The Cure - Trilogy
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Movie Reviews of The Cure - Trilogy
Movie Review: the cure trilogy: absolutely phenomenal
Summary: 5 Stars
The Cure "Trilogy" live in Berlin is an unprecedented document of one of the most prolific and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music."Trilogy" captures The Cure's performance of their landmark albums Pornography, Disintegration, and Bloodflowers, in their entirety. For those who are familiar with commercially-released Cure videos, "Trilogy" is comparably the epitome of The Cure's sheer genius. A brilliant light show, outstanding cinematography, and unparalleled sound quality effectively convey the melancholy and chaotic vision of Robert Smith as never before. The Cure's performance is alternately intense and subdued: Robert's vocals are consistently stunning, while subtle variations in musical arrangements breathe new life into familiar songs, rendering every performance superior to the album version while maintaining the essence of the original. Perry Bamonte's guitar work is particularly tasteful during the Bloodflowers set, while Simon Gallup's bass provides possibly the only semblance of cohesion during the near-schizophrenic Pornography set. Jason and Roger are once again acutely proficient at drums and keyboards, repsectively.
Highlights of the Pornography set include unbelievable renditions of "A Short Term Effect," "The Figurehead," and "Cold." The Disintegration set is simply mind-blowing. Note the return of the original synth to "Pictures of You," as well as haunting versions of "Last Dance" and "Distintegration."
"Fascination Street" and "Prayers for Rain" have never sounded better. Bloodflowers songs are even more concise and emotional than Dream Tour performances: standouts include "Watching Me Fall," "The Last Day of Summer," and a surprisingly improved "39."
The inclusion of encore "The Kiss" is a wonderful asset to the set and a fitting end to the DVD. Even long-established Cure fans will be shocked by the intensity of "The Kiss;" I have heard many, many live versions and this one...WOW. Worth the price of the DVD for this performance alone.
The Cure "Trilogy" DVD is a phenomenal testament to art-in-progress. The performance is timeless and classic, yet strangely contemporary. This DVD is a mere facet of The Cure's extensive catalog of music and is representative of Robert Smith's most ethereal, introspective work...casual fans would benefit from becoming familiar with less-demanding albums before watching "Trilogy" from start to finish (Cure Show might be a good place to start as far as concert footage.) "Trilogy" is a brilliant, unparalleled perforance...The Cure are successful in making three inherently dark albums sound, well...a whole lot darker. 10 stars.
Movie Review: A real delight for long-time Cure fans
Summary: 5 Stars
This is something that most Cure fans have probably waited for since the invention of the DVD, an accurate, vivid portrayal of The Cure on stage. After seeing The Cure twice on the "Dream Tour", I've spent the past four years looking for bootlegs and such, and this is much better than any bootleg I can find. The 'Pornography' set is the most enlightening one because they've performed these songs much, much less than the ones from the other two sets (save 'One Hundred Years' which has been a staple of every tour since the Porn Tour). Robert even said that 'A Short Term Effect' hasn't been done since the Porn Tour in 1982, in Europe. In a live setting, these songs sound just as intense and abrasive as their studio counterpart. Jason does a great job on the drums, definitely outdoing Lol Tolhurst. The 'Disintegration' set is much like the album, dreamy and visual. The lighting on 'Plainsong' is just plain beautiful, and the spider backdrop of 'Lullaby' is just plain cool (makes me wonder why they never did it on the Dream Tour). The 'Bloodflowers' set is just as I remembered it, and with the exception of a few tune-ups, is almost a sterile reproduction of the studio work. (Echo effects on Robert's voice on the "YEAH!" in 'Watching Me Fall' and a drum machine used on 'There Is No If...' like on the 2000 versions). The encore performances of 'If Only Tonight We Can Sleep' and 'The Kiss', both from the 'Kiss Me' album break the flow of the 'Trilogy', but who cares, they are phenominal performances and make this DVD even more amazing. (Check out 'The Kiss'!!) This only makes me thirst for more live performances on DVD, I'd love to upgrade my VCD of 'In Orange' to DVD.The sound quality is superb and the video quality is as well. The production of the disc is good, and the menus are all easy to use. If there's one thing about this DVD that I do not like, it's the very, very fast-paced editing in some of the more aggressive songs like 'Pornography' and 'Fascination Street', along with the really cheesy digital effects used to make some of these songs seem almost like music videos (like cutting to scenes of static and distorting the images during 'Pornography'). The hidden extras aren't anything worth watching more than once.
Go to the Disintegration set, click left on 'Plainsong' and hit enter, and that'll give you a split screen viewing of the song.
Do the same thing for 'The Same Deep Water As You' and it'll give you the 'Robert-cam' view of the performance. Nothing too enlightening...
This is something for all Cure fans to enjoy, and hope some more live footage can make its way on to DVD.
Movie Review: Everybody Needs This
Summary: 5 Stars
While I enjoyed everything I knew from the Cure thoroughly, this DVD really put them higher as far as my respect for them than ever before. Part of the greatness is in that these already-wonderful tracks are put in the DVD, especially how they performed three albums in entirety, and what's even better is the other stuff, like the explaining of what they did. Also, the encore gave me a better appreciation for those two songs than ever before.
