4:13 Dream (2008)

Robert Smith — the titanically mopey Brit who once insisted in song that ''Boys Don’t Cry,'' then built a career proving otherwise — turns 50 next year. So he can be forgiven if 4:13 Dream, The Cure's 13th album in three tear-stained decades, feels a bit familiar. Smartly pivoting from 2004's oddly aggro The Cure, Smith once again indulges in his patented bipolar cocktail of feedback-drenched swoons (''Underneath the Stars'') spiked with bursts of giddy pop (''The Only One''). ''I won't try to bring you down about my suicide,'' he wails, considerately, on ''The Reasons Why.'' (Top that, emo upstarts!) After all these years, he's still the undisputed king of pain. B
Download This: Keep checking The Cure's MySpace for songs from the album