi, with The 13th,[9] and as the title suggests the album exhibits various different moods, from lighter poppier songs to introspective, darker material, often paired next to one another, which NME described as, "rather like a compilation album, with all the disjointedness that implies."[8] BackgroundWild Mood Swings was an album which saw various different changes towards the way the band approached recording their songs, such as the prominent use of computers and music software like Cubase, as well as live strings and brass instrumentation.[10] It was also the first album released since drummer Boris Williams left the band, due to personal reasons in 1994,[11] while guitarist Porl Thompson also left the group in 1993 to look after his children[12] and joined English rock band Page and Plant.[13] Smith felt at the time that the previous line-up that had made Wish (1992) had "really done as much as we could. In some ways, in the back of my mind, I was slightly unsure as to what we could achieve, because we all knew each other so well. So the fact that it all kind of fell apart was a good thing. It was one of those haphazard, serendipitous things that worked in our favour."[13]  However, Smith found it difficult to replace Boris Williams as he felt he was "a phenomenally good drummer," and found "replacing him was the most difficult thing. Not only did we have to find someone who would fit, who would get on with us and understand what the Cure is about, [he] also had to be as good a drummer as Boris, and it took months finding someone." Jason Cooper replaced Williams on drums in 1995, answering to a Melody Maker advertisement made by the band anonymously.[15] Perry Bamonte replaced Porl Thompson as the group's secondary guitarist, leaving Roger O'Donnell, who returned after being absent in the band's previous album Wish, to fulfil keyboard parts.[16] The album marked the first time the band did not work with David M. Allen as a producer since Japanese Whispers (1983). Robert Smith said of his departure, "I thought that it was time to have a change from working with Dave Allen. I was worried that nothing new was going to happen. We've never really needed anyone to help on the creative or artistic side, but I thought it would be best to get someone in who was younger and didn't have any preconceptions about the group."[10] The track "Club America", is inspired by a summer trip in 1994 that Smith had to New York in with Perry Bamonte, "I wanted to watch the football matches, the World Cup. So Depeche Mode were playing, and Perry's brother Daryl, who now works for us, but who was working for them at the time, and I just went out with them in New York..." Smith then went clubbing with the band and admitted to playing "up to it then and awful lot more than I should have, and on the plane home, I wrote the song, because I was trying to, like, explain it away to myself. It's ironic, you know. I've had this photo taken with these celebrities, and I was there, and I did that, and I was full of self loathing! And that song is not anti-the girl in the "canary feather dress," it's actually anti-me because I was part of it."[17] Rolling Stone noted Smith's put-on deeper voice on the song, citing borrowed "vocal tricks" from David Bowie and Iggy Pop, while also describing the sound as "upbeat" and that its sound replicated the "jaded thrills of nightclubbing in the American fun house."[18]Meanwhile, Spin felt the song resembled English rock band Happy Mondays, due to it replicating their psychedelic sound.[19] The song "Treasure" is inspired by the Christina Rossetti poem "Remember".[20] Smith felt that the most personal songs on the album were "Want" and "Bare".[21] RecordingThe band settled in St. Catherine's Court, a Tudor house which was owned by actress Jane Seymour at the time, and were the first band to record their, since she began renting it out as a film set and recording studio since 1992.[22][23]Other bands who would record there include Radiohead, for their acclaimed album OK Computer (1997), Robbie Williams and New Order. The band themselves would return there for the initial 1998 sessions of the follow up album Bloodflowers (2000).[24]
Alongside many other changes to the band's working methods, they opted to use live brass instruments and string quartets in their songs. something which had previously not occurred in their recording processes, featuring on tracks such as "This Is a Lie" which started out as a song based around an acoustic guitar by Perry Bamonte, Smith recalled, "when I started playing around with it, it evolved into a string piece on the keyboard. I always had in mind that we'd be using strings, right from the very outset. In that way, the house helped — there was an instant atmosphere for any string quartet walking into that room." The band chose Audrey Riley's string quartet for the album as Smith felt she was "very aware of recording for contemporary pop" and that he had difficulties with previous musicians.[10] Smith noted the extensive use of people outside of the band, "we’ve used an Indian orchestra and a jazz quartet and a string quartet and Mexican trumpet players,”... "Everything on the album is real. In the past, I would have tried to keep it in the family, so to speak, and tried to attain a realistic sound through emulation or simulation. Now I feel much more comfortable having people around who are really good musicians."[27]
The whole band were given much more input on the songs, allowing their ideas to be tested for inclusion "no matter how silly it was".[28] Smith felt at the time, "It was the most fun I've ever had making a record, actually; it was brilliant. And that's why it took quite a long time, 'cause no one wanted it to stop. It was really good fun. We were paying for ourselves to live together in a house and make music, so why should we stop? Why should we go home?"[29]
