Pure Cult: The Singles 1984-1995

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Editorial reviews

Album Description
Totally remastered, featuring 19 of your favorite Cult tracks including 'She Sells Sanctuary', 'Edie (Ciao Baby) ' & 'Sweet Soul Sister', with new artwork. Beggars Banquet.

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Amazon.com
The hard-rocking Cult have come along way from the early Native American stylings of Dreamtime and the dodgy goth tendencies evident on their classic album, Love. Blame Rick Rubin, who helmed Electric and steered them down the rocky road to metal heaven. This best-of collection brings together tracks from the span of their career, and is a worthy testament to their rites of passage. "She Sells Sanctuary" sounds as refreshing as it did in 1985. There are some dubious inclusions from the twilight years of their career, such as "Star" and "Coming Down (Drug Tongue)," but when they have to hold their own alongside "Fire Woman" and "Lil' Devil" it's hardly surprising that they are found wanting. --Helen Marquis

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Customer reviews

review by: robjbrenn date: 2008-11-07 rating:
Good.... but.....
I'm being a bit pedantic here.... but NO KING CONTRARY MAN.... in a greatest hits from the Cult???

Three stars only because of that. Otherwise air guitars & head swirls all round for this sometimes bombastic, always rockin' band of British boys. Did I also say pretentious??? Um... only if digested without a sense of humour.

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review by: date: 2008-05-04 rating:
The Cult Still and Forever on the Air
The Cult seem to still have a name for themselves and haven't been forgotten by rock fans, even though they broke up in 1995. Their songs are still on the air. Pure Cult:The Singles is a greatest hits compilation of of the band's biggest and best singles throughout those years. Who doesn't remember the emotional "Fire Woman" or the hard-hitting rockin' tune "Love Removal Machine"? I used to dance to that song many of times hanging out in the clubs.

Singer Ian Astbury's voice is very energetic and has an intense emotion all on it's own -- he wails and screams from song to song. The band's style was rock n roll, but in a slightly electronic new wave style. The album also features the songs:"She Sells Sanctuary" filled with loud rock guitars with an interesting melody and "Fire Woman" and "Sun King" that does have a slight Doors vibe to it. It is a well put together greatest hits collection.

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review by: date: 2008-02-18 rating:
TWO WORDS
I HAVE TWO WORDS FOR THIS CD PURE CULT TOTALY AWSOM !!

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review by: author and music buff date: 2008-02-11 rating:
Electric Cult
The Cult (or essentially, Billy Duffy and Ian Astbury) had a vision. They were making goth type trendy rock for a little while, even cutting one classic single in the process ("She Sells Sanctuary"). But they got bored with that scene pretty darn fast. Duffy had an obvious AC/DC-Led Zep fixation, and Astbury harbored Jim Morrison fantasies. Enter Rick Rubin.

Rubin stripped the band down to basics. Gone were the echo-drenched early productions, in were the loud, bare-bones Back in Black howling guitars of Electric. "Love Removal Machine" (along with its star-maker video) steamrollered rock radio. The clashing personalities of Duffy and Astbury also made for great interview fodder, and The Cult exploded worldwide.

They were able to hang onto that musical esthetic for Sonic Temple, their only US Top Ten album. It deserved that status, with the band's most solid set of songs. "Fire Woman" was the attention getter, but there was also the very cool "Edie (Ciao Baby)" about Andy Warhol cohort Edie Sedgwick and "Sun King" both vying for airplay. As solid "Sonic Temple" was, the band was imploding. Astbury was falling prey to substance issues and he and Duffy were no longer creating creative sparks when they collided. Duffy wanted to stay with the hard rock, Astbury was getting into mystical/spiritual goo and the booze/dope crushed his focus. The lackluster Ceremony found The Cult fiddling with too many experiments, and "Wild Hearted Son" was the best thing there.

After that, The Cult found the band down to Astbury and Duffy with a rotating list of guests. Bob Rock from "Sonic Temple" was brought back in an attempt to capture the old sound, but the two best songs were "Sacred Life" (not here) and "Coming Down" (which is). Following albums did little to make the band interesting. You could easily just get "Electric" and "Sonic Temple" to get what really mattered about The Cult, since both "Fire Woman" and "Love Removal Machine" would be covered. This Best Of The Cult shows that, while a great band when they were on fire, they couldn't keep that intensity going very long.

Incidentally, 2007's Born into This is suprisingly lively.


review by: date: 2008-02-10 rating:
Classic Cult
Includes all the favorites from the early to mid 1980's. A must-have if you are a Cult fan from that time.

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