Rocktrospectiva: The Essential "The Head On The Door" Turns 40

Released on 30 August 1985, "The Head On The Door" was the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Cure. The album spawned two singles "In Between Days" & "Close To Me", described as a collection of pop songs, with its variety of styles, it allowed the group to reach a wider audience in both Europe and North America.

 

The album is the first to feature drummer Boris Williams. Bassist Simon Gallup, who had previously worked on three major Cure albums of the early 1980s, was called back before the recording. In 1985, the band became a quintet with instrumentalist Porl Thompson as their fifth official member. The Head on the Door is the first Cure album where all the songs were composed solely by singer and guitarist Robert Smith. Although this album marks the return of Simon Gallup in the group; he had performed and composed with Robert Smith and Lol Tolhurst on the dark trilogy Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography. 

 

According to Smith, the album was inspired by the albums Kaleidoscope by Siouxsie and the Banshees and Dare by the Human League. He wanted the album to be eclectic with different styles and moods: "It reminds me of the Kaleidoscope album, the idea of having lots of different sounding things, different colours". "Kyoto Song" contains an oriental hook, while "The Blood" is played in a flamenco style. 

 

The piano tune of "Six Different Ways" had been previously used by Smith during his tenure with Siouxsie and the Banshees, for the single "Swimming Horses". The last song of the album, "Sinking", was reminiscent of the band's Faith era, while "Close to Me" (released as the album's second and final single) was described as a "disco thing" by critics. 

 

While the opening track and first single, "In Between Days", was compared to New Order's material. "A Night Like This" contains a saxophone solo by Ron Howe from Fools Dance. The title of the album comes from a line in the chorus of "Close to Me". "Six Different Ways" had certain arab styles while "Push" was hardly strong towards the band dark side. "The Baby Screams" had a dense bass line and a fantastic guitar sound that practically set the pace for "Close To Me", one of the band's standard, and what about "A Night Like This" riding between's the band dark and luminous side and a remarkable bass line ccourtesy of Simon Gallup, and then of course "Sinking" a sigilous style with such good instrumentation to finished a great record dor the band. 

 

It was definitely the breaking point in the band's career, first cause the brand new line-up which actually would stablished the perfect formula the band will use in the albums to come, achieving a pop sound without left their dark style and punk rawness. 

 

Upon its released, the album was well received in the UK, hailed the "liberty" that Smith took to conceive a multifaceted record, with a wider more mature musical approach and marked a new musical direction for the Cure in that Smith had managed to make the band's trademark "gloom and doom" style both "danceable and popular". The Head on the Door is a essential alternative rock album and an outstanding example of Smith's ability to use pop music as a means to express angst while applying just a hint of the polish".

 

The Head On The Door Track List:  

 

1. In Between Days

2. Kyoto Song

3. The Blood

4. Six Different Ways

5. Push

6. The baby Screams

7. Close To Me

8. A Night Like This

9. Screw

10. Sinking