The mastering of the album was complete at Metropolis Studios, London with Robert Smith alongside Ian Cooper, who was suggested to Smith by producer Flood. This made for the first time Smith would be directly involved with the mastering process, which was to due to his frustration towards being absent on the band's previous albums' mastering.[10] Sleeve Design and Art DirectionThe album art features a toy clown, this toy motif would become a recurring theme for all of the related sleeve designs, such as the sleeve art for the singles released for the album. Bassist Simon Gallup discussed the origin to the cover and motif in a contemporary interview, "Robert had this catalogue of toys from Germany. He sent away for these different types of metal toys. They're actually really sharp on the edges and bizarre things like these cars you wind up. The clown is really quite frightening. When we were recording, we had all these toys put over our amps and things. We thought they were such bizarre images that we tried to incorporate them into the record sleeve."[15] Reception
Wild Mood Swings received a mixed response from critics. A favourable review came from Trouser Press, which described the album as "a potent and sweeping dissertation on melancholy and tentative dreams denied," calling it "consistently compelling."[39] However, the album was the lowest-selling Cure album in 12 years, and it marked the beginning of a downward trend in the Cure's future album sales.[40] When Simon Gallup was asked in a contemporary interview if he was looking forward to touring considering the album's mixed reception, he responded "Reviews really don't bother us. We feel very much at home now that the British press hate us once again. We found it a bit disconcerting when we released Wish and we were suddenly the British journalists' favourite band"[15] In a retrospective interview with Rolling Stone, Smith said of the album's poor reception, "The album suffers from being too long. And it's disjointed. I was trying to write in different styles, and wanted us to sound like different bands, almost going after the Kiss Me idea. But, because we’d lost Boris [Williams], and before Jason [Cooper] settled in, we had a different drummer every week. I would often forget the name of the person who was drumming."... Smith felt that after Wish he "got that sense of fun back. And it shows in the album; there are some pretty demented songs on there. But it was a shame, because it got slagged when it came out. Fans hated it as well. It’s the only time I've been hugely disappointed." He believed that fans were unsatisfied with the lead single "The 13th" due to its "sort of crackpot salsa feel."[41] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic noted the album's variety, commenting: "After the relatively straightforward pop of Wish, the Cure moved back toward stranger, edgier territory with Wild Mood Swings.... As the title suggests, there's a vast array of textures and emotions on Wild Mood Swings, from the woozy mariachi lounge horns of 'The 13th' to the perfect pop of 'Mint Car' and the monolithic dirge of 'Want.'" He praised the album's variety saying that the band "explore some simpler territory, from contemplative acoustic numbers tinged with strings to swooning neo-psychedelia." He concluded "but the variety of sounds and strength of performance offers enough surprises to make Wild Mood Swings more than just another Cure record."[2] Chris Gerard of Metro Weekly gave a retrospective review on the album with a mixed perspective. "There is no disputing the power of the album’s opener, though", praising the song "Want" which he believes to be one of the band's strongest work. "Starting with a swirling guitar riff and then building slowly in intensity as it goes, “Want” is another in a long line of powerhouse opening tracks on Cure albums." He also felt that the single choices were poor and led to the album's poor reception. However he believed that "certain B-Sides would've provided a much better collection of songs with the exclusion of some album tracks", and concluded that the album "didn’t have to be the commercial and critical disaster that it turned out to be. The core of a great album is there — it’s just a matter of joining the right dots."[42] Michael Gallucci of Diffuser FM gave an unenthusiastic review, saying "A tired, and often bored, mood drifts through Wild Mood Swings. It's not even the gloom-and-doom lethargy we usually get from the band. Rather, Smith and the group can't muster much enthusiasm for the songs", while also saying "The few times the band sparks to life are the few times it seems to latch onto a groove: 'Strange Attraction', 'Mint Car', 'Gone!'."[43] Anthony DeCurtis of Rolling Stone praised the first two tracks on the album, saying "When he’s inspired, however, Smith can still make the journey along the tracks of his tears entirely compelling “Want,” which opens the album, renders emotional desolation in gripping terms, making the most of Smith’s ability to conjure a haunting atmosphere from a simple, endlessly repeated guitar figure.", but felt that the album "recedes into generic Cure styles" and concluded "On Wild Mood Swings, Smith seems too trapped within his own obsessions to know when he’s merely expressed them and when he’s transformed them into art. It can sometimes be a thin line, but Smith has walked it before with far more satisfying results."[18] James Hannaham of Spin observed, "Smith and the Cure remain fixated on cheap thrills throughout Wild Mood Swings. They try on degraded versions of rock genre as deftly as they put on their makeup and lipstick." and felt, "Smith's three-note hooks never sounded less catchy, and the occasional arena-rock pretensions the band displays don't exactly hit home." concluding, "Wild Mood Swings is the album you'd expect from the Cure if they'd suddenly become filthy rich, got drunk and high all the time, and had a midlife crisis."[19] Edna Gundersen of USA Today praised the album's sound, giving it three out of four stars, "a fun and deliberately trashy celebration of life's pleasures. On Want, he expresses uncorked desire for "more fun, more pain, more flesh, more stars,'' and Mint Car finds him chirping happily about romance. Moods do shift wildly, from a salsa-flavored The 13th, horn-pumped Return and zippy Gone! to trademark Cure downers like Bare and Numb. The album is uneven, but highlights outweigh the low points on this bipolar flight of fancy."[44] Track listingAll songs by Bamonte, Cooper, Gallup, O'Donnell and Smith.
PersonnelThe Cure
Additional personnel
Technical
Charts
Certifications
References
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