The Cure Bass Player

[steantval]

Simon Gallup has decided to quit after 40 years with The Cure, one main reason is “ he is fed up of the betrayal” according to reports.

[acidbass]

Always loved his live tone, so crunchy

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

Oh. That's disappointing on more than one level.  

[gt4ever]

Hopefully they’ll kiss and make up before the get out touring their next album.

[Musicman666]

52 minutes ago, gt4ever said:

Hopefully they’ll kiss and make up before the get out touring their next album.

well he did leave for a while in the 80s, but for him this was a pretty cushy number, I'm honestly a little surprised he would quit now.

[steantval]

16 hours ago, gt4ever said:

Hopefully they’ll kiss and make up before the get out touring their next album.

Could be very messy, Robert does wear a lot of lipstick. 😀
 

 

Edited August 16, 2021 by steantval

[pst62]

It wouldn't surprise me if the real reason is back problems, 40 years of being almost bent double must have taken some toll!

[Musicman666]

1 hour ago, pst62 said:

It wouldn't surprise me if the real reason is back problems, 40 years of being almost bent double must have taken some toll!

Ah…so that’s why hooky left…

[Nail Soup]

I read someone (I think in the band) quipping that Lol Tolhurst was seen in a bass shop getting ready to try out for the bass role.

[Cat Burrito]

I did wonder if he was just drunkenly posting on Facebook - that's where it came from, his personal page - The Cure haven't made an announcement (yet).

 

The alternative view is that they are all older, things change and perhaps it's time to move on. Bill Wyman seemed happier once he left The Stones. I am a massive fan of Simon and he was a major early influence. Whether he stays or goes, I hope they work it out. 

[ubit]

I must confess to being a little disappointed as Simons bass was  such a massive part of the cures sound. I mean bands can have bass players but a lot of the Cures music was bass driven.

 

This was one of my favourite bass lines of the 80's Simple but bloody brilliant!

 

 

[Bassybert]

30 minutes ago, ubit said:

This was one of my favourite bass lines of the 80's Simple but bloody brilliant!

It still sounds such a good bassline, the perfect example of serving the song.

[cetera]

11 hours ago, steantval said:

one main reason is “ he is fed up of the betrayal” according to reports.

 

Ah yes, we've all been there I'm sure...

Great bassist - hope he finds something that makes him happier.

[Newfoundfreedom]

That's weird. I'm just this minute listening to Disintegration, after a friend asked on Facebook what everyone thought the best Cure album is. I came on here and this was the first thread that popped up. 

 

I've never been a Cure fan, but never been able to figure out why. So I thought I'd give them another go. 

 

I really should like them with the bass driven melodies, but I just don't. I love the bass lines, but hate pretty much everything else. It's just wishy washy noise. It's like listening to music underwater. 

 

It's a shame the bass player is leaving. He's the only decent thing in the band. 

[ubit]

9 minutes ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

That's weird. I'm just this minute listening to Disintegration, after a friend asked on Facebook what everyone thought the best Cure album is. I came on here and this was the first thread that popped up. 

 

I've never been a Cure fan, but never been able to figure out why. So I thought I'd give them another go. 

 

I really should like them with the bass driven melodies, but I just don't. I love the bass lines, but hate pretty much everything else. It's just wishy washy noise. It's like listening to music underwater. 

 

It's a shame the bass player is leaving. He's the only decent thing in the band. 

Are you kidding? You honestly think this legendary song is wishy washy noise?

 

 

[Downunderwonder]

8 minutes ago, Bassybert said:

It still sounds such a good bassline, the perfect example of serving the song.

I really dislike that expression, ''serving the song''. It should always be the bloody bass that works. If it's too flashy and distracting fire the showoff prick and get someone else.

 

In this case all the simple parts are most of 'the song' and the bass is but one of them. The singer sings his little ditty over it. Magic. Bass driven it ain't.

 

 

[ubit]

8 minutes ago, Downunderwonder said:

Bass driven it ain't.

It's a figure of speech. The bass is very prominent in a lot of The Cure songs. Of course there are other instruments making up the tune. It would be pretty dull if there wasn't.

[Newfoundfreedom]

10 minutes ago, ubit said:

Are you kidding? You honestly think this legendary song is wishy washy noise?

 

 

 

To be fair, that's far better than anything I've just listened to on the Disintegration album, and their sound live is far better than the overproduced album sound. 

 

I still wouldn't rush out and buy it, but it's a lot better than most of the stuff I've heard. 

[ubit]

8 minutes ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

 

To be fair, that's far better than anything I've just listened to on the Disintegration album, and their sound live is far better than the overproduced album sound. 

 

I still wouldn't rush out and buy it, but it's a lot better than most of the stuff I've heard. 

Not wanting to sound patronising but have you heard this one?

 

 

[Newfoundfreedom]

1 minute ago, ubit said:

Not wanting to sound patronising but have you heard this one?

 

 

Weirdly it's just this second finished playing. I'm currently listening to their best songs playlist on YouTube to see what else I've missed. 

[Old Horse Murphy]

3 minutes ago, ubit said:

Not wanting to sound patronising but have you heard this one?

 

 

The whole of Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me is a brilliant album and probably their most mainstream too. 
 

Disintegration takes a few listens and is definitely worth listening to through headphones to capture all the layering effects. It is sublime though and is worth persevering with. 
 

Incidentally, I went to school with the daughter of Chris Parry (their manager) and around the time of Disintegration she got us in to quite a few gigs and we got to meet the band several times. As a result I'm a huge fan and if Simon G is leaving they will miss a massive part of their make up (pun intended). 

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited March 15, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[Guest]

I was surprised to read that awaiting release are both a Cure album and a Robert Smith solo album. I had had no idea that Robert Smith had ever self-identified as a collaborative musician, and had assumed that everything that ever appeared on a Cure release was pretty much what he wanted. Working on those two things at the same time sounds potentially messy, and, lo, a mess.

[Old Horse Murphy]

2 minutes ago, Ricky Rioli said:

I was surprised to read that awaiting release are both a Cure album and a Robert Smith solo album. I had had no idea that Robert Smith had ever self-identified as a collaborative musician, and had assumed that everything that ever appeared on a Cure release was pretty much what he wanted. Working on those two things at the same time sounds potentially messy, and, lo, a mess.

It's funny: he definitely appears to be a force of nature and the Cure seems very-much his band, so I wondered how different a solo album would sound. I may be pleasantly surprised. 
 

He has always given the band full songwriting credits all the way through (unlike a number of artists)  so in the case of Lol Tolhurst even when he went off the rails during the recording of Disintegration (he's listed as plying "other instruments" or something similar) he still gets a full writing credit  

[SumOne]

37 minutes ago, Downunderwonder said:

 

 

In this case all the simple parts are most of 'the song' and the bass is but one of them. The singer sings his little ditty over it. Magic. Bass driven it ain't.

 

 

 

I'm not sure about that, yes- the song is made up of lots of simple parts working together but it is the Bass that is prominently repetitively driving it all along throughout as other parts come and go, I'd go as far to say say that song is a classic example of a Bass driven song.