"WHEN WE STARTED WORK ON 'DISINTEGRATION'," REFLECTS ROBERT SMITH, "IT REALLY WAS A GOOD TIME TO BE IN THE CURE."

NEVERTHELESS, THE CREATION OF 'DISINTEGRATION', THE BAND'S EIGHTH STUDIO ALBUM, WOULD PROPEL SMITH ON A JOURNEY THROUGH FIRE, ISOLATION, INDULGENCE AND BREAK-UP BEFORE ULTIMATELY TAKING THE CURE TO A NEW CREATIVE AND COMMERCIAL PEAK.

'DISINTEGRATION', LIKE ITS PREDECESSOR 'KISS ME KISS ME KISS ME', STARTED LIFE IN SMITH'S WEST LONDON BASEMENT FLAT, AS A SERIES OF INSTRUMENTAL DEMOS. FOR SEVERAL YEARS, FILM STUDIOS HAD BEEN SENDING SMITH MOVIE CLIPS IN THE HOPE THAT HE MIGHT WRITE MUSIC FOR THEM. "THAT PROCESS OF WATCHING CLIPS WITH A VIEW TO SCORING DEFINITELY HELPED TRIGGER IDEAS. IT ALSO ENCOURAGED ME TO FOCUS ON WRITING LONGER, MORE CINEMATIC PIECES, RATHER THAN JUST THINK ABOUT CURE SONGS."

THE REST OF THE BAND WAS ALSO INVOLVED. "EVERY MEMBER SUBMITTED HOME RECORDINGS FOR CONSIDERATION, IN A VARIED RANGE OF STYLES, AND WITH VARYING DEGREES OF SUCCESS... FROM ROGER'S PROG-JAZZ SKETCHES, A COUPLE OF WHICH EVOLVED INTO THE B-SIDES 'FEAR OF GHOSTS' AND 'OUT OF MIND', THROUGH BORIS AND PORL'S HOWLING-BEEFHEART JAMS, ONE OF WHICH TURNED INTO 'DELIRIOUS NIGHT', TO SIMON'S HISSY BUT GLEAMING HAPPY/SAD CREATIONS, WHICH BECAME MOST NOTABLY 'LOVESONG', 'UNTITLED', AND THE B-SIDES 'BABBLE' AND '2 LATE'. EVEN LOL PITCHED IN WITH A FLUTE SAMPLE THAT INSPIRED THE BAND TO CONSTRUCT 'HOMESICK'!"

DRUMMER BORIS WILLIAMS HAD RECENTLY MOVED TO A SPACIOUS, RAMBLING HOUSE IN THE WILDS OF DEVON WHERE, FOR FOURTEEN "SCRUMPY-FUELLED" DAYS IN JUNE 1988, THE BAND GATHERED TO WORK THROUGH THEIR COLLECTED DEMOS AND BEGIN THE PROCESS OF SELECTING POTENTIAL TRACKS FOR THE AS YET UN-NAMED ALBUM. "THE ATMOSPHERE WAS GREAT AT BORIS’S HOUSE. WE CREATED OUR OWN STRANGE SMALL WORLD, INSULAR AND INTENSELY SURREAL. IT WAS, I THINK, AN UNDERSTANDABLE REACTION TO HOW SERIOUSLY BIG ALL THINGS CURE HAD GOT WITH THE SUCCESS OF THE 1987 'KISS ME' ALBUM AND TOUR."

 

WRAPPING UP THE DAY WITH A COMMUNAL BARBEQUE AND TALES FROM THE DARK SIDE. "IT REALLY WAS A FUNNY TIME. WHEN I LISTEN BACK TO THOSE DEMOS, THERE'S SO MUCH INSANITY, SO MUCH DELIRIUM, I WONDER HOW WE EVER GOT ANYTHING DONE!"

AFTER A SHORT SUMMER BREAK FOR WEDDINGS, SMITH RE-CONVENED THE BAND IN DEVON FOR A FURTHER FORTNIGHT IN SEPTEMBER TO RECORD MORE COHERENT VERSIONS OF THE SONGS. "'DISINTEGRATION' ITSELF GOT PUT DOWN DURING THAT SECOND PERIOD AT BORIS'S, AS DID 'THE SAME DEEP WATER AS YOU' AND 'PLAINSONG'. THE PROJECT WAS REALLY STARTING TO COME TOGETHER."

THE ONLY DARK CLOUD ON THE CURE'S HORIZON DURING THIS OTHERWISE BLISSFUL SUMMER WAS THE CONTINUING DECLINE OF LONG TIME MEMBER LOL TOLHURST. "I WAS DETERMINED TO INVOLVE EVERYBODY, BUT LOL'S VARIOUS ADDICTIONS WERE REALLY TAKING THEIR TOLL," SIGHS SMITH, "AND TO BE HONEST, WE WERE ALL GETTING MORE THAN A BIT FED UP WITH HIM."

WITH DEMOS COMPLETED TO HIS SATISFACTION, SMITH RETURNED TO LONDON FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS TO FINISH WRITING WORDS. IN EARLY OCTOBER THE BAND MOVED TO OUTSIDE STUDIOS IN THE THAMES VALLEY FOR THE ACTUAL RECORDING SESSIONS, WITH LONG-TIME COLLABORATOR DAVE ALLEN ONCE AGAIN IN PLACE AS CO-PRODUCER. SMITH WAS PARTICULARLY ATTRACTED TO OUTSIDE'S RURAL SETTING AS WELL AS ITS HUGE STUDIO AND CONTROL ROOM WHICH COULD COMFORTABLY ACCOMMODATE THE WHOLE 'CURE FAMILY', AN ENTOURAGE THAT WOULD SOMETIMES SWELL TO MORE THAN TWENTY PEOPLE.

