Wild Mood Swings

Background and recording

After Wish, it seemed The Cure was on the brink of being disbanded due to the departure of Porl Thompson and Boris Williams. Simon Gallup was also forced to take a vacation due to health problems, which narrowed the lineup down to Robert Smith and Perry Bamonte. Nevertheless, the two of them managed to keep things afloat long enough for Gallup to return once he recovered and convinced Roger O'Donnell to rejoin the band. This is also the first album featuring drummer Jason Cooper, who played on 9 of the 14 tracks on the album, because several drummers were auditioning for the job at the time it was being recorded.

Release

Released on 7 May 1996, the album was poorly received by many Cure fans, with Wild Mood Swings selling just one million copies worldwide compared to the estimated four million sales of Wish. As of 2005, US sales stand at 363,410 according to SoundScan. However, Smith has gone on record to say, "It's one of my top five favourite Cure albums." Wild Mood Swings did, however, chart at number nine in the UK Albums Chart, staying on chart for six weeks, and charted at number 12 in the US Billboard 200. The album went gold in the US. Four singles were released from the album, the first being "The 13th", released in April 1996, followed by "Mint Car" released in June, then "Strange Attraction" released in United States in October and finally "Gone!" released in Europe in December 1996.

Wild Mood Swings also joins The Top as one of the least performed albums in the Cure's repertoire. On the 2008 4Tour, the band only performed "Want" at a few dates and "Club America" in Mexico City. "Jupiter Crash" was played on the 2004 Curiosa Tour, and "Want" was usually played as the third song during the 2000 Bloodflowers Tour. "Want" was played during the band's headline set at Reading Festival 2012. "Mint Car" was also played on some of the festivals in 2012. All other songs were last played live at the 1996 Swing Tour, with a few festival performances in 1998 of "Treasure". In 2014, "Jupiter Crash" made a return to the band's live repertoire when it was played on both dates of The Cure's Royal Albert Hall performances.

Reception

Wild Mood Swings received a mixed response from critics. A favourable review came from Trouser Press, which described the album as "a potent and sweeping dissertation on melancholy and tentative dreams denied", calling it "consistently compelling".

Track listing

All songs by Bamonte, Cooper, Gallup, O'Donnell and Smith, except where noted.

Personnel

The Cure

Additional personnel

Technical