The Top (2cd Deluxe) [Original recording remastered]

Smith plays most of the instruments on THE TOP while the talented but soon to be booted Andy Anderson plays the drums. Porl Thompson and Lol Tolhurst do contribute, but this is the closest thing to a solo album Smith has released, although I do have a bootleg solo album that Smith did by himself. With the JAPANESE WHISPERS singles, Robert Smith realized he could do any kind of music, and with the hallucinogenic TOP takes that notion to an extreme where he really lets it all hang out.

The breakdown:

"Shake Dog Shake" - a creepy, nightmarish vision with churning psychedelic guitar, death knell pacing and a grim smile. "Make up in the new blood/ And follow me to where the real fun is" *****

"Birdmad Girl" - beautiful song, lighthearted yet tinged with melancholy. Exudes an exuberant lust for life. Great piano, great guitars (both acoustic and electric). "She sends me everything/ She sends me everywhere" (love the way "me" switches from indirect object to direct object). *****

"Wailing Wall" - a fantastically gloomy Middle Eastern atmosphere pervades as Smiths electric guitar hovers in waves through the background. *****

"Give Me It" - full-throttle chaos and desperation, a harrowing vision to be sure. "Give me it, give me it give me it!/ Deaden my glassy mind!/ Give me it, give me it/ Make me blind!" ****

"Dressing Up" - a dreamy, soothing respite from the madness. Sotthing woodwind keyboards, very intimate. ****1/2

"The Caterpillar" - A sweet, mildly plaintive song and quite unique. Highly creative with distinctive percussion (bongos, a clapper that flickers like butterfly wings) and other interesting touches. *****

"Piggy in the Mirror" - The surreal lyrics reflect a very warped state of mind and are simply brilliant. The acoustic guitar solo at the middle 8 is otherworldly and exquisite. ****1/2

"The Empty World" - Easily the weakest track on THE TOP, it features a military march on drums and a keyboard line that sounds like a Revolutionary War flute. It also explores THE TOP's central motif - altered mind states. ***

"Bananafishbones" - Possibly Smith's most wigged-out, warped and psychedelic song ever and the best song on THE TOP. Absolutely chrning and thick like caramel with an uneasy, off-kilter heaviness that makes the room swim. "Turn off the lights/ And tell me 'bout the games you play." *****

"The Top" - a dark hypnotic "place where nobody goes/ You just imagine it all." Conveys a frightening sense of isolation. Cadences from percussion waver in tone and methodic drum rolls are divided into segments that make your mind swirl until an actual spinning top comes to a stop and falls over. ****1/2

For some reason THE TOP is often misunderstood and slagged, but mostly by people who don't get the Cure anyway. One of my favorite albums, by the Cure or anyone else.