On this day in music history: May 1, 1989 - “Disintegration”, the eighth studio album by The Cure released. Produced by David M. Allen and Robert Smith, it is recorded at Hookend Recording Studios in Checkendon, Oxfordshire, UK from November 1988 - February 1989. After the breakthrough success of The Cure’s 1987 album “Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me”, bandleader Robert Smith finds himself at odds with the tidal wave of fame and mainstream exposure that comes his way. Newly engaged to his childhood sweetheart Mary Poole, she and Smith move to the Maida Vale district of London, in semi seclusion to get away from the press and fans. Feeling pressured to follow up “Kiss Me”, and depressed at the prospect of turning thirty, Smith begins taking LSD to cope. The result is a return to the bands dark, gothic sound of years past. Upon hearing the finished album, The Cure’s US record label Elektra Records feel that Smith and the band have committed “commercial suicide” by making a deliberately “gloomy” record. They even go as far as asking Smith to push back the release date of the album feeling that it is “willfully obscure”. To everyone’s surprise, it becomes The Cure’s most commercially successful album. “Disintegration” also is the final Cure album to credit founding member Laurence “Lol” Tolhurst who is fired during the recording sessions. Originally The Cure’s drummer and later keyboardist, his contributions to the band diminish throughout the 80’s as his drinking and drug taking escalate. It’s later revealed that Tolhurst did not play on the album at all, but Robert Smith gives his old friend partial songwriting credit along with the other band members. It spins off four singles including “Fascination Street” (#1 Modern Rock, #46 Pop), “Lullaby” (#5 UK, #74 US Pop) and “Love Song” (#2 US Pop, #18 UK), the latter becomes The Cure’s biggest single in the US. The album is remastered and reissued on CD in 2010 as triple CD deluxe edition, featuring the original album on the first disc, the second disc featuring demos and tracks as works in progress. The third CD features an expanded version of the live album “Entreat” (titled “Entreat Plus”) including all twelve songs from “Disintegration” performed live. It is also reissued on vinyl as a 180 gram double vinyl LP, releasing the full album in that format in its entirety for the first time. Original LP pressings released on a single disc omitting “Homesick” and “Last Dance”. This is done to improve the vinyl LP’s sound quality. At nearly seventy two minutes, the full album is too long to fit on two LP sides comfortably. "Disintegration" peaks at number three on the UK album chart, number twelve on the Billboard Top 200, and is certified 2x Platinum in the US by the RIAA.
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