The Cure: Classic or Dud?

Ain't that the goddamn truth.

I found myself wondering what Robert Smith's lounge looks like, today.

I've not really spent much time pondering pop stars lounges (aside from I once thought "I bet David Sylvian has a nice lounge").

With apologies once again for perhaps being lazy, but... A question:

Which of the Cure remasters are really worth getting in the deluxe 2CD edition?

I'm about to order a bunch of these to replace my LPs. Most of the single CD remasters are very cheap, and I reckon in most cases the album on its own will suffice. I'm not really interested in demos of songs on the album, for example (I think).

Are any of the 2nd discs really essential? Thanks for your help - I've been listening to lots of Cure lately because of this thread.

I should say in my defence that Amazon Germany doesn't give details of the second disc!

If you're interested in the "deluxe edition" type stuff in the first place, they're all worth getting eventually.

The Top

Xpost - I imagine I'm not. I don't really need demos or live versions of songs on the album. But I'd be interested in outtakes.

I suspect The Cure will never play a significant role in my life anymore. I've sort of "moved on" (for want of better phrase). But now and again I love to revisit them. They mean(t) an awful lot to me. So maybe the core albums are enough.

Thanks. I'll check out The Top's extras. One of my favourites.

No album has ever been improved by a "deluxe" version.

I agree. I've many bonus discs that I never listen to. There's a collector's urge to get them, tho

There's very few albums I prefer with all the bonus stuff but Chapterhouse's Whirlpool is even better with all the extras I think.

Doesn't The Glove deluxe edition have Robert Smith vocal versions of all tracks? I'm getting it for that stuff.
Getting Faith for Carnage Visors and Charlotte Sometimes. Pornography for Airlock. I think most of them have some songs you can't get easily on disc.

I remember Carnage Visors on cassette. Do I need it?? (Question to self!)

Robert's vocal versions on the Glove are recent recordings.

Airlock is very pointless and not good.

How recent? That's odd.

i thought they were the demos, no recent recordings.

It's new vocals over the regular album's instrumental tracks.

(Since the original album didn't have Robert vocals throughout only because of contractual restrictions, they made fake "RS demos" for the re-release.)

duh, it's 00s robert singing over the instrumental demos

or maybe that, it's been a decade

in a pinch, I'd skip the 2-disc deluxe editions and make sure I got Join the Dots, the b-side collection... it has tons of great, essential tracks.

^^^Top advice.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm a Cure diehard and didn't even question getting the deluxe editions on release day — and I actually think there's a handful of otherwise essential tracks among those bonus discs. But, really, it's not like your life will be incomplete as a Cure fan if you skip them.

Why haven't the Cure released a collection of their actual 12" versions? I was really disappointed in the deluxe versions actually. The demos are ok to hear the first time, but I would have preferred a live show from the album tour or the actual 12" mixes from the singles. Like Primary, for example. I think lots of those 12" mixes have never been released on CD.

Yeah, considering they've done a box set and deluxe editions for half of the catalogue, the availability of their back catalogue is still fairly incomplete.

I mean, even the remaster campaign has been totally inconsistent. They skipped over Concert entirely, but gave Entreat a complete remodeling.

"Airlock" is not worth it, but "Carnage Visors" totally is.

I never, ever, ever listen to 'live' tracks on these things. It's not like The Cure are the Grateful Dead or something where the live versions reveal something that the good-sounding album tracks don't. I remember having this argument with a friend who's collecting all the recent Stones live things. I don't get that at all.

I bought these deluxe reissues, but can't say I plan to listen to any of these bonus discs more than once. Still, they were awfully cheap, so, you know, what the hell.

So, here's a shortlist of tracks from the bonus discs that I would consider a highlight reel for the deluxe editions:

Winter (Three Imaginary Boys)
10.15 Saturday Night {Robert Smith Home Demo} (Three Imaginary Boys)
Boys Don't Cry (Three Imaginary Boys)
Jumping Someone Else's Train (Three Imaginary Boys)
Carnage Visors (Faith) <technically not on the bonus disc, but you need to buy the deluxe edition to get it>
Primary <first studio demo> (Faith)
Going Home Time (Faith)
Charlotte Sometimes (Faith)
Demise (Pornography)
Temptation Two (Pornography)
And All Around Us the Mermaids Sang (Blue Sunshine)
Ariel (The Top)
Sadacic (The Top)
A Few Hours After This <Demo> (The Head on the Door)
Why Can't I Be You? <Live> (Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me)
Delirious Night (Disintegration)
Pirate Ships (Disintegration)

Great Bay Area show tonight! Tired as hell but worth it.

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-cure/2016/shoreline-amphitheatre-mountain-view-ca-13fe8985.html

Yes that was incredible.

Why haven't the Cure released a collection of their actual 12" versions?

That "Mixed up" was going to be exactly this, then they listened to them and decided they didn't like them for the most part.

It's not like The Cure are the Grateful Dead or something where the live versions reveal something that the good-sounding album tracks don't.

eeehhhh, sometimes they do! but the live versions on the deluxe albums are usually fairly crappy versions off cassettes iirc

That "Mixed up" was going to be exactly this, then they listened to them and decided they didn't like them for the most part

Out of eleven tracks, there were only three properly "new" mixes on the Mixed Up album, counting the Close To Me remix released as a single a couple of months earlier. (There were more newly-made mixes on the various B-sides of the time, including the best one of all, David Harrow's Red mix of Primary.) Two songs were straight-out re-recorded because the master tapes had been lost.

