Editing Wild Mood Swings (section)

== Background ==
''Wild Mood Swings'' was an album which saw various different changes towards the way the band approached recording their songs, such as the prominent use of computers and music software like [[Steinberg Cubase|Cubase]], as well as live strings and brass instrumentation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=THE CURE: Recording Wild Mood Swings |url=https://www.soundonsound.com/people/cure-recording-wild-mood-swings |access-date=2024-05-11 |website=www.soundonsound.com}}</ref> It was also the first album released since drummer [[Boris Williams]] left the band, due to personal reasons in 1994,<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Price |first=Simon |title=Curepedia: An A-Z of The Cure |publisher=[[William Morrow and Company|William Morrow]] |year=2023 |isbn=978-0-06-306864-3 |location=New York, NY |publication-date=2023 |pages=415–416}}</ref> while guitarist [[Pearl Thompson|Porl Thompson]] also left the group in 1993 to look after his children<ref name=":03">Price, pp. 356-359.</ref> and joined English rock band [[Page and Plant]].<ref name="PopCultureClassics.com">{{Cite web |title=PopCultureClassics.com |url=https://www.popcultureclassics.com/robert_smith.html |access-date=2024-10-24 |website=www.popcultureclassics.com}}</ref>

Smith felt at the time that the previous line-up that had made ''[[Wish (The Cure album)|Wish]]'' (1992) had "really done as much as we could. In some ways, in the back of my mind, I was slightly unsure as to what we could achieve, because we all knew each other so well. So the fact that it all kind of fell apart was a good thing. It was one of those haphazard, serendipitous things that worked in our favour."<ref name="PopCultureClassics.com"/>[[File:Boris Williams photo.jpg|thumb|248x248px|Drummer Boris Williams quit the band due to personal reasons.<ref name=":0" /> He was joined by [[Pearl Thompson|Porl Thompson]] and formed the band [[Babacar (band)|Babacar]] in the late 90s.<ref>Price, p. 25.</ref>]]However, Smith found it difficult to replace Boris Williams as he felt he was "a phenomenally good drummer," and found "replacing him was the most difficult thing. Not only did we have to find someone who would fit, who would get on with us and understand what the Cure is about, [he] also had to be as good a drummer as Boris, and it took months finding someone." [[Jason Cooper]], formerly of the band [[My Life Story]], replaced Williams on drums in 1995, answering to a ''[[Melody Maker]]'' advertisement made by the band anonymously with the brief "…famous group requires drummer – no metal heads…".<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Online |first=Hip |date=2008-01-14 |title=The Cure |url=https://www.hiponline.com/749/the-cure.html |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=Hip Online - music biographies, reviews & interviews |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> Prior to Cooper's recruitment, other potential drummers included Ron Austin ([[The God Machine (band)|The God Machine]]), [[Mark Price (musician)|Mark Price]] ([[All About Eve (band)|All About Eve]]), and Louis Pavlou ([[Pink Turns Blue]]). All three drummers ultimately appeared on ''Wild Mood Swings''. [[Perry Bamonte]] replaced Porl Thompson as the group's lead guitarist,<ref>{{Cite news |date=2005-05-29 |title=The Cure band members say goodbye |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4591191.stm |access-date=2025-04-20 |language=en-GB}}</ref> leaving [[Roger O'Donnell]], who returned in 1995 after leaving in 1990, to fulfil keyboard parts.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Considine |first=J. d |date=1996-06-05 |title=The Cure Finds a Remedy in Changes |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-06-05-ca-11791-story.html |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>

The album marked the first time the band did not work with [[David M. Allen]] as a producer since ''[[Japanese Whispers]]'' (1983). [[Robert Smith (musician)|Robert Smith]] feared "that nothing new" would happen, had they worked with him again, saying "We've never really needed anyone to help on the creative or artistic side" and opted to get Steve Lyon, due to his younger age and his lack of "any preconceptions about the group."<ref name=":0" />

