I love The Cult; they are one of the few bands who can change their sound and style so drastically and still wind up with something I really like. Love was great, Electric and Sonic Temple both moved further away from it, if not erasing it. Their self titled album was such an unexpected about face to everything they'd done before it, and I loved Beyond Good and Evil as well. I still think Rare Cult is the best box set I've ever bought in terms of content. No album tracks and lots of hard to find and unreleased gems.
I love Electric and Love, however, I’m going to cheat because the Dreamtime + Dreamtime live bonus disc (especially the Japanese CD because it’s complete) is my favourite album of theirs. Without the live disc this would be third on my list.
I threw Electic and Sonic Temple into a playlist recently. I have it on regular rotation. Temple has a few gems, but has not aged that well. Production seems a little to polished. Electric on the other hand still sounds fresh and raw - just about every track is a winner.
Love followed by Dreamtime. I like a few tracks on Electric and Sonic Temple. After that I lost track of the band. Picked up a copy of the self-titled cd in a dollar bin a couple of years ago. Should have left it
My favourite band. In order of appreciation: Electric Love Ceremony Sonic Temple The Cult Beyond Good And Evil Dreamtime Born Into This Choice Of Weapon Hidden City
Didn't know that, seems that has a CD apperance of the full lenght version, which is only on the vinyl versions of Pure Cult. Love the video, it was a thrill the few times it came on:
You're supposed to play it more than once... Seriously though, it's a different approach and my mate can't get past the 'indie' production but I love it. Good bunch of songs and their last great album IMO.
Love > Electric My top two... that’s really where the discussion is I guess. But those guys have made some really cool records. More than those.
Got started with the Cult immediately after seeing the "She Sells Sanctuary" video on MTV. As much as I like Love, Electric has to be number 1 for me. The alt-rockers suddenly turn into a full-on rock 'n' roll band - I loved it! They were definitely one of my favorite artists in the second half of the 80s. I have most everything they've done, including the 10-disc set of CD singles/EPs and the Rare Cult box. Never managed too score a Rare Cult - Demo Sessions box. Still buy the albums, but the post-Ceremony stuff just doesn't hit me the same way as the 80s material.
Electric or Beyond Good And Evil for me. Beyond just might pip it as I love that dropped tuning monster they created. Can't warm to Love at all bar a few tunes. Stick with the self-titled though, a good collection of songs, just went off on a tangent after that Electric / Sonic Temple / Ceremony run of rock classics. Latter day stuff is great too, no bad albums for me. Damon Fox from Bigelf is widening the live sound out brilliantly too on this last tour (guts of 2 years, they need to stop and go in and record a new album, and let Damn get another Bigelf album out too - the best of both worlds for me!)
Uncultured slob that I am, I have really only come to appreciate Electric and Sonic Temple. Love just never did it for me, although I think it's probably more original than the later albums. I bought Ceremony back in the day and played it about three times, didn't like it at all. For my part, I prefer Sonic Temple to Electric. Electric is a great album but it's too derivative. Astbury obviously had delusions of Jim Morrison when he wrote those songs.
It's always a toss-up between Love, Electric and Sonic Temple for but I'd probably go in this order: 1) ST (as someone posted earlier, the two opening tracks are an amazing combo) 2) Electric 3) Love That's the way I always describe it as well.
Not a lot of love for Ceremony here. Wonderland and Sweet Salvation are two of the band's very best songs and Billy is in his most axe hero guise on this LP. It was the end of an era and people talk of the Love/Electric/ST trilogy but Ceremony deserves to be in that group too. Over the years it has overtaken Sonic Temple to become my third favourite Cult album (moving from 4th to 3rd).
"Wild Hearted Son" is one of my very favorites by the Cult. Just a blinding tune (even if they never figured it out live). What was the story with Ceremony -- they wanted to work with Bob Rock again but he was knee-deep in the Black Album? I don't know much about Richie Zito, but I don't think he managed to pull a great album out of them in quite the same way previous producers had.
This band is in my all-tme top 10, if not 5... I was introduced to the band via "Electric," which I still love. But "Love" is tops for me. And I'll echo the earlier sentiments about "Beyond Good and Evil" being a great record - still can't believe it was met with a mostly dismissive reaction by the general public. Their last couple of records are really solid, too. I'd say the only missteps in their catalog are "Ceremony" (Zito tried to turn them into Eddie Money), and "Born Into This" (generally misguided and forgettable tunes).
I'm trying to get all their stuff. The Peace record really intrigues me. I'm on the hunt for that. Hidden City doesn't seem to be loved here. I love that record. Just rockin'. Great songs and lyrics. Such a cool record Hidden City. I just got the self titled and i'm just getting into it, not sure. I love Beyond Good and Evil, Rise!!! So rockin'. I have the single with i think an extra track. Great songs and record. The box is something i'm always on the hunt for. I think i need Pure Cult and Cerimony after reading through the posts. Great band. I like the later stuff as much as the early stuff. Still relevant to me. Just great rock n roll is how i see 'em.
Digging Choice Of Weapon and Hidden City over Ceremony is a gigantic misstep mate. You need to dig that mofo out again and give it the turntable time it deserves. I agree that Born Into This is weak, but then so is everything that comes after it.