Why is there no thread for The Cure's Disintegration?

a generational landmark up there with watching my brother's friend blankly stare at the rotary dial of our phone.

Hey, YOU were the one who got him high.

It was around 1993, which would have made him seven or so. I'm not that irresponsible.

But kids these days etc.

...with their "Fridays I'm Love" and their videos not directed by Tim Pope. they just don't know!

I was thinking more drugged-out seven years with phones per earlier comments, but I suppose that could work.

Anyway, the reissue is mine and I am very happy. Helps that I haven't listened to the album in over a decade, I find it familiar and fresh at once. He sounds so young at points now to my mind.

There are two kinds of Beach Boys fans in the world: those who believe that "Pet Sounds" is not only the best Beach Boys album but one of the signature albums of the 1960s and those who were born before roughly 1946 or after, say, 1953. Before '46, you probably have vivid high school memories of "Surfina USA" or "Party!" After '53, you probably have warm feelings toward the radio smash "Kokomo."

― da croupier, Monday, June 7, 2010 2:55 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

<3 lol

Anyway, the reissue is mine and I am very happy.

So it's released today? I went to three record stores and couldn't find it here...

Yeah, its out, even the big chains had it... but for forty fucking dollars! I'm ordering mine offa Amazon for $25 instead.

I second "best coming down album ever." nothing better after a crazy night out of your mind on acid than dawn and disintegration.

thank u

Ordered this from Amazon last night for $25.99 shipped, no tax. Very excited.

My thoughts here.

(I once tried to set up a conversation between Cure frontman Robert Smith and Deftones vocalist Chino Moreno for a magazine feature, but Smith wouldn't participate.)

!!

Phil's right there. And guess who the interviewer was going to be...

mc hammer

I lacked the pants. Which they would have sensed over the phone.

Stop! Raggetttime!

I was just listening to Isis's Panopticon while walking to the post office, and there's a lot of Disintegration influence on that album, it seems to me, particularly the bass sound.

There could/should be a compilation of metal covers of Cure songs over the years. Deftones as noted, there's Misery Loves Company, "The Drowning Man"...

The Cure = my favorite band (or so I proclaimed from about 2000-05, before I started buying/listening to waaaayy too much music to even really keep track of "my favorite band" anymore).

Panopticon = my favorite Isis album, by far.

Do the math?

xp

i just got this today = greatest day ever.

now to find the right time to listen to this again in all its glory.

Guys (who already have this reissue), how's the remastering job? Nabisco points out in his Pfork review that things are a little... squished together.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14288-disintegration-deluxe-edition

Nabisco: Wembley Arena is not Wembley Stadium, btw

Oh crap! Sorry, total north-American ignorance on my part -- I'll let them know to correct the wording.

(still one of the biggest venues in western Europe, right?)

Yeah, stadium > arena (of which Wembley is one of the biggest, I think) > hall, I'd say.

wembley stadium = 90,000; arena a piddling 12,500 by comparison, and pretty average for arena size i reckon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_indoor_arenas#Europe

Actually, it's not that big. Max. capacity 12,500 - Earl's Court can hold 19,000 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_indoor_arenas_in_the_United_Kingdom ) - don't know if any of these are ever used as music venues but the 146th in this list is still 15,000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_indoor_arenas_by_capacity

xpost: that's what I was looking for! thx :-)

I wouldn't say Wembley was one of the biggest arenas in Europe. There are quite a few bigger ones, e.g. the O2 and MEN in the UK, Bercy in Paris, Stadthalle in Vienna, SAP in Mannheim, etc.

xp

I like the review! (suddenly feeling guilty for ruining nabisco's day with irrelevant numbers) :-/

I was at one of those Wembley shows. Support was Shelleyann Orphan if anyone remembers them.

Shelleyan even.

I do indeed. Still got their album Helleborine around somewhere.

pretty mind-boggling that a fey group like that played Wembley, I can't imagine how they must have gone down

With rather more of a whimper than a bang iirc. Not really a band that could compete with the roar of 12,500 goths chatting.

Reposting below the Wembley talk...

Guys (who already have this reissue), how's the remastering job? Nabisco points out in his Pfork review that things are a little... squished together.

wiki has this to say:

The album's complex arrangements, lyrics rooted in romantic poetry, and liberal use of bassoon and oboe/cor anglais (unusual in any pop album), led to the labelling of the band as "pretentious" by the British music press.

loving those scare quotes

her vocals on the last This Mortal Coil record were wonderful though.

xp

well the Cranes playing the Rose Bowl was pretty surreal as well...

Should hopefully get changed to say it's one of the biggest (music) venues in the UK

I generally try not to make a big deal out of remaster/loudness issues -- everyone who cares already knows how it works -- but I think it's relevant with this one, because the it's part of how the album works, in terms of being comfortable and immersive and easy to sink into. I mean, it's not an issue that's gonna mess up an album like this, but it's always too bad to think a remaster might be diminishing the sound a little.

I don't like to make a big deal out of remastering jobs, either, but I see your point re: this album in particular. Is it noticeably worse, though? Or can I blast this remaster to the high heavens with the windows down on the freeway and not tell it's been squashed to some extent in the remastering process? I agree it's meant to be played loud, and fully intend to do so.

I think it sounds good - dynamic range is fine. I looked at the wave images in Audacity -- "Love Song" had pretty much no clipping. The end of "Fascination Street" has a little bit, but not so much that one could easily tell the difference audibly. I was a fan of their early albums, and could take or leave their spottier mid-80s albums The Top, Head On The Door and Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me. However I find that many of those songs have really embedded themselves into my consciousness. I can't say the same for Disintegration, which came out my sophomore in college when my brainspace was more occupied with Sonic Youth, Pixies, Dinosaur Jr. and the like. It sounds pretty good though, and feels to me like their most consistent since Pornography.

Well, it's not just about clipping, it's about the changes that have to be made to avoid clipping! Honestly, it's not a bad job at all; there is nothing weird or egregious about it; I think this just turns out to be one record where modern remastering changes the way it works/feels a little more than with most.

Yeah, it only sounds distracting - and minimally at that - if you focus too much on the remastering. But 99% of folks will think this sounds great - on headphones, in the car, at home on the stereo. I say no harm, no foul.

One thing I've noticed while listening to Disintegration again is how reverb heavy it is. I mean there's some kind of reverb on every element in just about every song. This is something my teenaged brain and subsequent listens didn't really pick up on but Smith was def. going for an immersive experience with all these fx. Compare with the relatively dry recordings on most of "Kiss Me..." (my 2nd fave Cure album).

reverb was the first thing I noticed about the album as soon as "plainsong" kicked in

I like how this album gets a 10.0 and Pornography's reissue got 8.4

you guys, damn

"Immersive" is a good word for it. I've always listened to it as very watery, too, as in "oceanic."

I've never noticed the reverb so much as the rampant flanging.