Editing Three Imaginary Boys (section)

== Reception ==
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="True">{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/three-imaginary-boys-mw0000143449 |title=''Three Imaginary Boys'' – The Cure |publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=28 January 2013 |last=True |first=Chris}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Blender (magazine)|Blender]]''
| rev2score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=3478 |title=The Cure: ''Three Imaginary Boys'' |magazine=[[Blender (magazine)|Blender]] |issue=41 |date=October 2005 |access-date=2 November 2015 |last=Wolk |first=Douglas |author-link=Douglas Wolk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051127000110/http://blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=3478 |archive-date=27 November 2005 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[The Guardian]]''
| rev3score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/dec/17/popandrock.shopping2 |title=The Cure, ''Three Imaginary Boys'' Deluxe Edition |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=17 December 2004 |access-date=20 August 2016 |last=Sweeting |first=Adam |author-link=Adam Sweeting}}</ref>
| rev4 = ''[[The Irish Times]]''
| rev4score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/reissues-1.1170454 |title=The Cure: ''Three Imaginary Boys'' – Deluxe Edition (Fiction/Polydor) |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |date=17 December 2004 |access-date=1 November 2020 |last=Courtney |first=Kevin}}</ref>
| rev5 = ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]''
| rev5score = 8.7/10<ref name="Abebe">{{cite web |url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/1694-three-imaginary-boys-deluxe-edition/ |title=The Cure: ''Three Imaginary Boys'' [Deluxe Edition] |website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |date=14 December 2004 |access-date=28 January 2013 |last=Abebe |first=Nitsuh}}</ref>
| rev6 = ''[[Record Mirror]]''
| rev6score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Physician Rock 'n' Roll Thyself! |magazine=[[Record Mirror]] |date=19 May 1979 |last=Westwood |first=Chris |author-link=Chris Westwood (author) |page=16}}</ref>
| rev7 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev7score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}<ref>{{cite book |chapter=The Cure |last=Sheffield |first=Rob |author-link=Rob Sheffield |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |editor-last=Brackett |editor-first=Nathan |editor-link=Nathan Brackett |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |editor2-link=Christian Hoard |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |edition=4th |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7432-0169-8 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=t9eocwUfoSoC&pg=PA205 205–06]}}</ref>
| rev8 = ''[[Smash Hits]]''
| rev8score = 8/10<ref name="Starr">{{cite magazine |title=Albums |magazine=[[Smash Hits]] |volume=1 |issue=15 |date=28 June – 11 July 1979 |last=Starr |first=Red |page=25}}</ref>
| rev9 = ''[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]]''
| rev9score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="McCullough">{{cite magazine |title=Cure Pop for Now People |magazine=[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]] |date=12 December 1979 |last=McCullough |first=Dave}}</ref>
| rev10 = ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]''
| rev10score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Cure: Three Imaginary Boys |magazine=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]] |issue=92 |date=January 2005 |last=Martin |first=Piers |page=146}}</ref>
}}

Despite Smith's displeasure with the record, ''Three Imaginary Boys'' was well received critically at the time of its release.<ref name="Apter"/> ''[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]]''{{'}} Dave McCullough praised it in a 5-star review and noted: "The Cure are going somewhere different on each track, the ideas are startling and disarming." McCullough noted the variety of the material and qualified "Grinding Halt" as a "pop song that reminds you of [[the Isley Brothers]] or the [[Buzzcocks]]."<ref name="McCullough"/> Red Starr, writing in ''[[Smash Hits]]'', described the album as a "brilliant, compelling debut."<ref name="Starr"/> However, ''[[NME]]''{{'}}s [[Paul Morley]] did not share the same point of view and wrote: "Most of the time, it's a voice catching its breath, a cautiously primitive riff guitar, toy drumming and a sprightly bass."<ref name="Morley">{{cite magazine |title=A Cure for Cancer? |magazine=[[NME]]|date=12 May 1979 |last=Morley |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Morley}}</ref>

Chris True of [[AllMusic]] retrospectively called the album "a very strong debut" and a "semi-detached bit of late-'70s English [[pop-punk]]".<ref name="True"/> Nitsuh Abebe of ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' likened the album to a "[[New wave music|new wave]] [[Wire (band)|Wire]]... [or] [[Joy Division]]" and called it "as original a record as anything else to spin off from the tail end of punk."<ref name="Abebe"/> He also called the album "spiky [[post-punk]]."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11887-the-top-the-head-on-the-door-kiss-me-kiss-me-kiss-me-blue-sunshine/ |title=The Cure / Robert Smith: ''The Top'' / ''The Head on the Door'' / ''Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me'' / ''Blue Sunshine'' |website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |date=25 August 2006 |access-date=14 February 2020 |last=Abebe |first=Nitsuh}}</ref> [[BBC Music]] critic Simon Morgan said "Smith was forging his own take on the post-punk zeitgeist,"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/jf25 |title=The Cure ''Three Imaginary Boys'' (Deluxe Edition) Review |website=[[BBC Music]] |date=2 December 2004 |access-date=1 November 2020 |last=Morgan |first=Simon}}</ref> while author [[Martin C. Strong]] said it "remains among the Cure's finest work," adding that "their strangely accessible post-punk snippets lent an air of suppressed melancholy."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Essential Rock Discography |last=Strong |first=Martin C. |author-link=Martin C. Strong}}</ref> The album was also described as "a collection of melodic but slightly kooky [[power-pop]]" by Chris Gerard of ''[[PopMatters]]''.<ref name="Gerard 3">{{cite web |url=https://www.popmatters.com/100-best-singles-80s-part5/3 |title=The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 5: 20 – 1 |website=[[PopMatters]] |date=1 October 2015 |access-date=14 February 2020 |last=Gerard |first=Chris |page=3}}</ref>