NEW LP
New sealed copy. Record Store Day 2024 exclusive 40th anniversary picture disc reissue. Limited to 1000 copies worldwide.
The Top is the fifth studio album by English rock band the Cure, released on 4 May 1984 by Fiction Records. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number ten on 12 May. Shortly after its release, the Cure embarked on a major tour of the United Kingdom, culminating in a three-night residency at the Hammersmith Odeon in London.
The album's style is eclectic, with Smith using various instruments including violin and flute. "Bird Mad Girl" is in a Spanish style, while "Wailing Wall" contains Middle Eastern undertones. Sounds critic Jack Barron described the opening track "Shake Dog Shake" as "urbane metal".
Upon its release, the reaction in the British press was mostly positive. Steve Sutherland of Melody Maker praised the album for its "psychedelia that can't be dated", while Andy Strike of Record Mirror called it "a record of wicked originality and wit". In Smash Hits, Mark Ellen deemed The Top a "weird and wonderful" album with songs that "seem both enticing and faintly dangerous". In contrast, Barron at Sounds noted that The Top is "too often not the true bottom line in reflected experience to be indisposable", but nevertheless prophesied, "In 20 years' time, when the next generation blush with excitement at the word 'Psychedelic', it'll be regarded as a classic".
TRACKLIST:
Eye Side
A1 Shake Dog Shake
A2 Bird Mad Girl
A3 Wailing Wall
A4 Give Me It
A5 Dressing Up
Cross Side
B1 The Caterpillar
B2 Piggy In The Mirror
B3 The Empty World
B4 Bananafishbones
B5 The Top