The track "Club America", is inspired by a summer trip in 1994 that Smith had to New York in with [[Perry Bamonte]] to watch the Football [[FIFA World Cup|World Cup]]. After playing football with electronic band [[Depeche Mode]] and [[Daryl Bamonte]], brother of Perry who would go on to work with the Cure shortly after, they all went clubbing. Smith admitted to playing "up to it then and awful lot more than I should have, and on the plane home, I wrote the song, because I was trying to, like, explain it away to myself. It's ironic, you know. I've had this photo taken with these celebrities, and I was there, and I did that, and I was full of self loathing! And that song is not anti-the girl in the "canary feather dress," it's actually anti-me because I was part of it."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rabid |first=Jack |date=1996-01-01 |title=A Foolish Arrangement :Interview :1/1/1996 The Big Takeover #40 |url=http://www.afoolisharrangement.com/Cure/interview.asp?InterviewID=74 |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=www.afoolisharrangement.com}}</ref> Rolling Stone noted Smith's put-on deeper voice on the song, citing borrowed "vocal tricks" from [[David Bowie]] and [[Iggy Pop]], while also describing the sound as "upbeat" and that its sound invoked the "jaded thrills of nightclubbing in the American [[Funhouse|fun house]]."<ref name=":3">{{Cite magazine |last=DeCurtis |first=Anthony |date=1998-02-02 |title=Wild Mood Swings |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/wild-mood-swings-116332/ |access-date=2024-10-13 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref>Meanwhile, ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]'' felt the song resembled English rock band [[Happy Mondays]], due to its [[Psychedelic music|psychedelic]] sound<ref name="Hannaham 91">{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dTM_D4UWqXQC&pg=PA91 |title=The Cure: ''Wild Mood Swings'' |journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]] |volume=12 |issue=4 |date=July 1996 |access-date=21 June 2016 |last=Hannaham |first=James |page=91}}</ref> and ''[[NME]]'' compared it unfavourably to [[Tin Machine]].<ref name=":1" />

The song "Treasure" is inspired by the [[Christina Rossetti]] poem "Remember".<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Paul Brannigan |date=2024-10-16 |title="Again, a bit of doom and gloom." Robert Smith selects one song from every Cure album which reflects the mood of their new record Songs of a Lost World, and reveals which Cure album is his least favourite |url=https://www.loudersound.com/news/robert-smith-curated-cure-playlist |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=louder |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=2021-05-05 |title=Revisiting The Cure's 'Wild Mood Swings' (1996) {{!}} Tribute |url=https://albumism.com/features/the-cure-wild-mood-swings-turns-25-anniversary-retrospective |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=Albumism |language=en-US}}</ref> Smith felt that the most personal songs on the album were "Want" and "Bare".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert Smith Interview - Zillo (Feb. 2000) |url=http://www.ossh.com/thecure/ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ChainofFlowers/zillo2000.html |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=www.ossh.com}}</ref>
[[File:Porl Thompson - The Cure (22627810165).jpg|left|thumb|227x227px|Porl Thomspon left the band in 1993 to look after his children and joined the English rock band [[Page and Plant]]. According to Robert Smith, his departure was not "acrimonious"<ref name=":7" /> He would rejoin the band in 2005.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Porl Thompson Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & Mo... |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/porl-thompson-mn0000298582#credits |access-date=2025-04-18 |website=AllMusic |language=en}}</ref>]]

=== Recording ===
Initial recording began around the end of 1994, with just Robert Smith and Perry Bamonte. [[Simon Gallup]] fell ill shortly before the band scheduled to record and Boris Williams left the band the day before they began recording, and other members had yet to be found. The following year Roger O'Donnell and Jason Cooper would be hired.<ref name=":8" />

