Disintegration: a concept album?

Started by dsanchez, May 03, 2019, 20:52:42

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dsanchez

Written by Zerbity_Blerb on Twitter:

Quote
Plainsong: The Break-up
Pictures of You: Realizing you massively screwed up
Closedown: Slipping into a deep depression
Lovesong: A last ditch attempt to win her back
Last Dance: Trick initially works, but thing quickly fall apart
Lullaby: Allowing the evil alter ego to take over
Fascination St: The alter ego delves into debauchery
Prayers for Rain: Wanting to be cleansed of bad behavior
Same Deep: Begging for another chance
Disintegration:  The final discussion between lovers which is explosive
Homesick:  Homesick
Untitled:  Acceptance and moving forward

I always thought Disintegration was an unofficial Concept Album, chronicling the disintegration of a relationship (which was based around what was happening in RS's life).  Every song tells a chapter of the story which has some "ups" but mostly "downs".  Fabulous B-sides as well

Wonder what others in the forum think on the above.
2023.11.22 Lima
2023.11.27 Montevideo

Ulrich

Quote from: dsanchez on May 03, 2019, 20:52:42Written by Zerbity_Blerb on Twitter:

Quote from: undefinedPlainsong: The Break-up (who broke up?)
Pictures of You: Realizing you massively screwed up (???)
Closedown: Slipping into a deep depression (?)
Lovesong: A last ditch attempt to win her back (???)
Last Dance: Trick initially works, but thing quickly fall apart (huh?)
Lullaby: Allowing the evil alter ego to take over  (wtf?)
Fascination St: The alter ego delves into debauchery (maybe)
Prayers for Rain: Wanting to be cleansed of bad behavior (???)
Same Deep: Begging for another chance (?)
Disintegration:  The final discussion between lovers which is explosive (aha...)
Homesick:  Homesick (ok)
Untitled:  Acceptance and moving forward (???)

I always thought Disintegration was an unofficial Concept Album, chronicling the disintegration of a relationship (which was based around what was happening in RS's life). 

Wonder what others in the forum think on the above.

I'll tell you what I think: it is a nice theory, but it does not hold much "proof" - it is known (anyone can look it up on wiki or whatever) that RS married his longterm-girlfriend in 1988 (and they are still together), so how this person thinks it could be a "chronicling" of what happened in Robert's life, is beyond me.  :?

Or in short: rubbish. I added some short comment in the quote above, here is a bit more:

Lovesong: it has been said it was written for Mary (RS commented she might've preferred a diamond)
Last Dance: "this is what happens when you meet them a few years later" (introduction on "Entreat")
Lullaby: based on a nightmare, by the looks and sounds of it?
Untitled: "I'll never lose this pain..." - how can that be "acceptance and moving on"???
The holy city breathed like a dying man...

MeltingMan

I do not think that Disintegration was planned as concept album.
However, the departure of Lol and later Roger had musical consequences.
At Wish we have three(!) Guitarists. I find that remarkable. Disintegration
stands for itself and for the end of a successful decade of The Cure. To say
it is a "concept album" is a bit far-fetched.
En cette nation [Russie] qui n'a pas eu de théoriciens et de démagogues,
les pires ferments de destruction ont apparu. (J. Péladan)

piggymirror

Quote from: MeltingMan on May 07, 2019, 18:14:21I do not think that Disintegration was planned as concept album.

Probably not intended to be one in the beginning...

Quote from: MeltingMan on May 07, 2019, 18:14:21Disintegration stands for itself and for the end of a successful decade of The Cure.
To say it is a "concept album" is a bit far-fetched.

...but it is a concept album after all. Maybe the concept is a bit... hazy.

SueC

Quote from: dsanchez on May 03, 2019, 20:52:42Written by Zerbity_Blerb on Twitter:

QuotePlainsong: The Break-up
Pictures of You: Realizing you massively screwed up
Closedown: Slipping into a deep depression
Lovesong: A last ditch attempt to win her back
Last Dance: Trick initially works, but thing quickly fall apart
Lullaby: Allowing the evil alter ego to take over
Fascination St: The alter ego delves into debauchery
Prayers for Rain: Wanting to be cleansed of bad behavior
Same Deep: Begging for another chance
Disintegration:  The final discussion between lovers which is explosive
Homesick:  Homesick
Untitled:  Acceptance and moving forward

I always thought Disintegration was an unofficial Concept Album, chronicling the disintegration of a relationship (which was based around what was happening in RS's life).  Every song tells a chapter of the story which has some "ups" but mostly "downs".  Fabulous B-sides as well

Wonder what others in the forum think on the above.

I think it's very far-fetched, and a good example of people projecting their own ideas onto songs (and in some cases, really reading things into them that actually aren't there).  For quite a few of those songs, if you look at what the author of the lyrics said about them, it's quite different to this person's theories.  Pictures Of You commonly gets read as a breakup song, but I've never seen it like that - we've recently discussed that, and had author quotes on it, on another thread.  And I can't for the life of me see how Plainsong could be read as a breakup song... (That's the summary version. I suggest people do their own research.)

SueC is time travelling