Bloodflowers The Cure Elektra, 2000 Buy it online Tracks 1: Out of This World 2: Watching Me Fall 3: Where the Birds Always Sing 4: Maybe Someday 5: The Last Day of Summer 6: There Is No If... 7: The Loudest Sound 8: 39 9: Bloodflowers Reviewed by Linda Richards	In the 1980s, if you described The Cure as a mainstream punk act it was an invitation to get your lights punched out. In certain circles. The most rabid Cure fans, after all, were of the ilk that "mainstream" and "good" were practically oxymoronic. One canceling the other out so neatly that they couldn't co-exist. Whatever. That was then and this is now and of all the things that have changed since The Cure erupted onto the vibrant British punk scene in the late 1970s, there's a lot that has stayed the same. A damned lot, it would seem. Sometimes that's reassuring. While The Cure lacked some of the pure, strained energy of some of its alumni -- think Joy Division or even Dead Kennedys -- they've made up for it in pure staying and selling power. Something that is even more remarkable in view of numerous changes in the group's personnel over the years. In fact, the only constant in The Cure has been the voice and vision of frontman Robert Smith. Smith is the only member left from the original trio of Smith, Laurence Tolhurst and Michael Dempsey and other group members have come and gone with enough frequency that it's tough to keep track. It also makes it tough to believe the consistency of sound and feeling that have followed The Cure throughout the years. And yet, there it is. Bloodflowers, The Cure's 11th studio album, is absolutely consistent with earlier work. An almost magical natural progression from the music that has come before. This time Smith is at the mike, as usual. Perry Bamonte, who joined the group in 1991, is on guitar and keyboards. Roger O'Donnell, on keyboards, was with The Cure from 1988 to 1991 and returned only recently. And Bloodflowers is drummer Jason Cooper's first album with The Cure. The revolving door of The Cure's personnel in the time between 1979's Three Imaginary Boys and Bloodflowers is -- like I said -- tough to track. Yet, Bloodflowers delivers on all of the tacit promises that Robert Smith has made throughout the years. All the melancholia and twice the paranoia and all of it packaged into much longer songs than The Cure has habitually attempted. "Watching Me Fall" is the longest at an epic 11:13; the title track "Bloodflowers" weighs in at 7:28, everything else comes in around the five or six minute mark, with the exception of "There Is No If" that is pretty much radio length at 3:43. Though the length is the only radio thing about it. "If you die" you said/ "So do I" you said/ But it ends the day you see how it is/ There is no always forever/ Just this/ Just this But it's not, of course, the lyrics that -- to the likely relief of Cure fans -- will keep the track from the pop stations. Almost a ballad, the arrangement is more spartan than the balance of the album which -- for the most part -- is lush and well produced. Along with epic-length tracks, the overall feel of Bloodflowers is equally epic. Track 1, "Out of This World" is almost reminiscent of some of Peter Gabriel's vast and consuming arrangements. Listen carefully and it's possible to hear shades of Oasis and Goo Goo Dolls, as well. What's interesting here, though, is what came first? The chicken or the egg? Art imitating life imitating art, right? In some ways The Cure defined the music of their era, so it's not surprising that some of those that came after would use The Cure as a jumping off point. The fact that The Cure themselves are still jumping after all these years couldn't be predicted. | March 2000 Linda Richards is the editor of Blue Coupe magazine.	While The Cure lacked some of the pure, strained energy of some of its alumni -- think Joy Division or even Dead Kennedys -- they've made up for it in pure staying and selling power. Something that is even more remarkable in view of numerous changes in the group's personnel over the years. In fact, the only constant in The Cure has been the voice and vision of frontman Robert Smith.