Disintegration (Deluxe Edition)

2010 is the twenty-first anniversary of The Cure's masterpiece! Their classic 1989 album has been re-mastered to sound better than ever, and now includes a twenty page booklet with liner notes by Johnny Black plus rare and previously unseen photographs from Robert Smith's archive! There's also this note about the bonus discs: 'Like the previous Cure reissues, the album will feature a second disc with Smith's home and studio demos for the album; the Disintegration rarities disc features twenty songs recorded in 1988 and 1989, including album cuts and b-sides, plus previously unreleased tracks "Noheart," "Esten" and "Delirious Night" . . . The third disc, labeled Entreat Plus, features an expanded, twelve track edition of that 1990 live album, fleshed out to include live versions of each song off Disintegration, assembled in order, from a concert at London's Wembley Arena in 1989.' - SlicingUpEyeballs.com

'Expanding the latent arena rock sensibilities that peppered Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me by slowing them down and stretching them to the breaking point, the Cure reached the peak of their popularity with the crawling, darkly seductive Disintegration. It's a hypnotic, mesmerizing record, comprised almost entirely of epics like the soaring, icy "Pictures of You." The handful of pop songs, like the concise and utterly charming "Love Song," don't alleviate the doom-laden atmosphere. The Cure's gloomy soundscapes have rarely sounded so alluring, however, and the songs - from the pulsating, ominous "Fascination Street" to the eerie, string-laced "Lullaby" - have rarely been so well-constructed and memorable. It's fitting that Disintegration was their commercial breakthrough, since, in many ways, the album is the culmination of all the musical directions the Cure were pursuing over the course of the '80s.' - All Music Guide