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The Cure: A Perfect Dream
A lush, pictorial look at one of the world’s most successful alternative rock bands, available in time to celebrate their 40th anniversary.
Into the chaos of British punk rock, a handful of school friends led by Robert Smith announced their musical arrival in 1978 with a brash single pulled from the pages of Albert Camus. The Cure soon graduated into a series of increasingly dark and brooding albums, drawing the world’s attention to goth rock. But they resisted categorization, and subsequent albums—suffused with raw, intense emotion and featuring the breakout hits “In Between Days” and “Just Like Heaven”—attracted new legions of fans worldwide. Then, with the grand and somber Disintegration , the Cure achieved global domination, and, through fluctuating lineups and shifting sounds, they have flourished. Veteran music journalist Ian Gittins has interviewed and written about the Cure many times over the decades and brings deep insight to this unofficial retrospective of the group. This essential keepsake tells the story of the Cure—from the angular riffs of “Boys Don’t Cry” and “A Forest,” through the perfect simplicity of “Lovesong” and “Friday I’m in Love,” to headlining some of the world’s biggest music festivals—in beautiful, eye-catching color.
Into the chaos of British punk rock, a handful of school friends led by Robert Smith announced their musical arrival in 1978 with a brash single pulled from the pages of Albert Camus. The Cure soon graduated into a series of increasingly dark and brooding albums, drawing the world’s attention to goth rock. But they resisted categorization, and subsequent albums—suffused with raw, intense emotion and featuring the breakout hits “In Between Days” and “Just Like Heaven”—attracted new legions of fans worldwide. Then, with the grand and somber Disintegration , the Cure achieved global domination, and, through fluctuating lineups and shifting sounds, they have flourished. Veteran music journalist Ian Gittins has interviewed and written about the Cure many times over the decades and brings deep insight to this unofficial retrospective of the group. This essential keepsake tells the story of the Cure—from the angular riffs of “Boys Don’t Cry” and “A Forest,” through the perfect simplicity of “Lovesong” and “Friday I’m in Love,” to headlining some of the world’s biggest music festivals—in beautiful, eye-catching color.
- GenresMusicNonfictionBiography
240 pages, Hardcover
Published October 2, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
January 20, 2023
This is a big coffee table book with a bunch of great pictures, but also a good biography of the band.
I've only read Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys, which is also heavily quoted in this book, though I'd say this book doesn't provide a lot of unknown insight. The author is a journalist, so it's obviously written in that style. But I still think this is essential for any Cure fan. If you want more in-depth information on them, supplement with other books.
I've only read Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys, which is also heavily quoted in this book, though I'd say this book doesn't provide a lot of unknown insight. The author is a journalist, so it's obviously written in that style. But I still think this is essential for any Cure fan. If you want more in-depth information on them, supplement with other books.
November 6, 2021
"After four decades of making some of the most restless, somber, and variegated music in pop history, the Cure's legacy remains mighty and unquestionable - both in abstract and concrete terms."
(Ian Gittins, The Cure. A Perfect Dream)
I love the Cure. I have listened to their music for 36 years, more than half of my life. Yes, they are just a rock/pop band, but their music resonates with me as strongly as Bach's sonatas for solo violin or John Coltrane's Transition. This is the fourth book about the band that I am reviewing here, after Never Enough: The Story of the Cure, The Cure. Poletko Pana Boba (this one is in Polish), and Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys . Thus, instead of repeating the history of the band, I write about the book itself.
I find Ian Gittin's The Cure. A Perfect Dream (2018) the best "biography" of the group. It is very well written and sympathetic virtually to everybody who had been in any way connected with the band. And - of course - the pictures! This is really a coffee-table kind of book, one that not only can provoke house guests to talk about popular music but also can serve as a decorative item. It is a hard-cover, large-format book, 11 by 12 inches, printed on high-quality paper, and it contains probably over 300 photographs (I did not count, but there are often two pictures on each of the 240 pages). About a half of the images depict Robert Smith, the leader of the band, author of all lyrics and the primary composer.
The story of the band, whose first sort-of-official concert, in a secondary school auditorium, took place in December of 1976, and who still performed in 2020, is presented vividly and engagingly. Mr. Gittins knows how to write well - he is a noted ghost-writer, journalist, and editor. In addition to the smooth prose, I suppose some part of my high praise of Mr. Gittin's work is due to the fact that he seems to admire the same pieces by the Cure as I do. Let me quote some samples of the author's captivating prose that may debunk the old adage "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture."
