God bless the boys from South Park. Kyle may have gotten it right. This album is epic. Before this record The Cure's music was underground club type music, and fit very nicely in the "post-punk" label. The music on this record has an incredibly beautiful melancholy to it. Most of the songs have a slow tempo and just ooze with a dark moodiness that makes you feel. I don't know that it can make everyone feel the same, but it will definitely make you feel.

The songs are a bit long, but that is not a bad thing as each is beautifully orchestrated. There is no filler in this record, and actually some of The Cure's best work is on this album. "Pictures Of You", "Love Song", "Lullaby", "Fascination Street", and "Prayers For Rain" are probably the best songs, but every song is incredible. Overall it's as bleak as any album I've ever heard, and it is painfully intimate. It's one I simply can't stop listening to, despite the dark melancholy of the music.

This is The Cure album for people that aren't even Cure fans. You don't have to be into moody, gothic, synthpop to appreciate just how great this record is. The album is nearly 12 years old, and doesn't sound dated at all. The material is still fresh, timeless. Enjoying this record is simply a beautiful experience.


The Very Last Thing Before I Go   November 15, 2003
MICHAEL ACUNA (Southern California United States)
78 out of 85 found this review helpful

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard The Cure's "Pictures of You" in an advertisement for some camera or film on TV recently. But I did have to stop for a second to listen to this classic song. It brought back many memories and once again I had to pull out the CD and listen to "Disintegration," something I hadn't done for several years.
In 1989 when "Disintegration" was released I drove my family and friends nuts with multiple playings a day at home and in my car. What was it I was/am attracted to in this particular CD? The glorious sound of it of course, the voice (Robert Smith is a God), the lyrics, the general mood of despair and sadness for sure. But with all of that said, "Disintegration" is always hopeful, always "up." The Cure revels in their downtrodden and bleak view of life but they do it with a wink, a knowing smile and not a smirk; which pretty much says it all in regards to them and their music. And anyone familiar with their playful "Let's Go To Bed" has to agree: they're misanthropes with hope, if that makes any sense at all. The Cure are of the Light not of The Darkness.
"Disintegration" would definitely be on my list of CD's I'd have to take with me if I were sent to spend the rest of my days on a desert island, so that I could forever marvel at their wit, their attitude, their playfulness and their unrelenting spirit and drive to make this world a better place in which to live. I'd listen to "The Same Deep Waters as You" over and over, until I wasted away to nothing and returned to the earth from whence I had come.


Simply a Great Album   January 7, 2000
Peter Charbonneau (Boston, MA United States)
35 out of 36 found this review helpful

Disintegration was the first Cure album I bought back in 1989 after hearing Fascination Street on the radio. I wasn't really into their music at all up until then, but I got home, put the tape into my stereo and from the opening seconds of Plainsong I knew that this was my favorite band in the world. They haven't let me down since. This album is musically incredible and lyrically fascinating. Many songs, such as Plainsong, Closedown and Untitled are awash in long, lush intros followed by Robert Smith's introspective lyrics, back into an extended outro. Quite simply, these songs move me. They are haunting, beautiful and captivating. These are some of the best lyrics put to music I've ever heard. In Untitled, Smith proclaims 'sometimes you make me feel like I'm living at the end of the world' 'It's just the way I smile, she said' is his response. I can't recommend this album enough. Many hail this album as among The Cure's best, which it is. It is also seen, quite rightly, as a pretty dark album in mood. But it's the lyrics and the music that raise the beauty of this album above its somber mood and make it a great addition to your music library.


Gloominess at its very best.   October 28, 2003
Christian Zimmerman
21 out of 22 found this review helpful

It's hard to come up with anything to say about DISINTEGRATION that hasn't been said hundreds of times before. On this album the Cure take the dark mood of their "goth" period to a new level by expressing it in the context of pop music, resulting in a lush, emotional album that is as amazing for its accessability as its quality.

The Cure are able to keep the listener's interest through the soundscapes alone, never mind the irresistable melodies and the best lyrics of Robert Smith's career. The individual songs are stunning in their emotional impact, particularly "Fascination Street" and the jittery "Lullaby," but the whole of DISINTEGRATION is much, much greater than the sum of its parts. Listening to the songs out of context doesn't do this album justice; it begs to be heard in one sitting, with the volume turned way up (just like the liner notes tell you to do) to let the gloom wash over you. This is the best rainy day album in history, and I doubt it will ever be challenged.

Recommended for all fans of any kind of music.


there aren't enough superaltives for this album   June 1, 2006
M. Lohrke (Provo, UT)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful

i admit i was never the biggest cure fan in the world. i thought kiss me, kiss me, kiss me had some great songs ('hot, hot, hot,' 'catch,' 'like cocatoos,' 'why can't i be you?' and, of course, 'just like heaven') and i was mildy amused by songs like 'the walk,' 'let's go to bed' and 'inbetween days.' i remember being in high school and watching postmodern MTV (when MTV actually had a redeeming quality) every night with that goofy host, kevin seal, and ocassionally catching a cure video (me, well, i was more in the DM camp instead of the cure). don't get me wrong, i liked the cure, but to my adolescent mind they couldn't top the mighty mode.

however, my opinion of the cure forever changed when i saw the 'world premiere' of the video for 'fascination street.' who was this new cure? robert smith and co. always gleefully played in the darkness, but 'fascination street' seemed more purposeful and direct than previous cure songs i'd heard. it kept the cure's trademark darkness, but there was something else to it. what was it? 15 years on i still don't know.

i went to the sadly defunct crandall audio in orem, utah and bought 'disintegration' with my hard-earned lawnmowing money that week (i still have the old cd 'longbox' cd's used to come in). nothing could've prepared me for the beauty of the album's opener (and standout, in my opinion), 'plainsong.' everyone who's said 'disintegration' (appropriately titled, by the way) is a moody, atmospheric album is spot-on. few albums drum up the raw emotions we all feel inside quite like 'disintegration.' it was an interesting blend of peddled-guitars, tinny bass, spooky synths, and robert smith's trademark yalps.

it was shortly thereafter i saw the video for 'lullaby.' i thought i was having a nightmare. it's still a brilliant song and the second best song on the album (in my opinion). most of us will also probably feel some nostalgia for 'pictures of you,' and 'love song,' too. they're the kind of love songs that could only come from the cure.

as someone else correctly noted, 'disintergration' is very much a concept album. how else do you explain every song coming in at 5+ minutes? (well, most anyway). in short, 'disintegration' is indeed the cure's defining moment, much like 'violator' was depeche mode's, 'the innocents,' was erasure's, 'earth sun moon' was love and rocket's, and 'technique' was new order's. now that i think about it, the late 80's and early 90's had some truly great music. 1989, the year of 'disintegration,' is particularly noteworthy.

if you're new to the 'movement,' 'disintegration' is essential listening. it's huge, bold, experimental, purposeful, direct, nebulous, moody, eerie, creepy, spooky, heartbreaking and ultimately beautiful.

i'm still not a huge cure fan, but i'll disintegrate anytime.