I've always seen it as Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me's disturbed older brother. I think it's maybe two songs too long, but not bad by any stretch of the imagination. If you take it, along with the b-sides from that era, you have music on par with Wish imo 

Your thoughts?

Well, I can't see much "hate" here on this fan-forum. But in general, it seems to be one of the "lesser-liked" Cure albums. Of course, it "only" sold 1 million, which for the record company was probably a "flop" (compared to the previous albums).
Anyway, I myself liked it back then and I still do and I'm pleased when I see e.g. "Jupiter Crash" on a setlist. 

I'm gonna quote myself here (from the "best of WMS" topic):

Quote from: undefinedI really liked this album a lot back when it was new. After all, I had been waiting nearly 4 years after "Wish" until finally there was a new album! So I had to like it, eh? 
I like(d) the diversity of material (just as with KM KM KM), though I gotta admit not all songs are that strong and indeed some of the B-sides at the time were better and should've been on the album.

I remember when WMS came out people in Peru thought Bob went mad because of the 'salsa' song (The 13th) he included there. Hardcore dark-gothic fans couldn't understand it and trashed the album. However, the reason for the initial dislike is obvious: The Cure set the bar very high with 'Disintegration' and then they kept the momentum with 'Wish' so fans wouldn't take anything 'less'. But if WMS was hated back then I think now is regarded as a good album among fans. IMO, there are excellent tracks such as 'Want' and 'This Is A Lie' and beautiful pop such as 'Mint Car' that make this an enjoyable record (to me, the worst Cure work to date is "4:13 Dream". Sauf 'Underneath The Stars', everything else is forgettable. No wonder why the band didn't include any song of that album in the last tour...)

I think WMS is a very good album.  There's two songs on it I really dislike for personal reasons, but that doesn't make it a bad album, and it's got a whole lot of really excellent songs on it.  In fact, I should listen to it again (sans those two that bug me).  It's the kind of album you can always get something else out of on another listen.

This is very brief for me.    I'm tired and going off to bed.  Happy to come back again with a rested brain! 

Quote from: dsanchez on December 30, 2019, 14:38:34I remember when WMS came out people in Peru thought Bob went mad because of the 'salsa' song (The 13th) he included there. Hardcore dark-gothic fans couldn't understand it and trashed the album.

While I can understand that typical "goths" would not like the band's "pop singles", I don't understand why they "followed" The Cure at that time anyway - the singles before this one were mostly "poppy" as well (High, Friday, Elise). Thus, to me "The 13th" wasn't a complete break with what was before.
(However, I do remember when it was brandnew I was telling a mate that it sounded a bit "Mexican" to my ears and he didn't believe me!! Seemed impossible to him the Cure were so "experimental" (he's no fan). Only later, when he heard it, he told me I was right...)

Maybe the band should've released "Mint Car" as the first single (would've been more obvious, as it sounded like the little brother of "Friday...")!

See how opinions differ?  I wouldn't class A Letter To Elise as a pop song, I'd class it as alternative.  The sound just isn't pop to me, and you can't bounce around to it like an epileptic rabbit.

Quote from: SueC on January 07, 2020, 13:09:33See how opinions differ?  I wouldn't class A Letter To Elise as a pop song, I'd class it as alternative.

Yeah, I wasn't sure whether to put that one in, wasn't a big (popular) hit anyway. (But it's probably still just not "dark" enough for the "goth" brigade.)

I think what works against it is that after such a long wait and how big the wave coming off disintegration and wish was it had a little too much filler and the first single was way left field. Mint car RRR and Return are al Happy Cure songs that dont really work for me

Want, Club America, Jupiter Crash, Trap, Gone, Strange Attraction are all awesome stuff and glad I got to see many performed on that tour. I wish those first three could be on every set

Welcome to the forum Converge241! Good first post. 

Quote from: Converge241 on January 07, 2020, 14:16:29I think what works against it is that after such a long wait and how big the wave coming off disintegration and wish was it had a little too much filler and the first single was way left field.

Plus "Brit-Pop" was the big thing at the time and Robert wasn't to be seen partying with Blur or the Gallagher brothers... (unlike e.g. Paul Weller did)!

Quote from: Converge241 on January 07, 2020, 14:16:29Want, Club America, Jupiter Crash, Trap, Gone, Strange Attraction are all awesome stuff

Hm, Club America is a bit different, because Robert sings in an unusual (deeper) voice, but for me it's been clearly dispensable at live shows after '96...

Quote from: Ulrich on January 07, 2020, 17:30:01Hm, Club America is a bit different, because Robert sings in an unusual (deeper) voice, but for me it's been clearly dispensable at live shows after '96...

I like Homesick, Harold And Joe, and Club America because he sounds different.