About The Forest from the album Seventeen Seconds, the author writes:
Then comes Disintegration (1989), the Cure's most famous album and - to me - one of the best albums in the history of rock music. The author calls it "Robert Smith's masterwork," and describes every one of the 12 songs with his trademark flowery and visual, yet aptly accurate style. He writes:
An outstanding, engrossing read!
Four-and-a-half stars.
(Ian Gittins, The Cure. A Perfect Dream)
I love the Cure. I have listened to their music for 36 years, more than half of my life. Yes, they are just a rock/pop band, but their music resonates with me as strongly as Bach's sonatas for solo violin or John Coltrane's Transition. This is the fourth book about the band that I am reviewing here, after Never Enough: The Story of the Cure, The Cure. Poletko Pana Boba (this one is in Polish), and Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys . Thus, instead of repeating the history of the band, I write about the book itself.
I find Ian Gittin's The Cure. A Perfect Dream (2018) the best "biography" of the group. It is very well written and sympathetic virtually to everybody who had been in any way connected with the band. And - of course - the pictures! This is really a coffee-table kind of book, one that not only can provoke house guests to talk about popular music but also can serve as a decorative item. It is a hard-cover, large-format book, 11 by 12 inches, printed on high-quality paper, and it contains probably over 300 photographs (I did not count, but there are often two pictures on each of the 240 pages). About a half of the images depict Robert Smith, the leader of the band, author of all lyrics and the primary composer.
The story of the band, whose first sort-of-official concert, in a secondary school auditorium, took place in December of 1976, and who still performed in 2020, is presented vividly and engagingly. Mr. Gittins knows how to write well - he is a noted ghost-writer, journalist, and editor. In addition to the smooth prose, I suppose some part of my high praise of Mr. Gittin's work is due to the fact that he seems to admire the same pieces by the Cure as I do. Let me quote some samples of the author's captivating prose that may debunk the old adage "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture."
About The Forest from the album Seventeen Seconds, the author writes:
"[...] nearly six minutes of charged, evocative menace unfurled around a sparsely claustrophobic yet nimbly infectious guitar line."Strange as it may seem, these orotund phrases resonate with me in the same way as the song does! Mr. Gittins writes the following about one of the most popular Cure's songs - Close To Me:
"[...] the capricious, gorgeous 'Close To Me'. Feather-light, fickle, and fervent, this touched-by-the-hand-of-God song about stage fright has become one of the Cure's signature songs."Again, how well these pretentious-sounding words capture the essence of this light, capricious, and gorgeous song!
Then comes Disintegration (1989), the Cure's most famous album and - to me - one of the best albums in the history of rock music. The author calls it "Robert Smith's masterwork," and describes every one of the 12 songs with his trademark flowery and visual, yet aptly accurate style. He writes:
"'The Same Deep Water As You' seems like a song to be delivered from a death bed to a lover. Romanticism never sounded so bruised, forlorn and, well, yes, gothic. Here Smith aligns himself more with Percy Shelley [...]"And:
"[...] the record's title track delivers a frenzied, chaotic mea culpa of past sins set to a killer bassline and subtle, atmospheric synths. [...] It's a fantastically clever piece of writing, the zenith of Smith's lyrics."The book ends with a short but illuminating exposition of the influence that the Cure had on other bands and on the pop and rock music in general.
An outstanding, engrossing read!
Four-and-a-half stars.
May 12, 2019
Did I give it five stars because I’m a rabid cure fan? Probably, although it does seems to be a fairly definitive amalgamation of previous works and media, plus nice piccies, bringing us pretty much up to date.
I was also very pleased with the “reading list” panels dotted throughout, Robert’s influences for various songs (which I will inevitably track down because I am a saddo).
I did spot one error regarding a reference to a single and accompanying video though. Cure fans can have fun tracking that one down on a rainy afternoon.
I was also very pleased with the “reading list” panels dotted throughout, Robert’s influences for various songs (which I will inevitably track down because I am a saddo).
I did spot one error regarding a reference to a single and accompanying video though. Cure fans can have fun tracking that one down on a rainy afternoon.
February 22, 2020
not nearly as interesting as i would have thought. although after reading the G'n'R biography very little can come close... Robert's drug use was quite a bit more intense than i thought, and he does seem like kind of a dick in the band. basically a long book report pulled from Ten Imaginary Years and Two Imaginary Boys (what the hell, titles). the photos are great though, especially for die hards who already have Join The Dots (much better) and the other bios.
