It's been 20 years since The Cure released what was meant to be their swansong, "Bloodflowers". A highly underrated album on it's initial 2000 release, and two decades on "Bloodflowers" remains perhaps the most underrated album of The Cure's career thus far. And while there are more than a few underrated albums throughout The Cure's back catalogue it is"Bloodflowers" for me which is the most deserving of a reappraisal!

"Bloodflowers" was intended to be the end of a career yet it almost sounded like the beginning of a new era! An era where the musicianship took centre stage & after nearly 25 years perfecting their craft it felt entirely natural for the remaining members of the ever-changing band line-up to showcase just how skilled they had become as musicians. If this was to be the final curtain then The Cure were going out on a musical high! Quite ironic considering "Bloodflowers" was the bands most downbeat album since 1989's majestic "Disintegration" a decade earlier...

The Cure's 1996 album "Wild Mood Swings" was underrated in it's own right, but it was also admitadly a hit & miss affair. "Wild Mood Swings" was criticised by some fans for it's "Pop" leanings, but they had nothing to complain about on "Bloodflowers". An album that is very much the sound of a seasoned band rediscovering themselves. There is not a single "Pop" song on "Bloodflowers". Infact the album takes an almost operatic form as each epic "piece" fits together. Like a chain of flowers in a garden of musical greatness. The essence of The Cure was well & truly back on "Bloodflowers". The band's most atmospheric work in well over a decade & an album which absolutely deserves its place beside the majestic "Pornography" (1982) & "Disintegration" (1989) as part of the TRILOGY envisioned by Robert Smith himself!

"Bloodflowers" is mature & reflective both musically & lyrically. The band's approach is more reminiscent of earlier offerings "Seventeen Seconds" (1980) & 'Faith" (1981) than any of their more recent 90's offerings. An approach which they'd also adopt on the aformentioned "Pornography" & "Disintegration". Infact i myself consider all five albums connected as part of what I call The Cure's PENTALOGY. Each of the five albums feel like a singular entity that's split into several pieces. They are not a "mood swing affair" like "The Top" (1984), "Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me" (1987) or indeed "Wild Mood Swings" (1996). Nor could they be described as "radio-friendly" like "Three Imaginary Boys" (1979), "The Head On The Door" (1985) or "Wish" (1992) probably are.

Robert Smith had a very specific vision for Bloodflowers not to be an easy listening experience, but his original musical ideas for the album were quite different from what ended up on the final product. Early recordings such as "Possession" & "Coming Up" were heavy on Electronica & in retrospect it is quite unsurprising considering the time period that "Bloodflowers" was being recorded. Between the years 1997 & 1999, Robert Smith had been dabbling more in Electronica than ever before. He recorded a trilogy of electronically driven songs, but still credited each to The Cure despite the band having no input whatsoever...

The first of these songs, "Wrong Number", was the most memorable, not least because it featured on The Cure's 1997 compilation, "Galore". The truth however is that "Wrong Number" was recorded with Reeves Gabrels (who would not officially join The Cure for more than a decade later).
Robert Smith then covered Depeche Mode's 1990 classic, 'World In My Eyes", for a tribute album. It was a solo recording, but Smith still credited the cover to The Cure. Smith's DM cover actually began life as an official Cure recording of another DM track, "Walking In My Shoes". When the sessions of the intended cover proved fruitless Smith changed his mind on both the song he chose to cover & the use of his band members themselves. "World In My Eyes" was recorded by Smith alone "in the style of The Cure" ;)

The final Smith solo recording was, "More Than This", which was recorded with producer Paul Corkett specifically for the soundtrack of "The X-Files Movie" aka "The X-Files:Fight The Future" (1998). "More Than This" also veered even further into the realms of Electronica than the earlier "Wrong Number" or "World In My Eyes". Another confirmation of Smith's growing interest in exploring the genre which he'd last played around with back in 1983! So in retrospect one can definetly see where Smith was headed when the earliest sessions for "Bloodflowers" produced the aformentioned "Possession" & "Coming Up". Two songs more reliant on synths & sampling than they were guitars & drums. One does wonder just how far Robert Smith would have taken the Electronica route had the autumnal motif for "Out Of This World" not changed his mind about the direction of sound. Such an impact the composition made on Smith that "Possession" was removed from the tracklist while "Coming Up" only resurfaced as a "bonus track" on the Australian version of the album.