The band settled in [[St Catherine's Court|St. Catherine's Court]], a Tudor house which was owned by actress [[Jane Seymour (actress)|Jane Seymour]] at the time, and were the first band to record there, since she began renting it out as a film set and recording studio since 1992.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Keel |first=Toby |date=2024-05-23 |title=Live and let live in the gorgeous former monastery that's been home to everyone from iconic Bond girls to legends of music |url=https://www.countrylife.co.uk/property/live-and-let-live-in-the-gorgeous-former-monastery-thats-been-home-to-everyone-from-iconic-bond-girls-to-legends-of-music-269199 |access-date=2025-01-19 |website=Country Life |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kredenser |first=Peter |date=2016-09-13 |title=Look Inside Jane Seymour's House in England |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/jane-seymour-english-manor |access-date=2025-01-19 |website=Architectural Digest |language=en-US}}</ref>Other bands and musicians who would record there include [[Radiohead]], for their acclaimed album ''[[OK Computer]]'' (1997), [[Robbie Williams]] and [[New Order (band)|New Order]]. The band themselves would return there for the initial 1998 sessions of the follow up album ''[[Bloodflowers]]'' (2000).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-02-02 |title=St. Catherine's Court - Bath, England (1996) :: Music :: Features :: england :: Paste |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2004/06/st-catherines-court-bath-england-1996.html |access-date=2025-01-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202055018/https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2004/06/st-catherines-court-bath-england-1996.html |archive-date=2 February 2017 }}</ref>

Alongside many other changes to the band's working methods, they opted to use live brass instruments and string quartets in their songs. something which had previously not occurred in their recording processes. Strings would see use most notably on "This Is a Lie",which started out as a song based around an acoustic guitar played by [[Perry Bamonte]]. Smith recalled, "when I started playing around with it, it evolved into a string piece on the keyboard. I always had in mind that we'd be using strings, right from the very outset." He said recording in the house helped as "there was an instant atmosphere" for the string quartets. The band chose [[Audrey Riley|Audrey Riley's]] string quartet for the album as Smith felt she was "very aware of recording for contemporary pop" and that he had difficulties with previous musicians.<ref name=":0" />

Smith said the band also used an Indian orchestra, a [[jazz quartet]] and Mexican trumpet players, and clarified "Everything on the album is real. In the past, I would have tried to keep it in the family, so to speak, and tried to attain a realistic sound through emulation or simulation. Now I feel much more comfortable having people around who are really good musicians."<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=Considine |first=J. d |date=1996-06-05 |title=The Cure Finds a Remedy in Changes |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-06-05-ca-11791-story.html |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>

The whole band were given much more input on the songs, allowing their ideas to be tested for inclusion "no matter how silly it was".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert Smith Interview - Zillo (Feb. 2000) |url=http://www.ossh.com/thecure/ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ChainofFlowers/zillo2000.html |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=www.ossh.com}}</ref> Smith felt at the time, "It was the most fun I've ever had making a record, actually; it was brilliant. And that's why it took quite a long time, 'cause no one wanted it to stop. It was really good fun. We were paying for ourselves to live together in a house and make music, so why should we stop? Why should we go home?"<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 7, 1997 |title=A Foolish Arrangement:Interview:1/1/1996The Big Takeover#40 |url=http://www.afoolisharrangement.com/Cure/interview.asp?InterviewID=74 |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=www.afoolisharrangement.com}}</ref>{{Blockquote|text="It's been so relaxed here. There wasn't a deadline, so we kept pushing it back. It's comfortable and big enough that you can get away from everybody else — so everyone's not on top of each other."|source=|title=[[Roger O'Donnell]] discussing the album's recording environment.}}The mastering of the album was complete at [[Metropolis Group|Metropolis Studios]], London with Robert Smith alongside Ian Cooper, who was suggested to Smith by producer [[Flood (music producer)|Flood]]. This made for the first time Smith would be directly involved with the mastering process, which was to due to his frustration towards being absent on the band's previous albums' mastering.<ref name=":0" />