Considered by Smith himself to be The Cure's worst album (but his opinion about it seems to change regularly), The Top does feel like an anomaly in the band's discography. Smith is behind almost everything on the album except for the drums and many consider it to be a solo album of sorts. The man must have been on some pretty fucked up drugs at the time because this is one weird album. The lyrics are quite gloomy as always, but the music had become so incredibly kaleidoscopic it became pretty hard to grasp. The opening Shake Dog Shake is an absolute classic which is still played during live gigs today. Dark and aggressive, it'll baffle those who only know The Cure's more pop-oriented releases. But then the album begins to alternate between these dark tracks (Give Me It, Wailing Wall) and abnormally upbeat numbers (Birdmad Girl, The Caterpillar). The Top is a very confused album which will appeal to some, but repel others.