"Out Of This World" was not only the song which influenced Robert Smith's final vision for the "Bloodflowers" album, but it was also chosen to be the opening track. The song captures the essence of autumn with it's asthetical appreciation of the dreary season shot through a distinctly dreamy musical lens. Uncharacteristically for an opener on a Cure album, "Out Of This World" has a calmer, more melodic arrangement. This approach was better fitting of a band who were older, wiser & winding down.
The song was actually released as a promotional radio single against the wishes of Robert Smith. "Bloodflowers" was intended to be an album in the purest sense. None of the songs recorded were ever intended to be released as singles & Robert Smith had always intended the album to be one epic mood piece rather than another collection of radio friendly tunes. "Bloodflowers" certainly succeeded at that even if it did greatly limit promotion of the album around the world.

The album's densely layered second track, "Watching Me Fall" clocks in at 11+ minutes. Such a sprawling experience may not exactly the most conventional choice for the second song on the tracklist. Yet it flows so perfectly on an album which houses back to back epics. With the exception of one track (the 3 & 1/2 minute "There Is No If"), the songs on "Bloodflowers" all exceed the 5 minute mark, with "Watching Me Fall" being the most epic of them all!
Musically the song is an intense fusion of blaring guitars with a blizzard of electronic effects. A snowstorm of sound in both structure & motif, "Watching Me Fall" references the season of winter on an album most associate with it's predecessor, autumn. For me the song is part of a seasonal transition which defines the first half of the Bloodflowers album.

The next track, the evergreen "Where The Birds Always Sing" is painted with the colour of spring. Watery piano keys rain down on the furtile surface of warm synths as surging guitar solos paint an aural portrait of a flower blossoming with life! "Where The Birds Always Sing" seems to take it's musical cue from the memorable guitar solo on The Cure's classic 1994 song "Burn" (from the soundtrack to "The Crow"). A song which itself took it's own musical cue from two of the bands past works (1982's "The Hanging Garden" & 1987's "The Snakepit").

Had any true singles been released from the album then I feel the musically warm "Maybe Someday" would have been a perfect choice for two specific reasons. Firstly the song was written by Robert Smith about his band & how he felt about their place in the music industry at that moment. "Maybe Someday" is essentially a goodbye song with a twist. Robert sings of wanting to end it all & practically walking away from the band before giving the fans words of hope as he utters the songs title.
"Maybe Someday" is the only upbeat song on the album but even then it's not entirely sure of itself. Robert is adamant about his intentions but concedes that there is always the possibility of returning...maybe...someday. There is still passion in his heart for the band he has fronted for decades & even as he walks away he feels the need to reassure the fans who keep his passion burning.

The guitar driven tour de force, "The Last Day Of Summer" is the centrepiece on an album which for me depicts the cycle of a year. Bloodflowers lingers on the season of autumn once the album crosses the half-way mark ("The Last Day Of Summer"), but the first half is very much a swift musical transition from autumn ("Out Of This World") to winter ("Watching Me Fall") to spring ("Where The Birds Always Sing") to summer ("Maybe Someday").
The evocative power of "The Last Day Of Summer" will never die no matter what time of the year the song is played!

My personal favourite song on the album, "The Loudest Sound". One of the most powerful yet overlooked tracks that Robert Smith has ever written! Drenched in melancholy from the outset, with a deep, deliberate bass cords like droplets of blood from a dying rose (the flower of romance!).
"The Loudest Sound" is as gorgeous as it is gloomy. Lyrically the song is a devastating portrait of a dying relationship, but layed upon such a beautiful deathbed of musical tranquility. Opening with gentle purcussion & soothing keyboards, the song begins with a nice melodious calm, picking up considerable urgency when the guitar kicks in to deliver, well the loudest sound of all! "The Loudest Sound" reminds me of the songs "A Strange Day" (1982) & "Homesick" (1989) from Bloodflowers respective companion albums "Pornography" & "Disintegration".

