Released 15 February 2000 Label Fiction Artist The Cure | Length 64:29 Bloodflowers
(2000) Greatest Hits
(2001) Release date 15 February 2000 | |
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Recorded 1998–1999 at St Catherines Court, Avon and RAK Studios, London, England Genres Gothic rock, Alternative rock, Post-punk Producers Robert Smith, Paul Corkett Nominations Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album Similar The Cure albums, Gothic rock albums | ||
Bloodflowers is the eleventh studio album by British alternative rock band The Cure, released in February 2000.
Contents
- Out of this world the cure
- Content
- Release
- Live performances
- Reception
- Track listing
- Personnel
- Charts
- Songs
- References
The album is seen as a sombre return to form by critics. Robert Smith has expressed on several occasions that the album is the final part in his "trilogy" (the three albums he feels best define The Cure), the first being the 1982 album Pornography, and the second being the 1989 album Disintegration.
Out of this world the cure
Content
The album is the last so far to feature extensive use of keyboards. The 2004 album The Cure uses keyboards much more sparingly and after the departure of Roger O'Donnell following the release of the album and the following tour, the band was stripped down to a four-piece, featuring no keyboards at all.
Release
Bloodflowers was released on 15 February 2000 by record label Fiction. No commercial singles were released from Bloodflowers, but two promotional singles were released to DJs and radio stations: "Out of This World", in January (Europe) and May (U.S.), and "Maybe Someday", in January (U.S.) and April (Europe). It was a moderate success, debuting at number 16 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart, eventually selling 300,000 copies in America. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 2001.
Live performances
In 2002, the band performed Pornography, Disintegration, and Bloodflowers in their entirety to a Berlin audience, and released the recording on DVD in 2003, titled The Cure: Trilogy.
On the 2007–2008 4Tour, the band played "Maybe Someday" at various shows. "Out of This World", "Watching Me Fall", "The Last Day of Summer" and "Bloodflowers" were last performed on the 2016 North American tour. "39" was played at the first London date of the 2016 World Tour (December 1, 2016) as part of the encore. Except for the 2002 Trilogy shows in Berlin, the other songs have not been played since the 2000 Dream Tour. "Coming Up" and "Spilt Milk" have not been performed live at all.
Reception
Bloodflowers received a generally favourable response from critics. Entertainment Weekly called it "one of the band's most affecting works",. A less favourable review came from Trouser Press, which wrote "Bloodflowers feels like a forced recreation of the earlier gloomy classics. The album sounds completely uninspired, as Smith and company go through the motions of Cure-ness."
Track listing
All tracks written by The Cure (Smith/Gallup/Bamonte/Cooper/O'Donnell).
Other tracks recorded
- "Possession" – was released in the Join the Dots box set.
- "Just Say Yes" – original version released on the Greatest Hits Demos & Rarities Microsite in 2001; rerecorded version released on the Greatest Hits CD.
- "You're So Happy (You Could Kill Me)!" – cover version with different music circulates P2P networks.
- "Heavy World" – instrumental on "Lost Flowers" demo; speculated to be released on the Bloodflowers reissue.
- "Everything Forever" – instrumental on the "Lost Flowers" demo; speculated to be on the Bloodflowers reissue.
Personnel
The Cure
Production
Charts
Album – Billboard (North America)
Singles – Billboard (North America)
Songs
1Out of This World6:44
2Watching Me Fall11:14
3Where the Birds Always Sing5:44