. . . of all time.

Let's take a look. . .

Three Imaginary Boys: no singles, really
I guess the singles affiliated with this album are 'Boys Don't Cry' and 'Killing An Arab' — I guess pretty representative of the proper album, but way more catchy than anything on the album (except maybe 'Fire in Cairo').

Seventeen Seconds: Jumping Someone Else's Train, A Forest
Ok, this is one case where the singles represented the album pretty well. Sparse, jangly minor chords and whatnot.

Faith: Primary, Charlotte Sometimes
If all someone knows of this era are these two songs, they are in for a very slow, very melancholy shock when they actually listen to the album.

Pornography: The Hanging Garden
Sure, it's dark and poundy, but it's actually very tuneful in comparison to the rest of the album. I've always thought 'A Strange Day' would've been a much better single.

—in the interim: The Walk, The Lovecats, Let's Go to Bed—
Bob goes pop. Representative of Japanese Whispers, sure, but that's a compilation anyway.

The Top: The Caterpillar
Nothing is representative of this album. Least of all, that song. If I had to pick a more representative single, I'd pick 'Birdmad Girl.'

The Head on the Door: Inbetween Days, Close to Me, A Night Like This
Funny that the most representative single from the album ('Night Like This') was also probably the least popular. Besides the two big songs, the rest of the album is a little more dark — sure, in a mid-80's 'goth pop' big production sort of way, but still.

Kiss Me: Catch, Just Like Heaven, Hot Hot Hot, Why Can't I Be You?
The catchiest songs on the album, point blank. The title track started the album and that should be a good clue-in. Other fan favorites on this album that weren't singles: 'How Beautiful You Are', 'If Only Tonight We Could Sleep' and 'Lime Cockatoos' — catchy stuff, sure, but not really radio hits.

Disintegration: Lovesong, Fascination Street, Lullaby, Pictures of You
In the case of three of the singles from this album, they were the shortest songs on the album. Literally —besides 'Lovesong' 'Fascination' and 'Lullaby'— everything else on the album was six minutes or longer. So, yeah.

Wish: Friday I'm in Love, High, A Letter to Elise
The album started off with 'Open' and went on to have other shoegaze/Madchester experiments like 'From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea', 'Cut' and 'End.' The singles were easily the most pop things on the album — the rest is very dark. Except for the aborted fourth single 'Doing the Unstuck' (shame, that — it should've been the lead single in my mind).

Wild Mood Swings: The 13th, Gone, Mint Car, Strange Attraction
Another album where no single would have been representative. In a perfect world, 'Jupiter Crash' would've been the single and, furthermore, it would have been a hit.

Bloodflowers: Maybe Someday
Another Disintegration case, where all of the songs are too long to really be singles. I will concede that this is actually a pretty representative song for the rest of the album.

The Cure: The End of the World, Taking Off (in Europe), alt.end (in America)
They actually were a little more honest to the Americans with this one, as 'alt.end' feels a little more representative of the darker, more 'tough guy' rock sound that this album attempted. But still, they fucked up again as 'Before Three' was clearly the best —and most representative— song on the album.

4.13 Dream: The Only One, Freakshow, Sleep When I'm Dead, The Perfect Boy
Ok, actually a pretty representative batch of songs for a mixed bag of an album.

So, yeah. There's my analysis.

~Austin