Best of the 80's: Pornography by The Cure

I find albums like this to be hard to place on a giant countdown like Best of the 80's.  Though in 1982 this album was different and cutting edge Robert Smith would later take this basic template and make one of the best albums of the 80's, and so in looking back at this album your left to think of it as a step in a growth and I'm not sure that steps like this really belong in a list like this.   Currently this album sits at number 59 on the Best of the 80's list.

People will argue that this album is the true masterpiece, but I think even those making that argument know they are wrong.  The production, the overall sound of the album falls so short of where Smith will take it just a few years later its hard in my mind for an album like this to hold up as a master work.  Yes a critical step and important in 1982, but not in the span of the entire decade. 

That being said this is a solid little album.  It's only 8 tracks long and works very well as a single piece.  The biggest problem with the album is the sound which is muted and cloudy and fails to generate the true mood that Robert Smith was aiming for.

A perfect album to put on a Walkman for a late night walk on a dark, dreary, and rainy night.

Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 3 out of 5 stars for Pretty Good.