"WE COULD HAVE GONE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD," SMITH NOTES, "BUT I WANTED US TO MAKE SOMETHING AUTUMNAL AND ENGLISH. WE NEEDED TO BE SOMEWHERE REASONABLY REMOTE, TO AVOID TOO MANY UNNECESSARY DISTRACTIONS, AND I KNEW IF WE HAD THE SMELL OF BURNING WOOD AND ROTTING LEAVES IN THE AIR, DARKNESS BY 4 PM, THE LIKELIHOOD OF THUNDER AND RAIN... WELL, IT COULDN'T HELP BUT PUT US IN THE RIGHT MOOD TO RECORD!"

AT OUTSIDE, THE CURE'S IDYLLIC SUMMER CAME TO AN ABRUPT END. ON THE FIRST NIGHT, A FAULTY ELECTRICAL SOCKET IN SMITH'S ROOM STARTED A FIRE WHILE THE BAND WAS AT DINNER. ALL THE HANDWRITTEN ALBUM LYRICS WERE IN A LEATHER SATCHEL IN THAT ROOM, AND THERE WERE NO COPIES, BUT BY THE TIME THE BAND AND STAFF HAD NOTICED THE SMOKE AND RUSHED UPSTAIRS, THE ROOM WAS ABLAZE. "ONLY I KNEW WHERE I'D PUT THE BAG," REMEMBERS SMITH, "SO IT HAD TO BE ME GOING IN TO GET IT. THE STAFF WERE HYSTERICAL. 'YOU CAN'T GO IN THERE! YOU'LL BURN UP!'. THEY WERE INSISTING I WAIT FOR THE FIRE BRIGADE TO ARRIVE... ”

IGNORING THE WARNINGS, THE BAND FORMED A HUMAN CHAIN, AND WITH WET TOWELS WRAPPED ROUND HIS HEAD AND SHOULDERS, SMITH GROPED BLINDLY IN THE SMOKE-FILLED ROOM UNTIL HIS HAND ALIGHTED ON THE ALREADY SMOULDERING SATCHEL. "I COUGHED UP SOOT AND SMOKE FOR DAYS AFTER. I WAS PRETTY SICK... BUT I'D RESCUED THE WORDS! THE PAGES WERE BURNT AND SCORCHED, BUT MOST OF THEM WERE STILL LEGIBLE. I KNEW IF I DIDN'T GO IN TO GET THAT BAG, 'DISINTEGRATION' WAS GOING TO BE AN INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM... AND I REALLY DIDN'T WANT THAT!".

ONE CONSEQUENCE OF THIS ALARMING INCIDENT WAS THAT SMITH HAD TO MOVE INTO A SMALL ATTIC ROOM WHICH INEVITABLY ISOLATED HIM FROM MUCH OF THE COMINGS AND GOINGS IN THE REST OF THE HOUSE, A SITUATION HE DELIBERATELY EXACERBATED WITH AN INCREASINGLY DISCONNECTED ROUTINE.

IN THIS FINAL PHASE OF 'DISINTEGRATION'S CREATION, AS WITH THE 'KISS ME' ALBUM PREVIOUSLY, SMITH STARTED TO WORK MORE CLOSELY WITH DAVE ALLEN THAN WITH THE REST OF THE CURE. "ALTHOUGH WE RECORDED PRETTY MUCH ALL THE ALBUM AND B-SIDE TRACKS AS A BAND, PLAYING TOGETHER IN THE MAIN STUDIO ROOM, I KNEW THE OVERDUBBING AND SINGING PARTS OF THE PROCESS NEEDED TO BE A LOT MORE PERSONAL. I WAS LUCKY AT THE TIME TO HAVE A BAND THAT WANTED TO UNDERSTAND, WITHOUT GETTING UPSET, WHY I NEEDED TO BE LEFT ALONE. THEY REALISED THAT THEY HAD PLAYED THEIR PART, AND THAT WE COULDN'T FINISH THE ALBUM I WANTED ANY OTHER WAY."

AFTER A FINAL FOURTEEN DECEMBER DAYS OF MIXING SESSIONS AT RAK STUDIOS IN LONDON, SMITH BROUGHT EVERYONE IN FOR A PLAYBACK. "THEY WERE ENTRANCED," HE REMEMBERS. "IT WAS ONE OF THOSE WONDERFUL MOMENTS WHEN EVERYONE IN THE BAND JUST KNEW... THIS IS A REALLY GREAT ALBUM."

WELL, ALMOST EVERYONE. SLIGHTLY SOURING THE CELEBRATORY VIBE WAS TOLHURST WHO, UNLIKE THE OTHERS, CLEARLY WASN'T IMPRESSED. "AT THE END OF THE PLAYBACK LOL MUMBLED A FEW DARK WORDS, TURNED ON HIS HEEL AND LEFT. WE ALL KNEW AT THAT MOMENT THAT THE CURE HAD BECOME A FIVE PIECE."

A FEW DAYS LATER, A SECOND PLAYBACK WAS HELD, THIS TIME FOR THE RECORD COMPANY. DISAPPOINTINGLY, THEY WERE ALSO LESS THAN ENTHUSIASTIC. "I WAS CONFIDENT THAT, ALTHOUGH THE OVERALL MOOD OF THE ALBUM WAS PRETTY DOWNBEAT, THERE WAS SO MUCH STRONG, IMMEDIATE MELODY AND INTERPLAY IN SONGS LIKE 'PICTURES OF YOU', 'LULLABY' AND 'LOVESONG'