The Top is the fifth studio album by the English rock band the Cure, released on 4 May 1984 by Fiction Records. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number ten on 12 May. Shortly after its release, the Cure embarked on a major tour of the United Kingdom, culminating in a three-night residency at the Hammersmith Odeon in London.
Background and recording
After recording psychedelic album Blue Sunshine for the one-off project the Glove during summer 1983, Robert Smith finished off the year composing and working on two other studio albums at the same time: The Top for the Cure and Hyæna for Siouxsie and the Banshees. Smith was still the official guitarist of the Banshees while he wrote The Top.
For The Top, Smith teamed up with Cure co-founding member Lol Tolhurst, who had given up drums for keyboards, and new drummer Andy Anderson, who had previously performed on the UK top 10 single "The Lovecats". Porl Thompson was credited for playing saxophone on "Give Me It". All the songs are credited to Smith but three tracks were co-written with Tolhurst: "The Caterpillar", "Bird Mad Girl" and "Piggy in the Mirror".
Music
The album's style is eclectic, with Smith using various instruments including violin and flute. "Bird Mad Girl" is in a Spanish style, while "Wailing Wall" contains Middle Eastern undertones. Sounds critic Jack Barron described the opening track "Shake Dog Shake" as "urbane metal".
| rev2 = The Austin Chronicle
| rev2score =
| rev3 = The Guardian
| rev3score =
| rev4 = Pitchfork
| rev4score = 6.9/10
| rev5 = Q
| rev5score =
| rev6 = Record Mirror
| rev6score =
| rev7 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide
| rev7score =
| rev8 = Smash Hits
| rev8score = 8/10
| rev9 = Sounds
| rev9score =
| rev10 = Uncut
| rev10score =
Upon its release, the reaction in the British press was mostly positive. Steve Sutherland of Melody Maker praised the album for its "psychedelia that can't be dated", while Andy Strike of Record Mirror called it "a record of wicked originality and wit".
In a retrospective review, Q writer Tom Doyle dismissed The Top as "a transitional record of forgettable songs". Chris True of AllMusic noted that while it is "an album obviously recorded under stress, drink, and drugs", Smith's ability "to fuse the paranoia and neuroses of former work with his newfound use of pop melody and outside influences" makes the record "a necessary step in the evolution of the band".
| align="center"| 55
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}