The Cure FAITH - (M) (ONLINE ONLY!!)

The Cure: Robert Smith (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Simon Gallup (bass); Laurence Tolhurst (drums). Engineers: Mike Hedges, Graham Carmichael, David Kemp. If you ever observed (or were) a pale depressed-looking teenager dressed entirely in black, sitting in the corner scribbling frantically into a marble bound notebook, then you already understand the Cure. In the 1980s, the Cure provided the soundtrack for an entire generation of misfit toys, and if SEVENTEEN SECONDS was a wake-up call for the dispossessed, FAITH is the daily affirmation. Scaled back down to a three-piece with the loss of keyboardist Hartley, the Cure is a lean, mean fighting machine, ready to rumble. "Rumble" is the best way to describe the propulsive bass playing of Simon Gallup, whose rolling bass anchors both mid-tempo numbers like "The Drowning Man" and faster fare such as "Primary." While no new ground is broken ("Doubt" is basically a rewrite of "Play for Today"), FAITH is stunning in its simplicity and hauntin