"4:13 Dream" by the Cure

okay that is the first thing I've read that has dampened my enthusiasm for this album

Well, stylistically it is in the same eclectic and pop oriented category. But so are "Wish" and "Kiss Me Kiss Me".

Amazing how this album comprehensively represents everything the Cure has ever done and still manages to sound like somthing that could have only been made in 2008 by the current line-up

"Ever since Friday I'm In Love there hasn't been a decent fucking rock song in the entire universe."

There is nothing as great as "Friday I'm In Love" or "Let's Go To Bed" here, but that would be putting hopes up too high anyway.

"Rock has descended into an amelodic maelstrom ever since the Who did You Better You Bet."

xxxp esp. noteworth, "The Scream" which starts like a Top album cut, then descends into a Pornography tribal maelstrom, before finishing as a new "Forever" incarnation.

okay baaderonixx is helping me ignore Geir ^_^

Heard it tonight -- very good indeed. The treatments on the vocals were what stood out the most. Smart move to end on "It's Over" aka "Baby Rag Dog Book."

I've played half of this album so far.

It's great!

The singles *work* better in the flow of this album rather than individually, I'm thinking.

Have you heard the 2nd half?

I agree with Ned, although I already loved the two last singles. SWID has surprisingly grown into one of my fave singles ever

Glad to know I'm not completely alone on this!

"Freakshow" remains my favorite of the singles -- just a wonderful arrangement.

Good album! I'm realy surprised. I'm guessing having Porl back did a world of good as they sound 20 years younger.

Ned, I think the arrangement on "Freakshow" is middlingly dull, "neither this nor that" in a sense. The Quietus put it nicely in their review:

There's another style of song on show here as well, the one about going mad at a party on drugs before he's met the gothic girl. This is called 'Freakshow' and would have benefitted from the crisp pop approach of 'Six Different Ways' or the straight up rock attack of 'Never Enough'.

That said, I'm one full listen into the album and it strikes me as less rock, more pop than the last one but about the same quality. I think about half the songs are good to great, while the other half sounds like b- or c-side material. I haven't been able to judge the production yet as I've only listened on earbuds, but I'm not holding my breath.

Also, the twinkly sound effects on "Underneath the Stars" sound insanely out of date, seeing as half the songs on Disintegration did it better 20 years ago.

Production/compression is the one weakness of this album i find (and I usually really don't give a damn about these things). The more hectic songs at the end can get a bit messy.

but god no comparison with the s/t I find. I mean "It's Over" (ie. the fat bombastic cousin of "Shiver & Shake") effortlessly trashes that last album's attempts to "rock".

Have you heard the 2nd half?

O_O

omg "The Scream"

btw why do the drums sound so HORRIBLE

I've had The Hungry Ghost stuck in my head for nearly a week now.
Live version is superior though

omg "The Scream"

Indeed.

Mind you, I'm wondering what Siouxsie thinks about a Cure album with songs called "The Scream" and "Switch."

Live versions of everything on this album are better because the drums are completely muffled.

Nah I'd say half of them work better on record, cf. This here now with you or The Real Snow White (ie I guess the weirder songs)

Haha soooo loving this

"Annoying use of compression though, but that is 2008. :("

agreed, it almost sinks the album. luckily the songs are strong enough to almost forgive it, but I can't listen to the entire thing straight through.

Haha soooo loving this

As soon as that bass line started...

srsly I cannot handle how much I am loving "The Scream", holy shit

also "Underneath The Stars" but I already knew I loved that song

"Hungry Ghost" is my fave so far.

Truly have not been worth a shit since Boris Williams left.

Well, you don't really belong on this thread, then, do you?

Listening to "The Scream" now. Wonderful. See, I'm not as familiar with the last half of this album as I am the first, yet.

"I think the arrangement on "Freakshow" is middlingly dull, "neither this nor that" in a sense"

This is exactly what I like about Freakshow.
Also, I really like those muffled drums!

I didn't care about Freakshow until they added that wah-wah guitar hook

I find it very good: fractured, dislocated, not-really-there - always good things in a pop song.

"Switch" is also really, really great. I have to agree with Ned's comment upthread; Siouxsie must be seething about this album!

That's one the few things(along with "Sirensong") that hasn't really clicked with me so far.

"Switch" I meant

"Switch" is good but I think needs another listen from me but "The Scream" is the best thing they've done in a "Wailing Wall"/"Like Cockatoos" vein since who knows how long. Album's gelling for me very quickly after three listens.

off topic, but some interesting covers on this new tribute album

Ha, "Sirensong" and "Switch" were the first two songs I really liked on my initial listen (hadn't made it to "The Scream" or "It's Over")

re: that tribute album, I would really, really, REALLY like to see someone do a covers album where every song was from WMS or later.

JESU "THE FUNERAL PARTY"

!

listening to this now via the myspace page. this is worth the price of the album alone. jesu(s) fucking christ, this is gorgeous.

Yeah, supposedly I'm getting a copy of that shortly. And I agree with Dan!

I think I'm alone in loving Bat for Lahses, but I really really dig her cover of A Forest

"Underneath the Stars" (duh!), "Scream", and "Hungry Ghost" off this are definitely my frontrunners off this so far. But listening to that JESU cover of "Funeral Party" makes me realized I would love to hear them make something new that is along the minimalistic lines of that. Could be an interesting turn.

About that putative double-album plan:

I mean, you'd expect the Cure - a band with past double opus form, thanks to 1987's Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me - to be able to release a double album, right? Er, sadly not. Their new album 4:13 Dream is the "light" first half of a double collection, with the second "dark" half to be released separately in 2009.

Robert Smith recently told me the rather shocking factors behind the release strategy. Basically, Geffen were only prepared to pay them royalties equivalent to a single album, even if the album was priced as a double. In effect the label were penalising the band for wanting to give their fans more music for less. Smith insisted he didn't care about making any more money but the principle was paramount; he was furious at the idea of a major label conning him out of making the record he wanted. So he held back the second half of the album for six months and one day later, the earliest moment that his contract permitted. The concept would be intact, it would just be up to the fan to Sellotape the two "episodes" together.

Because songs like "The Scream" and "It's Over" are so light!

So the title will be 11:15 Nightmare or something.

Seriously excited for that other half!