Disintegration (The Cure album)

This article is about the album by The Cure. For other uses, see Disintegration (The Cure album) (disambiguation).

Untitled

Disintegration is the eighth studio album by rock band The Cure, released in 1989. It peaked at #12 on Billboard's Top 200 Album chart.

History

The album is considered part two of Robert Smith's "trilogy", also including Pornography and Bloodflowers. In 2002, they performed all three albums in their entirety to a Berlin audience, and it was released on DVD as Trilogy in 2003.

The Cure had established themselves as a dark and brooding band in the early 80s with albums such as Faith and Pornography. They broke away from this image with light pop singles, such as "Let's Go to Bed" and "The Lovecats" and their accompanying Tim Pope videos. The following albums The Top, The Head on the Door and Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me had largely continued the pop experimentation, although all three showed elements of Smith's darker side, both musically and lyrically. Disintegration represented a return of the darker styles while still expanding on the newer concepts.

It was the first Cure album to be specifically recorded for CD and this is the reason that the vinyl release is without the songs "Last Dance" and "Homesick". The CD version is over 71 minutes in length, well over the average rock album's length. In fact, half of the songs on the 12-song album are over six minutes in length.

The album debuted at #3 in the UK and slowly climbed to #12 in the US during a 55 week stay on the Billboard Album Chart. It was certified gold by the RIAA on June 28, 1989. The album was also certified platinum on October 20 of the same year. On July 1, 2004, the album was multi-platinum twice.

In the South Park episode Mecha-Streisand, Kyle Broflovski declares Disintegration "the best album ever".

A 2-disc remastered version is intended to be released in 2008.

Track listing

All songs by Gallup, O'Donnell, Smith, Thompson, Tolhurst and Williams.

1. "Plainsong" – 5:12
2. "Pictures of You" – 7:24
3. "Closedown" – 4:16
4. "Lovesong" – 3:29
5. "Last Dance" – 4:42
6. "Lullaby" – 4:08
7. "Fascination Street" – 5:16
8. "Prayers for Rain" – 6:05
9. "The Same Deep Water as You" – 9:19
10. "Disintegration" – 8:18
11. "Homesick" – 7:06
12. "Untitled" – 6:30

"Last Dance" and "Homesick" are only on the CD and cassette versions.

Personnel

• Simon Gallup – bass, keyboards
• Robert Smith – guitar, keyboards, six string bass guitar, vocals, producer, engineer
• Porl Thompson – guitar
• Laurence Tolhurst – "other instruments", but confirmed to have contributed nothing
• Boris Williams – drums
• Roger O'Donnell – keyboards
• Dave Allen – producer, engineer
• Richard Sullivan – assistant engineer
• Roy Spong – assistant engineer

Singles

• "Fascination Street", released only in the U.S. in December, 1988
• "Lullaby" released in April, 1989
• "Lovesong" released in August, 1989
• "Pictures of You" released in January, 1990

Charting singles

Year	Single	Chart	Peak position
1989	"Fascination Street"	The Billboard Hot 100	46
1989	"Lullaby"	The Billboard Hot 100	74
1989	"Fascination Street"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	24
1989	"Fascination Street"	Modern Rock Tracks	1
1989	"Lovesong"	The Billboard Hot 100	2
1989	"Lovesong"	Modern Rock Tracks	2
1989	"Lullaby"	Modern Rock Tracks	23
1989	"Fascination Street"	Hot Dance Music/Club Play	7
1989	"Lovesong"	Hot Dance Music/Club Play	8
1989	"Lullaby"	Hot Dance Music/Club Play	31
1989	"Fascination Street"	Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales	13
1990	"Pictures of You"	The Billboard Hot 100	71
1990	"Pictures of You"	Modern Rock Tracks	19
1990	"Pictures of You"	Hot Dance Music/Club Play	33