The Top (album)

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This article is about the album by the Cure. For the comic character, see The Top (comics).

The Top
Studio album by The Cure
Released	May 1, 1984
Recorded	Genetic, Garden studios, Trident, 1983 - 1984
Genre	Alternative Rock
Length	40:55
Label	Fiction
Producer(s)	David M. Allen, Chris Parry, Robert Smith
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Pitchfork Media (6.9/10) link
The Cure chronology
Concert (1984)	The Top (1984)	The Head on the Door (1985)

The Top is the fifth studio album by British alternative rock band The Cure, released in 1984 (see 1984 in music).

Contents 1 History 2 Track listing 2.1 Original 1984 release 2.2 2006 "Deluxe Edition" 2.2.1 Disc one 2.2.2 Disc two 3 Personnel 4 Production 5 Miscellanea 6 Charts

[edit] History

The Top was the first studio album to follow Pornography. After Pornography, Robert Smith found himself without his friend Simon Gallup, who departed the band due to a fight. Smith then took a radical shift in his music. Just months after the bleak and angsty Pornography, the band released the single "Let's Go to Bed" which just featured Smith, Lol Tolhurst and session drummer Steve Goulding. Following this was "The Walk", and then "The Lovecats". All three were poppy and upbeat, the complete opposite of everything they've done in the three albums prior. The Top is the first album to follow this new side of The Cure. Smith wrote almost all of the music himself, and as such, this is closer to a Robert Smith solo album than any other album in the band's history. (Smith is on record as saying, "every band has at least one bad album, and The Top is ours"). However, other fans do consider it to be an underrated transitional album, and in addition to this, it was The Cure's first studio album to chart in the U.S.

The album was re-released August 8 in the U.S. and August 14 in the UK. The first CD had the original album with remastered sound. The second disk had four unreleased tracks, live performances and studio outtakes of all ten songs on the original album (and it's two B-sides "Happy the Man" and "Throw Your Foot", from "The Caterpillar").

[edit] Track listing

All songs by Robert Smith, except where noted.

[edit] Original 1984 release

1. "Shake Dog Shake" – 4:55
2. "Birdmad Girl" (Smith, Tolhurst) – 4:05
3. "Wailing Wall" – 5:17
4. "Give Me It" – 3:42
5. "Dressing Up" – 2:51
6. "The Caterpillar" (Smith, Tolhurst) – 3:40
7. "Piggy in the Mirror" (Smith, Tolhurst) – 3:40
8. "The Empty World" – 2:36
9. "Bananafishbones" – 3:12
10. "The Top" – 6:50

[edit] 2006 "Deluxe Edition"

[edit] Disc one

Original album, as above

[edit] Disc two

1. "You Stayed..." (Robert Smith Home demo)
2. "Ariel" (Robert Smith Home demo)
3. "A Man Inside My Mouth" (Studio demo)
4. "Sadadic" (Robert Smith Studio demo)
5. "Shake Dog Shake" (Studio demo)
6. "Piggy in the Mirror" (Studio demo)
7. "Birdmad Girl" (Studio demo)
8. "Give Me It" (Studio demo)
9. "Throw Your Foot" (Studio demo)
10. "Happy the Man" (Studio demo)
11. "The Caterpillar" (Studio demo)
12. "Dressing Up" (Studio alt mix)
13. "Wailing Wall" (Studio alt mix)
14. "The Empty World" (Live bootleg)
15. "Bananafish Bones" (Live bootleg)
16. "The Top" (Live bootleg)
17. "Forever (version)" (Live bootleg)

[edit] Personnel

• Robert Smith - vocals, guitar, multi instruments
• Andy Anderson - percussion, drums
• Laurence Tolhurst - multi instruments
• Porl Thompson - saxophone

[edit] Production

• Producers: Dave Allen, Chris Parry, Robert Smith
• Engineers: Dave Allen, Howard Grey
• Instrumentation: Robert Smith, Laurence Tolhurst

[edit] Miscellanea

• "Give Me It" is the first officially released song by The Cure with an obscenity.
• In an interview with Rolling Stone, Robert Smith stated that "Dressing Up" was originally written for The Glove's Blue Sunshine, but he kept it for The Top because he thought, "I like this one too much."[1]
• Due to a mastering problem, "Bananafishbones" was released at a slower speed than it was recorded, which lowered its pitch by a semitone. The 2006 "Deluxe Edition" remaster has restored the track to its original speed and pitch, making it nearly 15 seconds shorter.

[edit] Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1984	The Billboard 200	180

The Cure

Robert Smith | Porl Thompson | Simon Gallup | Jason Cooper

The Cure personnel

Discography

Studio albums: Three Imaginary Boys | Seventeen Seconds | Faith | Pornography | The Top | The Head on the Door | Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me | Disintegration | Wish | Wild Mood Swings | Bloodflowers | The Cure

Live albums: Concert | Entreat | Paris | Show | Trilogy

Compilations: Boys Don't Cry | Japanese Whispers | Standing on a Beach / Staring at the Sea | Mixed Up | Galore | Greatest Hits | Join the Dots

EPs: Half an Octopuss & Quadpus | Lost Wishes | Five Swing Live

Singles: "Killing an Arab" | "Boys Don't Cry" | "Jumping Someone Else's Train" | "A Forest" | "Primary" | "Charlotte Sometimes" | "A Single" | "Let's Go to Bed" | "The Walk" | "The Lovecats" | "The Caterpillar" | "In Between Days" | "Close to Me" | "Why Can't I Be You?" | "Catch" | "Just Like Heaven" | "Hot Hot Hot!!!" | "Fascination Street" | "Lullaby" | "Lovesong" | "Pictures of You" | "Never Enough" | "Close to Me (remix)" | "High" | "Friday I'm in Love" | "A Letter to Elise" | "The 13th" | "Mint Car" | "Gone!" | "Strange Attraction" | "Wrong Number" | "Cut Here" | "End of the World" | "Taking Off" & "alt.end"

Cult Hero: "I'm a Cult Hero"