THE CURE released their second album on this day in 1980 through Fiction Records. The album was the first with Simon Gallup (who replaced Michael Dempsey on bass) and keyboardist Matthieu Hartley.
We'd known Siimon and Matthieu for years, and had always been friends. They both played in another local group, (the only other real one), 'The Magazine Spies', and in previous moments of despair (the 'split was not an instant rift) Lol and I had often mused on the possibilities of a union between the four of us.
The new four piece CURE takes all the strengths of the old trio - space, invention, melody, understatement - and combines these strengths with other that were previously concpicuous by their absence - texture, mood, experiementation, consistency, enjoyment, and depth. THE CURE is developing, but not to order: it was never intended to be a cosy outfit aiming for (careful) 'pop' notoriety, and it will never become one.
There still don't have to be any 'stars'.
The Cure official newsletter #3, 1980