Three Imaginary Boys

Three Imaginary Boys
Studio album by The Cure
Released	8 May 1979
Recorded	Autumn 1978 at Morgan Studios, London, England
Genre	Post-punk
Length	33:44
Label	Fiction
Producer	Chris Parry
The Cure chronology
Three Imaginary Boys (1979) Seventeen Seconds (1980)

Three Imaginary Boys is the debut studio album by English alternative rock band The Cure, who were at that time a three-piece band. It was released on 8 May 1979 by record label Fiction. It was later released in the United States and Australia with a different song line-up as Boys Don't Cry.

Background

The record company decided which songs were put on the album, as well as the cover artwork, without Robert Smith's consent. For all Cure albums since, Smith has ensured he is given complete creative control over the final product before it goes on sale.^[1]

"Foxy Lady" soundcheck with vocals sung by Michael Dempsey, was not supposed to be on the album, and was removed for the American release. Smith has stated that "songs like 'Object' and 'World War' and our cover of 'Foxy Lady' were [Chris Parry's] choice".^[2]

Live performances

The band has performed as an encore "Three Imaginary Boys", "Fire in Cairo", "Boys Don't Cry", "Jumping Someone Else's Train", "Grinding Halt", "10:15 Saturday Night" and "Killing an Arab" (sung as "Killing Another") on the 2007–2008 4Tour (the singles "Boys Don't Cry", "Jumping Someone Else's Train" and "Killing an Arab" were on the American release).

In 2011 The Cure performed the album in its entirety at venues in Sydney, New York and Los Angeles.^[3] These shows, billed as The Cure: 'Reflections', were filmed for potential DVD release.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Pitchfork	8.7/10[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[6]
Piero Scaruffi	7/10[7]
Smash Hits	8/10[8]

Despite Smith's displeasure with the record, Three Imaginary Boys was well-received critically at the time of its release.^[1] Sounds' Dave McCullough praised it in a five-star review and noted: "The Cure are going somewhere different on each track, the ideas are startling and disarming".^[9] McCullough noted the variety of the material and qualified "Grinding Halt" as a "pop song that reminds you of the Isley Brothers or The Buzzcocks".^[9] Red Starr, writing in Smash Hits, described the album as a "brilliant, compelling debut".^[8] However, NMEs Paul Morley didn't share the same point of view and wrote a bad review.^[10] Morley wrote: "Most of the time, it's a voice catching its breath, a cautiously primitive riff guitar, toy drumming and a sprightly bass".^[10]

AllMusic retrospectively christened it a "a very strong debut".^[4] Pitchfork called it "as original a record as anything else to spin off from the tail end of punk."^[5]

Reissue

The album was reissued on 29 November 2004, and featured a second disc of unreleased material, including songs recorded under the band name "Easy Cure" with Porl Thompson. It was originally supposed to be released in early 2004 along with the band's next three studio albums (Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography), but was delayed multiple times before being released by itself at the end of 2004. Since it features a variety of old songs, it is the only Deluxe Edition by the band which does not feature an alternate version of all the songs on the first disc. Some of the early booklets in the reissue had the lyrics missing, and were made available on The Cure's website in PDF form.^{[citation needed]} All copies since have the lyrics.

The first single, "Killing an Arab", was excluded from the re-issue, most likely due to its controversial nature (see the article).

There also exists a one-disc reissue, released on 5 September 2005, containing the original album only. It is also released in the standard jewel case, and not a box. In some countries, the Deluxe Edition has become a collector's item as production was phased out, being replaced by the more economic single-disc version.

Track listing

Note: The album included an uncredited, final instrumental track informally called "The Weedy Burton". The fact was not acknowledged until the Deluxe Edition re-issue.

Personnel

The Cure

• Robert Smith – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica on "Subway Song"
• Michael Dempsey – bass guitar, background vocals, lead vocals on "Foxy Lady"
• Lol Tolhurst – drums

Additional personnel

• Porl Thompson – lead guitar and background vocals on tracks 1–4, 6 and 7 on bonus disc
• David Dragon – sleeve illustrations
• Michael J. Dutton – "assistant"
• Martyn Goddard – sleeve photography
• Mike Hedges – engineering
• Connie Jude – sleeve illustrations
• Chris Parry – production
• B. Smith – sleeve photography
• Bill Smith – sleeve design

References

External links

• Three Imaginary Boys at Discogs (list of releases)