Wild Mood Swings

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Lore & Background

The album was the first since drummer Boris Williams left in 1994 and guitarist Porl Thompson left in 1993 to join Page and Plant. Smith felt the previous line-up that made *Wish* (1992) had "really done as much as we could" and that the band falling apart "was a good thing." Replacing Williams was difficult—Smith called him "a phenomenally good drummer"—and it took months to find Jason Cooper, who answered a Melody Maker ad placed anonymously by the band. Other potential drummers included Ron Austin, Mark Price, and Louis Pavlou, all of whom appeared on the album. Perry Bamonte replaced Thompson as lead guitarist, and Roger O'Donnell returned in 1995 for keyboards. The band did not work with producer David M. Allen for the first time since *Japanese Whispers* (1983); Smith feared "that nothing new" would happen and opted for Steve Lyon due to his younger age and lack of "any preconceptions about the group."

In Their Own Story

Initial recording began around the end of 1994 with just Smith and Bamonte, after Simon Gallup fell ill and Williams left the day before recording started. The band settled at St. Catherine's Court, a Tudor house owned by actress Jane Seymour, and were the first band to record there since she began renting it out in 1992. They used live brass instruments and string quartets—something new for their recording processes. Smith recalled that "This Is a Lie" started as an acoustic guitar piece by Bamonte but evolved into a string piece on keyboard. The band chose Audrey Riley's string quartet because Smith felt she was "very aware of recording for contemporary pop." Smith said they also used an Indian orchestra, a jazz quartet, and Mexican trumpet players, clarifying: "Everything on the album is real." The whole band was given more input; Smith said, "It was the most fun I've ever had making a record... no one wanted it to stop." Mastering was completed at Metropolis Studios with Ian Cooper, the first time Smith was directly involved in mastering, due to frustration with being absent on previous albums.

Reader's Guide

Four singles were released from the album: "The 13th" on 22 April 1996, "Mint Car" on 17 June, "Strange Attraction" in the US on 8 October, and "Gone!" in Europe on 2 December 1996. The album art features a toy clown, a motif that extended to single sleeves. Bassist Simon Gallup said Smith had a catalogue of German metal toys: "The clown is really quite frightening." The band's website featured St. Catherine's Court, titled "The Cure's House," with an interactive game giving all band members rooms. Reception was mixed: Trouser Press called it "a potent and sweeping dissertation on melancholy and tentative dreams denied," while the Houston Chronicle claimed the band was "not even close to losing its creative edge." Spin observed that "Smith and the Cure remain fixated on cheap thrills throughout Wild Mood Swings" and felt "Smith's three-note hooks never sounded less catchy."

Did You Know?

• The track "Club America" was inspired by a 1994 summer trip Smith took to New York with Perry Bamonte to watch the Football World Cup, where they played football with Depeche Mode.
• The song "Treasure" is inspired by the Christina Rossetti poem "Remember."
• St. Catherine's Court, where the album was recorded, was later used by Radiohead for their acclaimed album *OK Computer* (1997).
• The band placed an anonymous ad in Melody Maker reading "…famous group requires drummer – no metal heads…" to find Jason Cooper.
• Smith felt the most personal songs on the album were "Want" and "Bare."