Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me

by

The Cure

Edit

The music on this cd has been blasted out of my speakers more than any other in the past thirteen years. And that's saying alot. Around 1989, I got rid of my old blue jam box and upgraded to a cd player. This meant tossing my Cure tape and moving over to the cd. Thus, this is also the first album I have purchased twice. Now, I still put it in my (even newer) stereo, but its not for nostalgic reasons. This is fantastic music and has something to offer everyone.

The Kiss is perhaps the darkest song I've every heard, and is the first one on this album I fell in love with. Like Cockatoos has that bass line that mingles with your blood. If Only Tonight We Could Sleep is so unique and strange that it almost redefines what music is. It's nearly narrative. And Just Like Heaven, as somebody else said in another review, really is the perfect pop song.

The Cure has metamorphosed more times that other bands have albums, but Robert Smith's melancholic voice has always been there, droning about misery or rejoicing in giddiness. This album, though currently not directly centered, serves as the perfect fulcrum to their incredible body of work.

If you're contemplating purchasing the Kiss Me remaster, you're already likely to own the original CD release or LP. And since so many reviewers have already discussed the content of this fantastic album, I'd like to focus my review primarily on the sound quality of the remaster. After having listened to the previous batch of Cure reissues, I couldn't wait to put the Kiss Me remaster in my CD player.

The Kiss Me album was remastered by Gary Moore at Universal Mastering in London. After listening to it for several months already, the remaster is a mixed bag to my ears. The best and most obvious feature of this remaster is its clean and crisp character. The original CD release is very muddy in comparison. Bass has also been improved on; not only is it louder but slightly more detailed as well.

However, there are some negative aspects to the presentation. The higher frequencies are overly emphasized, and at times I found the treble to be too harsh and fatiguing. This was especially the case with faster paced songs such as Torture, How Beautiful You Are and Hey You. Yet I could listen to The Snakepit and One More Time quite comfortably.

My own personal annoyance with this reissue is the drums. The drums sound compressed and is equal to everything else in the mix. The drums sounded much better on the original release. For example, I prefer Why Can't I Be You on the original release rather than the remaster because it sounds much more dynamic in the opening of the song.

In concluding, I hope that you have found my review about this release informative. I do not intend to discourage you from purchasing this remaster. In fact, I hope you compare this version to the original and see what one you like best.