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4:13 Dream is admirably taut and vibrant.
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He has regularly crept back to the light of the charts and 4:13 Dream is such an occasion. And one which, given the ’80s revival, is timed to perfection.
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Overall, 4:13 Dream is an extremely consistent album throughout its runtime.
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While the album won’t produce any converts or even revive interest in the band’s newer music among purists, it’s an enjoyable, self-assured collection of jangly guitar pop tunes that sounds guided by the group’s own creative compass instead of fickle fans’ expectations.
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Amid the frenzied melancholy, there’s filler and a histrionic misstep or two, but for those willfully lost in the perpetual adolescence Smith has always documented, here’s the new soundtrack to Saturday night.
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The lush arrangements on 4:13 Dream don't build a Wall of Sound so much as a whitewater, where heavily distorted guitar and effects share momentum with fluid melodies and memorable pop hooks.
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The territory is familiar, occasionally too familiar....But it’s not a comforting nostalgic reprise; it’s another plunge into the maelstrom.
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The new album has a more nuanced sound and a wealth of interesting songs.
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This is the first Cure album in a long time that’s more than just another Cure album.
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Smartly pivoting from 2004's oddly aggro "The Cure," Smith once again indulges in his patented bipolar cocktail of feedback-drenched swoons ('Underneath the Stars') spiked with bursts of giddy pop ('The Only One').
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While it's too familiar to be revelatory, it's invigorating all the same.
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Even with a dozen records behind him, Smith, when he puts his mind to it, remains a master at crafting concise masterpieces of bouncy pop majesty.
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Smith sounds less like a lovesick prince in 4:13 Dream's looping-riff viscera and swallow-you-whole echo, and more like the avenging middle-aged Roger Waters on Pink Floyd's "Animals."
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The album may lack the emotional heft of the Cure's more patient, atmospheric recordings, but should it wind up being the group's last, it will be remembered as more than an unnecessary footnote.
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Not all this mope-a-dope sounds fresh, but let's hope Smith doesn't find his cure for pain just yet.
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If it ain’t broke you may smear it with red lipstick and back-comb its hair. But do NOT fix it.
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Under The RadarAn every-other pattern emerges, where a lesser song is followed by a great one. [Winter 2008]
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He isn’t mellowing with age, but serving up more Cure, as you’ve come to expect.
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The only problem is that the rambling approach that let Smith get these things out has kept the results from being all they might have been.
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The Cure inventor Robert Smith remains almost immune to studio dilapidation, but if lucky No. 4:13 Dream could never hope to equal the seminal goth pop of Three Imaginary Boys (1979), Pornography (1982), and/or Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me (1987) by design of natural evolution, neither is it the Wild Mood Swings of the post-Disintegration (1989) paradigm.
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Even if he never wins back the Interpol/Bright Eyes bystanders he lost with 2004's overly heavy, underachieving self-titled punt, Smith finally rewards longtime fans with a proper Cure album, not a quasi-solo-project facsimile.
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Obviously nobody's expecting them to record anything revolutionary at this stage of their career, but it's fair to say that this album will probably only get Cure enthusiasts excited.
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What Smith sees in goth-metal is a mystery but, sure enough, the final third of 4:13 Dream is studded with the sort of big-haired, suffocating fluff ('The Scream', 'It's Over') that has blighted his band's reputation in recent years. A shame because, at best, when they reconcile themselves to the fact that they are essentially a pop act, albeit one whose dark side is more pronounced than most, the Cure are as thrilling now as they were in the Eighties.
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MojoThe four-piece line-up allows for some breathing space amid the existential shitstorm. [Dec 2008, p.101]
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The songs generally hold up, but the production job remains confounding. Keith Uddin’s meaty fists have ruined this album.
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In the end, 4:13 Dream is nothing but a solid to shaky late period album from a band that’s due can’t really be understated.
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Q MagazineSelf-parody has lately been The Cure's greatest enemy: here, happily, it's not the main attraction. [Jan 2009, p.113]
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Sprawled over 13 tracks, The Cure have attempted a microcosm of their oeuvre in one volume and despite their lofty ambitions, the results are a decidedly mixed bag at best.
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The tunes are occasionally catchy, if too often merely adequate, and the instrumentation feels like a familiar, if torn, blanket when it’s not trying too hard.
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Despite the preponderance of sprightly tempos and sing-song hooks, nothing about 4:13 Dream feels especially light, perhaps because Robert Smith chooses to pair these purported pop songs with a heavy dose of affected angst.
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4:13 Dream is slightly better than the misguided hype suggests.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 51 out of 55
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Mixed: 2 out of 55
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Negative: 2 out of 55
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Aug 25, 2015
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Dec 16, 2011
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XantyMar 11, 2009