Elsewhere on the album, "39" is as self-explanitory as song titles comes with a "pushing-40" Robert Smith revisiting the theme of aging which has been commonplace throughout his career (most notably on "Disintegration" a decade earlier).
Meanwhile on the delicate "There Is No If", Smith's lyrics may infact use a decaying relationship as a metaphor for the impending end of his band of over two decades. "Bloodflowers" was intended to be the final album of The Cure's career after all! Thankfully that was not to be, but had it been then the "Bloodflowers" album would have been one hell of a swansong! "There Is No If" is as heartbreaking & as haunting as anything The Cure have ever recorded .

The album closes with fittingly intense title track itself! Led by dramatic tribal beats & awash with synths not heard since the "Disintegration" album, "Bloodflowers" begins to blossom as the guitars rain down like lightning bolts. An emotionally charged anthem which would have sent The Cure out in a blaze of gloomy glory had it been their final recording. In the eyes of Robert Smith & for much of the CUREmunity, "Bloodflowers" concludes the TRILOGY which began with "Pornography" & continued with "Disintegration". The three endings of a three stage act spanning 18 years. Each album captures what Smith considers the best representation of The Cure up to their respective points in time. For me personally, "Bloodflowers" remains The Cure's finest work of the 21st Century thus far. And 20 years on I still have FAITH that MAYBE, SOMEDAY they'll deliver an album to surpass it!

Remembering the strange, sordid history of the Florida State Fair
A lot has changed since the fair debuted alongside Gasparilla in 1904.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of Floridians head to the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa to gorge themselves on fried concoctions and ride a Ferris wheel or two. But why is our official state fair located here? And what did it used to look like?

Here’s a look back at what has changed since the fair’s debut in 1904. One note: Some historic images that follow contain scenes that do not hold up to contemporary standards and could be considered offensive.

The fair’s origins trace back to the late 1890s, when railroad mogul Henry B. Plant hosted events to dazzle guests at his Tampa Bay Hotel (the minaret-studded building is now known as the University of Tampa’s Plant Hall.) The riverside hotel also boasted Plant Field, Tampa’s early sporting and event venue.

The first fair, then called the South Florida Fair, was held on Plant Field in the winter of 1904. Plant had died five years prior, and his hotel was in decline, said Susan Royal Jones, a researcher at the Florida State Fair.

“The city of Tampa actually bought the hotel and the grounds, and this was one of the ways they thought they would be able to get a return on the investment," Jones said.

Gasparilla debuted the same year, and the two events were held downtown in tandem for decades. The bundled festivities were designed to lure northern tourists to Florida and get attention from state officials.

“It was always a means to bring down the governor or other officials from Tallahassee," said Andy Huse, a librarian with the University of South Florida Special Collections Department.

Fair guests would often find horse races along with parades of elephants and other classic circus fanfare. The midways with dancers, amusement rides and games all trace back to the World’s Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893, Huse said.

“The midway is really what gave birth to the (fair) that we know today,” he said. “They share the DNA, the circus and the fair.”

The Florida State Fair fit in with the running theme of circus culture in the area. The Ringling Brothers moved their winter quarters to Sarasota in the late 1920s, and many sideshow performers spent their winters in Gibsonton. Images from that era often show acts that “would not be considered politically correct in today’s world,” Jones said.

“Not only was it the place to see two-headed animals, but it was a place to experience things you never had a chance to taste or smell," Huse said. “If you went to the fair in 1905, that might be the first time you tried Coca Cola or Italian sausage. If you lived in a rural area, it might be the first time you saw an electric light bulb.”

Back then, fairs offered a chance to see and taste modern parts of the world for the first time. Hot dogs, hamburgers and ice cream all were considered novel. Other popular dishes included barbecue and fried fish (no deep-friend Oreos here).


In early fair years, other Florida counties showed off crops at the Florida State Fair, Jones said. But Tampa used it as an opportunity to get creative with its biggest industry: cigars.

By the 1950s, many of the attractions featured livestock and animals.

“The fair used to reflect the agricultural heritage of the area," Huse said. “That’s one of the things that has kind of fallen by the wayside over time. ... Not as many people are engaged with raising hogs.”

The fair was held around Tampa Stadium in 1976 as builders readied a new destination for the festivities. In ’77, the fair moved to the Florida State Fairgrounds at Interstate 4 and U.S Highway 301 — a much larger swath of land than the original space at Plant Field.

Gasparilla is now a season that spans from January thorough the spring months, with the Gasparilla Pirate Invasion occurring in January. The Florida State Fair typically spans a few weeks in February.