"** Two stars generously given for the idea and production. **Okay I'm not a fan of Cure covers, in fact I can't seem to think of one that I like, most of them make me mad that it was even attempted. I love strings and the fact that Roberts vocal lines arent attempted I thought this was going to be the missing link of Cure covers/tributes...So when I first saw this album, my jaw dropped, I couldn't believe my eyes. Stared at it in awe for a minute, purely overjoyed, bought it and RAN to my car to listen to it. . . . Was interesting... Then I got it home, sat down and really listened to the entire thing, to be incredibly disappointed. It's not "BAD", it's a great idea, it was put together very good .. BUT .. The track selection is everything that is wrong with this. In my opinion, most of these songs were HORRIBLE choices. I don't think many of these work well with a string quartet. A few, yeah okay, aren't bad, but could have been much better with the proper tracks. They selected mostly the more upbeat pop singles, Just Like Heaven? Lovecats? C'mon...This would have been INCREDIBLE if they did songs like Same Deep Water as You, All Cats are Grey, Kyoto Song, Sinking, If only Tonight we can Sleep, Faith, Apart... Things like that, slower songs. The upbeat pop songs, don't work for me with a quartet. Great idea, wonderfully done, but terrible terrible track selection. If I had heard this before I bought it, I wouldn't have, think about this before you purchase this.I really thought this was going to be something special, like the Joy Division string Tribute which I HIGHLY recomend over this one, in fact go and get that right now if your looking for a string tribute."
Forget about it!!!
P. Wiancko | Los Angeles, CA | 05/29/2004
(1 out of 5 stars)
"If you are a fan of the Cure, or if you are a fan of any string quartets, forget about it. This album (and all the rest of the String Quartet Tribute albums for that matter) is BS. I am a classical cellist and a huge fan of the Cure, and this CD just pisses me off. These guys are trying to make some profit off of some amazing original music. The sound is horrible, technically they areextremely average, and there is no spirit to the music. Some ass clown probably arranged all of these songs for a bunch of classical players who don't even appreciate the original artist. They play like a bunch of greedy dinguses, and they sound phony. Don't support these guys, just stick to the originals."
There is no zero stars...
Mr. Ee | NC | 07/15/2004
(1 out of 5 stars)
"... so I give this one ill deserved star. I love classical music. In particular I love string quartets. The Cure is fantastic. I thought this piece of junk might be magical. Hah! The arrangements are boring. The pace is ponderous. These "tributes" completely miss the point of the original wonderful cure songs. The only selection that isn't utter trash is "Lovecats". It's actually pretty good. I actually did discard this useless CD after the second bleak listen."
It's a bunch of violins doing Cure. And?
Sokudo Ningyou | Somewhere Nowhere. | 03/12/2005
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Ok, so, what the hey. The String Quartet tributes are popping up like bloody mushrooms after a spring rain, which isn't necessarily a good thing. Not that it's a bad idea -- many of the bands covered are probably well managed by these instruments -- but this one, and the two TOOL I also own, are not exactly inspiring. (And if you can recognize "Hot Hot Hot !!!" by ear without being told, you deserve an award.) Everything is played blandly, and, in some cases, fairly oddly -- many notes are played counter to what would conceivably work better.
The selections are crap; possibly, the group wanted a mix of everything, but it's all mostly new, and mostly music that isn't even suited to the instruments. I shudder to think what would have happened if "The Cure" came out before this one. Terrible songs played even worse, most likely.
But, if you simply like instrumental music, it's not bad. It's just not necessarily The Cure."