The Cure: Trilogy

Hot! Hot! Hot! Or, Not! Not! Not!, depending on one's taste for glam gloom '80s rockers The Cure--fronted by lipstick-ed, mascara-ed, dressed in black Robert Smith--who took the stage at Berlin's Tempodrom in November 2002 to play the albums Pornography (1982), Disintegration (1989), and Bloodflowers (2002) live…in their entirety. Spread over two discs, The Cure: Trilogy serves up 29 songs (plus a two-song encore) that starts off on a melancholy note with their signature two-minute repetitive wall-of-guitar-and-synthesizer intro on "One Hundred Years" ("It doesn't matter if we all die"), and…well…let's just say that the Cure were never much interested in spreading sunshine with their music or lyrics. Virtually all of the hits come from the slightly more upbeat Disintegration set--"Pictures of You," "Lovesong," "Lullaby," and "Fascination Street"--but the better cuts here are the unheralded "Untitled," the ethereally lovely "Plainsong," the nine-minute dirge "The Same Deep Water as You," and the encore tune "The Kiss" (a seven-minute--to quote Walt Whitman--"barbaric yawp," in which the boys actually break a musical sweat). Unfortunately, the three-whole-albums concept means that many of the Cure's best ("Just Like Heaven," "Why Can't I Be You?," "Friday, I'm in Love," and "Hot Hot Hot!!!") are not included here, making this a surefire hit with dyed-in-the-goth-wool Cure fans only. Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and stereo, the set also includes a 37-minute interview compilation with band members. Optional. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)