"The Hanging Garden" is a song by English rock band

the Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...

, released as the sole single from their fourth studio album, ''

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''. The release is sometimes referred to as ''A Single''. The single reached No. 34 in the

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Music video

The video shows the band playing in the York House Gardens in London, England. The band also wears masks, which is similar to the concept of the ''Pornography'' album. Robert Smith recalled: "For the 'Hanging Garden' video we got two people who did

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videos but it was a really awful video. They wanted to make us look serious and we wanted them to make us look like Madness". The video was directed by Chris Gabrin.

Release

In addition to being released as a 7" single featuring "The Hanging Garden" and " Killing an Arab", "The Hanging Garden" was also released as ''A Single'', a

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double pack of 7" singles with a total of four tracks. It was also released as a 10" record which contained all four songs from the double 7" pack.

Reception

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'' writer Adrian Thrills was not impressed with the single, writing, "The Cure have drifted disappointingly and indulgently from the idyllic pop invention of their younger days".

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included the song at No. 25 in his

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list for 1982. In a retrospective review for

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, Stewart Mason wrote that the song was heavily influenced by

Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. They have been widely influential, both over their contemporaries and with later acts. ''Q'' magazine in ...

. "The urgent, thundering drums that underpin "The Hanging Garden" are clearly some sort of homage to

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, who provided very similar drum patterns to years' worth of Siouxsie & the Banshees songs. Similarly,

Simon Gallup Simon Jonathon Gallup (born 1 June 1960) is an English musician and bassist with the alternative rock band The Cure. He is the second longest-serving member of the band after lead vocalist/guitarist Robert Smith. Early years Born in Duxhurst ...

's bass borrows something from

Steven Severin Steven Severin (born Steven John Bailey; 25 September 1955) is an English songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He is best known as the bassist of the rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees which he co-founded in 1976. He took th ...

's insistent throb, and Smith's own guitar is primarily used for drones and ornamentation, much as it was in the Banshees".

Track listing

# "The Hanging Garden" # " Killing an Arab" (live) Double pack :Side A # "The Hanging Garden" # "One Hundred Years" :Side B – recorded April 27, 1982, at the

Manchester Apollo The O2 Apollo Manchester (known locally as The Apollo and formerly Manchester Apollo) is a concert venue in Ardwick Green, Manchester, England. It is a Grade II listed building, with a capacity of 3,500 (2,514 standing, 986 seats). History The ...

'' # "

A Forest "A Forest" is a song by the English rock band The Cure. Co-produced by Mike Hedges and the band's Robert Smith, it was released as a single from the band's second album ''Seventeen Seconds'' on 28 March 1980. It was their debut entry on the ...

" (live) # "Killing an Arab" (live)

Personnel

– bass * Robert Smith – guitar, keyboard, vocals *

Lol Tolhurst Laurence Andrew "Lol" Tolhurst (born 3 February 1959) is a founding member and the former drummer and keyboardist of English band The Cure - he left the Cure in 1989 and was later involved in the band Presence and his current project, Levinhurs ...

– drums

References

External links

The Hanging Garden single at the Cure official siteThe Hanging Garden video at the Cure official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanging Garden The Cure songs 1982 singles Songs written by Robert Smith (musician) Song recordings produced by Phil Thornalley 1982 songs Fiction Records singles Songs written by Lol Tolhurst Songs written by Simon Gallup