Search - Essence :: Dancing in the Rain

The best of what the Cure never recorded...

My Stars* | 08/18/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I first heard about the Essence on a Cure fansite in which the band were repeatedly insulted by Cure fans who hated their all-too-familiar sounding music. I, however, was intrigued to hear what caused such comparisons. After an exhaustive search, I found some of their imports and picked out this album as my jumping on point. Since then, the Essence have become one of my favorite groups. Sure, they sound like the Cure so much it comes across as more rip-off than influence, but you know what they say about about imitation being the sincerest form of flattery. Besides, is that really the point? For me, I enjoy the music BECAUSE of its Cure-like sound and revel in its pretty if not slightly vacant lyrics. With actual Cure releases fewer and farther between these days, I'll be glad spending that time "inbetween days" listening to the Essence."

Agree with previous review

greg | alabama | 07/20/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Thank god for Midnight Music label which brought us great bands like The Essence, Sad Lovers and Giants, Snake Core and many more. It operated for about ten years from the early '80s. I want to put out a personal special thanks to Cyote Jay from 101.7 The Edge and his show "The Cutting Edge" that he hosted in the early to mid nineties from Tuscaloosa Alabama. He opened up a whole new world of music to me for which I am forever grateful.



Sure The Essence sounds like the Cure but 99% of all bands sound like someone else. At least they they found one of histories best to emmulate!



My favorite song by the Essence is probably "Out Of Grace", which to me is as good as anything The Cure ever put out.



I highly recommend checking them out."

Brilliant music

Christian Buckley | Washington State, United States | 10/16/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yeah yeah - they sound like the cure. Blah blah blah.Actually, the Essence have a much purer and refined sound than the Cure, with a cleaner, more ethereal production. While you can't escape the similarities of many of their melodies to the Kings of Shoe-Gazing, lead-singer Hans Diener's voice evolved with each album.But if you are looking for something on the darkwave/alt pop side of the spectrum, this compilation of singles will not disappoint you. My favorites are all here, including A Mirage, Cat, and How You Make Me Hate. But I still recommend you pick up the albums 'Nothing Lasts Forever' and 'A Monument of Trust'"