The Cure - The Head on the Door [Deluxe Edition]

After the drift of The Top and a lineup that had nearly evaporated, Robert Smith rebuilt the Cure around Simon Gallup's return and Boris Williams' drumming, then wrote the ten most direct songs of his career. The Head on the Door arrived in August 1985 and turned the band from a cult concern into an act that could sell out arenas without changing a thing about the lipstick.

"In Between Days" opens it on a strummed acoustic and a synth line that almost nobody had tried on a rock record yet, and "Close To Me" closes the first side as a claustrophobic pop song built on a hiccupping rhythm and a horn arrangement that arrived late and made it a hit. In between, "Kyoto Song" and "Sinking" prove the gloom had not gone anywhere, it had just learned to sit inside a three minute structure. Smith produced with Dave Allen, and Porl Thompson's guitar gives the record a brightness the earlier albums refused.

It is the Cure's pivot point: every subsequent record, including Disintegration, is written in a language this album invented.

This deluxe edition, compiled by Robert Smith and digitally remastered from the original tapes, adds a second disc of eighteen rarities including home demos from December 1984, the full Fitz and F2 Studios demo sessions, and three live recordings from Bercy in Paris. Two CD set with a twenty page booklet of sleevenotes, lyrics and rare photographs.