August 22, 2021
This is not a bad Cure overview. But I hate it that the artwork of literally every Cure book is completely cheap emo romanticism. Some nice photographs in this one, but literally every picture is sprinkled with an incomprehensible background artwork blending in for no fucking reason. I guess this is a never ending homage to the "Disintegration" cover, it's just fucking horrible. A book where even the face of Robert Smith on the cover is buried under several layers of mudd... Ffs. Can we for once have a clear cut, cool artwork? Apparently no!
January 27, 2020
Ian Gittins is known for his lengthy journalism career for some of the most prolific music publications. He has penned, assisted and collaborated on a handful of books and biographies (all I have yet to read) so I entrusted his knowledge and skills to contribute to the history and legacy of The Cure. It reads particularly British but it eventually becomes clear that this is a cadence of a true storyteller.
I was utilizing this book as research for a podcast but quickly realized I was getting a history lesson on a band I thought I knew everything about. The pictures are lovely and plentiful which leads me to categorize it’s majority as picture book and half history lesson. If you're a fan, it's worth reading.
I was utilizing this book as research for a podcast but quickly realized I was getting a history lesson on a band I thought I knew everything about. The pictures are lovely and plentiful which leads me to categorize it’s majority as picture book and half history lesson. If you're a fan, it's worth reading.
November 5, 2020
OK, I've been a huge Cure fan for 35+ years, so I am not the most objective person to review this book. And I will be the first to admit that if you are looking for biographical material, this would not be my first source (but avoid Tolhurst's book even more). And most of the material seems to be pulled from other sources.
But this is a great coffee table book, a great overall package. Large format, stunning pictures, good summaries of each album and collection, a good chronology/history, a little bit on what inspired Robert Smith. Really enjoyed the pictures.
But this is a great coffee table book, a great overall package. Large format, stunning pictures, good summaries of each album and collection, a good chronology/history, a little bit on what inspired Robert Smith. Really enjoyed the pictures.
August 29, 2022
Very nice, atmospheric biography for the band. Touches on a little bit of everything: personal life, songwriting, deals and production, music reviews, achievements. Features a ton of high quality photos. Includes cultural background: relevant music playlists, books referenced in lyrics. I would only like a bit more of direct interview quotes, which are present but cut to a sentence or two.
October 31, 2018
I did tear up a bit when it came to Disintegration - which I expected.
March 15, 2019
Beautiful in depth book. A must for all fans of The Cure.
July 4, 2019
Beautiful book, so many pictures!!!!!
July 13, 2019
Fantastic. I've been a fan since the 80s and this book is a delight. Highly recommend.
October 22, 2021
A must have for Cure fans.
January 7, 2022
I have no idea why it took me so long to read this book. If you love Robert Smith and The Cure, check it out.
December 25, 2023
Fun to revisit my old obsession.
This book is also very well laid out/art directed - lots of great photos.
This book is also very well laid out/art directed - lots of great photos.
August 28, 2024
Excellent read. Highly recommended for any Cure fan.
December 28, 2025
gave me the opportunity to info dump on my friends who do not care about the cure lmao
Read
February 12, 2026My interview with the author for the New Books Network: https://newbooksnetwork.com/the-cure
April 27, 2025
Just finished The Cure: A Perfect Dream. Telling the complete story of the group up to 2018, it gives the reader a window into the creative process behind classic albums like Faith, Disintegration, and Wish - as well as a rare view into the mind of the engigmatic Robert Smith.
The book features interviews with past and present members - including the somewhat reclusive Boris Williams.
A rare coffee table book with a complete story arc, it manages to balance text and images very well.
I particularly enjoyed the excerpts of the band pranking label boss Chris Parry with some awful "fake" songs, as well as Guitarist/Keyboardist Perry Bamonte painting onto a photograph of Phil Collins with hilarious results.
All in all, A Perfect Dream is essential reading and viewing for all Cure fans. The book is printed on high quality paper, with ecsquisitely curated images.
The book features interviews with past and present members - including the somewhat reclusive Boris Williams.
A rare coffee table book with a complete story arc, it manages to balance text and images very well.
I particularly enjoyed the excerpts of the band pranking label boss Chris Parry with some awful "fake" songs, as well as Guitarist/Keyboardist Perry Bamonte painting onto a photograph of Phil Collins with hilarious results.
All in all, A Perfect Dream is essential reading and viewing for all Cure fans. The book is printed on high quality paper, with ecsquisitely curated images.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews