Rank the Idle Cure Albums!

One of my favorite bands of all time, I got into Idle Cure back in college and I still love these guys. One of the few bands whose ballads are every bit as good as their rockers. I think their albums range from great to phenomenal, so here we go!

1. Tough Love

In my top 10 albums. MASSIVE hooks, solid lyrics, and a great sound. AOR Heaven.

2. Eclipse 

I got this one later than the others, but I return to it often. It’s their most mature work with great lyrics, but it still maintains the wonderful hooks and melodies. “The Only Thing” is probably my favorite IC song.

3. Second Avenue 

Probably their hardest rocking, with one catchy tune after another. Fantastic.

4. Inside Out

Their most underrated, from what I’ve seen. Thoughtful lyrics and solid melodies, although there are a couple of tracks that are merely good rather than awesome. Still a great album.

5. Idle Cure 

I think they improved after this release, but that hardly means this release is bad. It’s a good album with a few fantastic tunes, some good ones, and a couple of solid ones. They would just get better from here on out.


I’d say 1–3 are A+ tier, 4 is A tier, and 5 is B+ tier. 

Great band!

I just realised I don‘t know Tough Love nor Eclipse. Added both to my playlist. I rank the other three As follows:

1. 2nd Avenue: Super good. Catchy stuff. No filler, and aged like fine wine. Outstanding production. This was one of my first Christian albums and it‘s certainly one of the best. 

2. Inside Out: When it came out I was disappointed because it did not rock like 2nd Ave. Today I appreciate most of the songs when I‘m in the mood for that kind of synth-rock.

3. s/t. The only memorable track is Breakaway but this is a bona fide banger. Reminds me a lot on Bon Jovi Runaway…

Breakaway was awesome and the first tune I heard and I knew that I had to look into the band more. I got both the s/t and 2nd Avenue at the same time, but it was 2nd Ave that I found the most compelling.

For me, it would look like this:

Eclipse 
Inside Out 
Second Avenue 
Tough Love 
S/T

One of my favorite bands! I rank them:

1. Second Avenue - It’s the hardest rocking. Just a butt kicking record!

2 Eclipse - A fantastic return when the band seemed done. I too love “The Only Thing”!

3. Idle Cure - It had everything a mid 80s AOR record should. The drums are like cannons. “Breakaway” remains my favorite IC song.

4. Tough Love - This one is good but a touch more spotty. “Draw the Line” is a monster.

5. Inside Out - I really like the songwriting but I’m not a fan of the guitar tone on this one.

2nd Avenue
Tough Love
Eclipse
s/t
Inside Out (I can't get into this album as much as the rest)

I agree with FoJ on this one. Boy, i'm so orginal.

Not big on the AOR bent style but these guys do it very well. So glad their albums were remastered and I was able to pick them up (all but the debut). I don't like the ballads in general but the rock tracks and very well done.

For me:

Inside Out - love the messages on this album and there's not a bad track. I love I Will Hold On, Mind Games, Who Cries For Me and Innocent Again is one of the few ballads I like from the band. All of them have fantastic lyrics.

2nd Avenue - generally the hardest rocking album. The rockers are stellar. Almost as good as Inside Out but I really don't care for Picture of Love and Ordinary Man. Pray and Human Solution are killer tracks.

Tough Love - the first three tracks are amazing! Again, like 2nd Avenue some down tracks take it down. Not big on How Long and though So Many Faces has a cool creep to it with the paced bass line and smooth chorus but it's not a favorite. 

The above three are all great. Surprised to enjoy Inside Out best considering that it's generally down the list for everyone else.

Eclipse - A couple of great tracks (1, 5, and 10) and some great ideas. The contrast of a more 90's guitar tone and recording mixed with some leftover 80's elements does make it unique but it's so uneven. Burning Gomorrah is a good microcosm. It has a nice aggressive riff with a solid gritty guitar sound, has an interesting "King's X does the Beatles" style chorus and a great guitar solo yet it has big keyboard splashes. Wish it pushed that grit out a bit more and lost the 80s key sound for something more classic. 

Not sure about getting the debut considering all the comments here. For some reason it is more expensive on Girder.

For me, IC is one of the few rock bands whose ballads are as good as their rockers.

Pethead wrote:For me, IC is one of the few rock bands whose ballads are as good as their rockers.

I wish that were true for me. Petra is perhaps that for me.

Frozen Fire wrote:

Pethead wrote:For me, IC is one of the few rock bands whose ballads are as good as their rockers.

I wish that were true for me. Petra is perhaps that for me.

That’s funny, because I find Petra’s ballads pretty hit and miss. Now WhiteHeart has some great ballads.

Pethead wrote:For me, IC is one of the few rock bands whose ballads are as good as their rockers.

Holy Soldier‘s ballad game is pretty tight in my book.