Album review: The Cure - "4:13 Dream"
You can't teach an old dog new tricks, especially a dog that wears eyeliner. So it would be unfair to expect Robert Smith, after 30 years and 13 albums, to suddenly snap out of his long-suffering adolescence. "4:13 Dream" plays on familiar Cure themes. Boy meets girl. Boy wears girl's lipstick and takes girl to Tim Burton film, scaring girl off for good. Boy contemplates death. Yet the Grandfather of Goth, Smith, now a frumpy mime with a Phil Spector haircut, still faithfully purveys the dark side's softer side with sprightly love confessions - "The Only One" - and spacey crescendos - "Underneath the Stars." Unfortunately, in middle age, Smith's angsty posing now also begins to mirror his black mascara - it's wearing thin, and the cracks are starting to show.
