Three Imaginary Boys
| The Cure
Three Imaginary Boys
Three Imaginary Boys is the debut album by British alternative rock band the Cure, released on 8 May 1979 by record label Fiction. It was later released in the United States, Canada and Australia with a different tracklist as Boys Don’t Cry.-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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AllMusic
Maybe it was youthful exuberance or perhaps it was the fact that the band itself was not pulling all the strings, Three Imaginary Boys is not only a very strong debut, but a near oddity (it's an admittedly "catchy" record) in the Cure catalog.
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Punknews
Conventional wisdom says an album without "the hits" should be weaker, but in the battle of the Cure's Three Imaginary Boys vs. Boys Don't Cry, one finds a pleasant surprise. . . . But that record, in its undiluted form, is actually the superior spin.
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Albumism
As an album, it lacks focus and feels more like a string of EPs rather than one LP. But, in some ways, it may have been a blessing in disguise.
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Treble Zine
Three Imaginary Boys is unlike any other Cure album. With the multitude of eighties wanna-be post-punk bands out there now, cashing in some of the sounds that the Cure created, the album is now more relevant than ever.
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Metal Amino NMW
"Three Imaginary Boys" was released in 1979, on Fiction Records. It is arguably one of the quintessential Post-Punk albums, although the band later rose to fame as a New Wave/Goth group.
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Forgotten New Wave Vinyl
What an audacious debut LP! From the strange cover art, the missing track listings, hidden track, Hendrix sound check track, but assured and varied musicianship . . . . the Cure staked their claim as a band that could not easily be labeled. An incredible accomplishment
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Post-Punk.com
On May 8th 1979, The Cure released their debut album, Three Imaginary Boys. The record was a collection of material from the band’s Malice and Easy Cure days playing at the Rocket as early as 1976 and 1977 (such as “Meathook”), but ultimately well known featuring the classic Cure songs “10:15 Saturday Night,” “Fire in Cairo,” and “Grinding Halt”.
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antiMusic.com
Three Imaginary Boys was released to strong reviews and a decent chart position. What is remarkable about the album is how it doesn’t give a very clear hint of what would eventually make the band known across the world.
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Sorry State Records
. . . The Cure's stunning 1979 debut, Three Imaginary Boys, on U.K.-based Fiction Records launched an extraordinary career and enduring worldwide popularity.
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The Sound of Vinyl
Despite Smith's displeasure with the record, Three Imaginary Boys was well-received critically at the time of it's release. Sounds' Dave McCullough praised it in a 5-star review and noted: "The Cure are going somewhere different on each track, the ideas are startling and disarming".
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George Starostin's Reviews
. . . Three Imaginary Boys is still a tame album - one thing Mr Smith never seemed to care for is excessive distortion and unabashed noise.
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Reddit
I imagine it could've been a way better album if Robert had way more creative control, but I still appreciate it as is. Probably wouldn't say it's my favourite Cure album of all that I've heard, but it's definitely up there.
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Mark Grago
The Cure, with this breathless and reckless debut, are brought into murky evidence of a time-of-arrival: the time of the Gothic and Dark, the time of Robert Smith’s contribution to dissensus imagery and diatribal glamour.
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Progrography
Despite some youthful mistakes . . . , Three Imaginary Boys is a varied and very good first album of English punk with just the right amounts of attitude, energy and oddball antisocialism.
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El Portal del METAL
. . . The Cure does not just simply follow an intentional or very marked path in that type of gloomy atmospheres (Gothic), but also adds a plus of intimacy, compositional development, refinement of melodies, little neglect of harmonies and, always, a manifestation of iconoclastic and very daring attitudes.
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storiadellamusica.it
Essential features of the album are a certain general immaturity and a still vague idea of the road to follow . . . , offset by a decent musical variety and a fresh, youthful approach. Indeed, a minimal-existentialist approach shines through, fragile in structures but strong in spontaneity and enthusiasm that have given the pop story several of its episodes.
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Rolling Stone.it
The push to the Cure was certainly not the thirst for fame, rather the urgency of three boys not even in their twenties in Crawley who, on May 8th 1979, made us understand that nothing would have been the same as before.
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The Student Playlist
While it’s leaning more towards post-punk and new-wave than anything else, making it representative of its time and place – certainly much more than all of their other records – Three Imaginary Boys does definitely contain all of the elements that would later make up the trademark Cure sound, albeit it in embryonic form.
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tender125
I recommend this album mainly for Robert Smith’s fans, but it’s also good for amateurs of punk and post-punk, early 80’s music and all people who value a light-hearted and simplicity but served in a very nice form.
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Metallized.it
For some it is even the best record of the band, precisely because it is unique and different from the rest. Without pushing ourselves towards this interpretation, we would say that it contains some very peculiar elements, even fascinating and some tracks that do not disfigure compared to the champions of the genre, but certainly the band that will be born from then on will have a completely different artistic depth.
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