Yes, but how many old mixes just did not get included?

Weeeell, it was never announced as a categoric collection of all their remixes ever. I agree it's a bummer that the deluxes didn't find room for more actually-released archive material, but it's a bigger shame that Robert's busted ears botched so much of the remastering.

No, it wasn't. But I believe that was the spark of the idea.

Funnily enough, it's the one I played most back in the (series of) days.

to try and nail this down (I have a CD-R of most of these somewhere that I wish i could cross-reference now), 12" versions not used on Mixed Up:

- Primary (Extended) [1981 - new mix on a Mixed Up b-side, but I think it's actually another new recording due to missing masters, so this one might not count]

- Let's Go to Bed (Extended Mix) [1982 - new mix on a Mixed Up b-side]
- Just One Kiss (Extended Mix) [b-side of the LGTB 12"]

- The Love Cats (Extended Version) [a whopping 4:37 in 1983]

- In Between Days (Extended Version) [1985 - new mix on a Mixed Up b-side]

- Close To Me (Extended Remix) [1985 - new 7" and 12" mixes done for a pre-Mixed Up single]

- Hey You!!! (Extended Remix) [a whopping 4:06 on the b-side of Hot Hot Hot in 1987. this is a good one though!]

...and just in case you poke the goalposts again on the grounds that that there were 7" remixes too:

Close To Me (Remix) [already on Standing On A Beach, new 7" and 12" mixes done for a pre-Mixed Up single]
Just Like Heaven [7" remix not included, new mix on a Mixed Up b-side, 7" now on Galore]
Hot Hot Hot!!! [7" remix not included, but the 12" remix was; 7" now on Galore]
Lullaby [7" remix not included, but the 12" remix was; 7" now on Galore]
Fascination Street [7" remix not included, but the 12" remix was; 7" now on Galore
Lovesong [7" remix not included, but the 12" remix was; 7" now on Galore]

and Boys Don't Cry (New Voice · Club Mix) was still in print in 1990. Neither the New Mix nor the Club Mix have been included on any audio-only compilation since, AFAIK.

^ memory and checking against wikipedia and discogs, further pedantry welcome

That's brill.

"Never Enough" had a few versions, didn't it?

Hey You!!! (Extended Remix) [a whopping 4:06 on the b-side of Hot Hot Hot in 1987. this is a good one though!]

This one made it to Join The Dots I think. Don't think any of the others did though.

Actually, it seems I was thinking of "Close to me" closer, closest, etc..

Whereas "Never Enough" was only "big mix" or not.

LGTB new 1990 b-side mix ("milk mix" if memory serves me well) is my favourite of this whole lot.

yeah, bay area show was excellent. never sitting on the lawn there again though. not too many complaints about the setlist but I could have done without Wrong Number which I hate. Good selection of Pornography tracks.

There was only the one _Pornography_ track, though!

It's not like The Cure are the Grateful Dead or something where the live versions reveal something that the good-sounding album tracks don't.

I don't know, going back to the three guitar "Wish" line-up, I thought the live stuff I've heard from that era brought out an edge and chaos somewhat buried in the recordings. I mean, Simon and Boris are going to do the same thing each night - that's their job - but the guitars to me sound bigger and more jagged. I like that aspect.

"a forest" was incredible live (i was at the bay area show last night)

My list of essential deluxe edition bonus disc tracks:

Charlotte Sometimes

Are the remasters really that bad?

I was at Shoreline last night too. The mini-set of five Head on the Door songs was the highlight for me, particularly getting to hear Screw and Kyoto Song. Robert joked that Sinking would have fit nicely after Screw, but they went into The Walk instead. I'll take that.

Many xposts:

I also find it rather hilarious/annoying that some of the best "new" remixes they did for Mixed Up only came out on b-sides from the time. To my count, there was:

Just Like Heaven (Dizzy Mix) <this was on Join the Dots>
Primary (Red Mix)
Let's Go to Bed (Milk Mix)

Inexplicably, the Just Like Heaven mix is probably the weakest of the three and now it's the one that is most widely available.

I made my own "Extended mixes" compilation years ago, where I tried to gather up the uncompiled/harder to find long mixes that they did. It is not complete, but the tracklist is such:

Boys Don't Cry (New Voice - Club Mix)
Let's Go to Bed (12" Mix)
Just One Kiss (12" Mix)
The Lovecats (Extended Remix)
Close to Me (12" Mix)
Why Can't I Be You? (Extended Mix)
A Japanese Dream (Extended Mix)
A Letter to Elise (12" Mix)
High (Higher Mix)
Friday, I'm in Love (Strangelove Mix)
A Letter to Elise (Blue Mix)

"There was only the one _Pornography_ track, though!"

oh yeah I guess so. but I heard 100 Years and the Figurehead at soundcheck outside so I forgot.

The remasters are ok; i know some people have complained that they're overly compressed but I don't really have any issues with how they sound; I guess there's also an edit problem with Shake Dog Shake on the Top. The bonus tracks though, for the most part, never grabbed me; good to listen to once, but not lifechanging. Join the Dots is a better companion. Let's just say: I got rid of all my cds of the remasters (except for Disintegration) and kept rips of them because I didn't feel that wedded to them.