KEY POINTS:
Rating: * * *
The Cure haven't sounded this energised on a record in years; shame they leave it until the last four songs of the band's 13th album to show it.
The best of this clutch of songs is the devilish jaunt of Sleep When I'm Dead and the strange and twisted The Scream. It makes you wonder why these songs - along with This, Here And Now, With You and frantic closer It's Over - are at the end of the album when much of the first half is dreary. Leader Robert Smith tries to make an impact with the long, rousing opening of Underneath the Stars but it wilts rather than hits; the coy pop of The Perfect Boy doesn't have the allure of something like Pictures of You; and in the copycat stakes The Hungry Ghost is suspiciously like Ride's Vapour Trail. The most thrilling moment of the first half is the nutty, wah-wah guitar solos firing up Freakshow.
After many failed release dates it's an eagerly awaited album for local Cure devotees following the band's triumphant three-hour show at Vector Arena in August last year and 4:13 Dream is strictly for those hardcore fans.
When you're a band that's more than 30 years old and one of the most prolific and consistent acts since the 70s, you can always rely on loyalty.
Scott Kara
