THE CURE - The Head on the Door (1985-2006) RM / 2CD / Deluxe Edition / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

After recording one of their darkest albums, 1984's The Top, the Cure regrouped and shuffled their lineup, which changed their musical direction rather radically. While the band always had a pop element in their sound and even recorded one of the lightest songs of the '80s, "The Lovecats," The Head on the Door is where they become a hitmaking machine. The shiny, sleek production and laser-sharp melodies of "Inbetween Days" and "Close to Me" helped them become modern rock radio staples and the inspired videos had them in heavy rotation on MTV. The rest of the record didn't suffer for hooks and inventive arrangements either, making even the gloomiest songs like "Screw" and "Kyoto Song" sound radio-ready, and the inventive arrangements (the flamenco guitars and castanets of "The Blood," the lengthy and majestic intro to "Push," the swirling vocals on "The Baby Screams") give the album a musical depth previous efforts lacked. All without sacrificing an ounce of the emotion of the past, which songs as quietly desperate as "A Night Like This" and "Sinking" illustrate. With The Head on the Door, Robert Smith figured out how to make gloom and doom danceable and popular to both alternative and mainstream rock audiences. It was a feat the band managed to pull off for many years afterward, but never as concisely or as impressively as they did here. by Tim Sendra  
Tracklist 1 :
    The Original Album    
1        Inbetween Days    2:57
2        Kyoto Song    4:16
3        The Blood    3:43
4        Six Different Ways    3:18
5        Push    4:31
6        The Baby Screams    3:44
7        Close To Me    3:23
8        A Night Like This    4:16
9        Screw    2:38
10        Sinking    4:57
Tracklist 2 :
        Rarities 1984-1985    
1    Inbetween Days (RS Home Demo Instrumental 12/84) 1:25
Performer – RS
2    Inwood (RS Home Demo Instrumental 12/84) 2:18
Performer – RS
3    Push (RS Home Demo Instrumental 12/84)
Performer – RS
4    Innsbruck (RS Home Demo Instrumental 12/84) 2:37
Performer – RS
5    Stop Dead (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)    3:21
6    Mansolidgone (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)    4:06
7    Screw (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)    3:09
8    Lime Time (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)    2:56
9    Kyoto Song (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)    4:28
10    A Few Hours After This... (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)    4:36
11    Six Different Ways (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)    3:00
12    A Man Inside My Mouth (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)    3:00
13    A Night Like This (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)    4:08
14    The Exploding Boy (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)    3:06
15    Close To Me (Fitz/F2 Studios Demo 2/85)    4:03
16    The Baby Screams (Live Bootleg - Bercy Paris 12/85)    3:46
17    The Blood (Live Bootleg - Bercy Paris 12/85)    3:34
18    Sinking (Live Bootleg - Bercy Paris 12/85)    5:06
Credits:
Bass – Simon Gallup (faixas: 1-1 to 1-10, 2-16 to 2-18)
Drums – Boris Williams (faixas: 1-1 to 1-10, 2-16 to 2-18)
Guitar – Porl Thompson (faixas: 1-1 to 1-10, 2-16 to 2-18), Robert Smith (faixas: 1-1 to 1-10, 2-16 to 2-18)
Keyboards – Laurence Tolhurst (faixas: 1-1 to 1-10, 2-16 to 2-18), Porl Thompson (faixas: 1-1 to 1-10, 2-16 to 2-18), Robert Smith (faixas: 1-1 to 1-10)
Percussion – Boris Williams (faixas: 1-1 to 1-10)
Producer [Original Album] – Dave Allen (faixas: 1-1 to 1-10), Howard Grey (faixas: 1-2, 1-5, 1-8), Robert Smith (faixas: 1-1 to 1-10)
Research [Tape] – Zoe Roberts
Saxophone – Ron Howe (faixas: 1-1 to 1-10)
Voice – Robert Smith (faixas: 1-1 to 1-10, 2-16 to 2-18)
Written-By – Smith