This is especially great if you like the theme of the albums. Each of these are done greatly. While The Cure was just a trio in the 'Pornography' era, there is more emphasis with more musicians in this rendition, full of nothing but strongpoints. I especially liked the performances of "One Hundred Years" and "The Hanging Garden".
The longest and the best is the 'Disintegration' set, which is done a bit different. I love the way that "Lullaby" is performed (in part to bassist Simon Gallup) and especially what's done in the first minute of "Pictures of You", one of my all-time favorite songs. "Love Song" has a nice guitar solo added as well as having more emphasis of keyboard than the album version. Which is good with me, since to me I feel that the keyboards make the song. He adds some German lingo in at the end of the already-wonderful "Fascination Street", particularly because it's the Berlin show of the trilogy.
The 'Bloodflowers' material is done well too, with super long songs that were in the set to begin with. I always loved "Watching Me Fall" so it was nice to see that one done. And Robert does use the 12-string on that track. Many other great things.
To me, this shines in two moments: Both 'Kiss Me' tracks, "If Only Tonight We Could Sleep" and "The Kiss". Seeing this DVD and being a guitar player, the Cure have given me a lot of ideas on that since this. Especially the former, with a classical/gothic style in its first two minutes. As well as Robert's guitar playing, with that cool scratching/sliding. "The Kiss" is a nice, agressive song and has the energy done right.
In the extras is mainly the inspiration of why they came up with the trilogy idea, if that's the end, and what the direction of the Cure's future would be. While some of that seems to be answered, it's nice seeing what they say on this.
I don't know how a Cure fan could not want this, as it's something to be proud of. It transformed me from thinking that they were great legends to a band that will always matter to me because of good talent and guitar.
Movie Review: Beautifully played, very intense show
Summary: 5 Stars
Robert Smith's brief interview in the bonus materials, oddly, gave me one of the most memorable moments from this show. Paraphrasing as best I can: "We loved the coldness of Berlin for these two concerts. I love a city like Barcelona, too, maybe if we do a show like this with the Kiss Me record," he says. "But these albums have some very cold songs on them, and they made us feel like a young band again. I mean, with this set list, we open with a fast, angry song, and that's something young bands do."
People love these records, of course, and it's easy to imagine The Cure responding to suggestions to play these shows...but I was curious why they would. Once you see the songs all laid end to end, played so intensely and deftly, though, it makes more than perfect sense. It's emotionally exhausting hearing all these tunes together in the familiar order from listening to the records. The stage production is beautiful, and the sound is great, but they definitely make an effort to keep you focused on the music they're playing. Nothing overly distracts from that, and the playing is really solid. They never take any big improvisational leaps, but the songs feel fresh and energetic throughout.
Most dramatic of all is probably the title track from Pornography. In the half dozen or so times I have watched the show, that's been the most arresting tune most often. Capturing so much of the complexity of angst and alienation in an instrumental is such a great moment in their catalog, anyway, but they play it so fiercely that it draws you in, while simultaneously reminding you of phase after phase of mood after mood that you just wish you could shake. But you know there's so much honesty and validity in the art of the tune, even though the vibe keeps telling you to stay away, that you don't want any part of what it feels like is happening. People make fun of the love/hate relationship some people seem to have with their own emotions, but it's hard to imagine those few minutes of Pornography not feeling like a universal experience to anyone who happens to come across them.
Even 20. 25 years later, this show still has the same effect on me that those early Cure records did--you finish listening to it, and you feel all wrung out and compelled to get up and do something, but you can't figure out what you're in the mood to go do. Maybe that's the power of good music, or good art of any kind--leaves you feeling raw and all jacked up, but you can't always tell why.
Movie Review: Amazing, atmospheric, etc.
Summary: 5 Stars
The Cure - Trilogy is something I've been waiting for ever since news on it surfaced late last year. I am not musically inclined at all and to think that a band could perform three entire CDs, with all the nuances of their instruments, is unbelievable. But this is The Cure and they have made one of the greatest DVDs that you should own. After popping in Disc 1, the atmosphere sort of mingles itself into your living room (or where ever). After clicking to Play Set (because I guarantee you will not skip anything anytime you watch this), the opening chords start as an initiation, and the opening drums to "100 Years" starts. I _hated_ the original recording of the Pornography album, however I loved the songs anytime I heard them live. This is no different. Everything is amazing, and the drums on "The Hanging Garden", "The Figurehead", and "Pornography" really drive this first set. The song "Cold" is probably the most depressing moment of this entire DVD.
After this, Smith and Company walk offstage, saying they will be back in "7 years" (the time between Pornography and Disintegration). The haunting angelic chimes to Plainsong start afterwards, and the lightshow starts to become absolutely fantastic to watch, it truly complements this show well. Highlights include "Lullaby", "Fascination Street", and of course, my favorite song off of Disintegration, the title track. "Untitled" is breathtaking.
Immediately pop in Disc 2 to see Bloodflowers. This is where all the band truly shines. "Where the Birds Always Sing" is an extraordinary performance, as well as "There Is No If...". Words cannot describe this set. It comes to a close with "Bloodflowers", and the encore of "The Kiss" BLEW ME AWAY. It is also one of my top 3 favorite Cure songs, so that was a true treat.
There is an interview and some bonus stuff, but that is simply incidental considering how great the entire concert is. I only wish I could have seen it live, but this DVD really does make you feel as if you were there. *claps*. 5 Stars.