The Cure -- Songs Of A Lost World

https://i.discogs.com/uVdoAfCAxpxxeNnvoRXBixGCUWG5TUFF00mbVrSO8TI/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:599/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTQyNDkz/NS0xNDc3NzA2MDYy/LTk1MTEuanBlZw.jpeg

i hate to be the heavy winded puffed up overbearing guy once again, but that's some fairly iconic artwork you got there, friends.

Hope that's not a joke. That's such a nice piece of cod-Garrett design.

You know what is terrible? This art for the Australian 7" of A Forest. But if you own a copy (I have a moderately beat up one) the aesthetic distress is neatly offset by the Discogs median price.

https://postimg.cc/4H3pLRt7

Ah dammit. Anyway.

Even the angle of the song name adds to the overall air of car air freshener.

Cure album covers poll?

xp lol yes and then the bold design choice to use yet another random and inappropriate font for Another Journey By Train

I do love these early Cure artefacts though - esp the Australian ones, they did some pretty brutal small venue touring here in the early days - and these slightly off-brand releases kind of speak to a time before they became a properly global concern

another favourite!

Happily Ever After with the flag wavers is another bizarre favourite - which I first saw in Michael Ochs' 1000 Record Covers book years before I knew what it was, wondering why it wasn't part of the sleeve collages in the Wish and Greatest Hits booklets.

Kinda looks haflway between SMart the TV show for real, and Hipgnosis (the latter fitting as the comp is the Cure's own A Nice Pair with its similar unrelated imagery).

Btw the Bloodflowers sleeve is a Picasso compared to the booklet, which seems to have been designed on Microsoft Word with Times New Roman like Robert lost a bet, or like someone having made a CD-R of an internet-only release and wanting to make it seem more legit. Actually it's almost a (less interesting) dead ringer for that anti-design style that followed/still follows in the wake of The Life of Pablo.

Poll idea sounds fun

absolutely not joking re: jset cover art. to me, it belongs in the record cover hof, alongside other striking surreal imagery like pink moon, roger dean stuff, bitches brew, funcrusher plus, etc. hyper realistic infinite cartoony scenes instantly burned into my memory. trippy, but functional. very classic.

84-86 singles are probably what I’d consider the apex of their visual identity

That 'Jumping Someone Else's Train' cover I would say is more of a Linder Sterling style lift

Xp sorry I meant 84-87, doh

Photos going around of posters now on public view in the UK similar to the cards announcing the album title and date.

I just hope they didn’t settle for a live album with the new songs

Isn't that what REM did with New Adventures in Hi-Fi, sorta?

some people got postcards with the release date in the UK: https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-cure-send-fans-postcards-confirming-new-album-title-and-release-date-3793374

oh they were already mentioned. my bad

I love that @thecure appear to have announced the release date of their first new album in 16 years with a single poster outside the local pub they played their first gig at in 1978. https://t.co/BJqNGjlRWW

— Alex Meehan 👨‍💻 (@alex_meehan) September 13, 2024

I can't believe how excited I am for this album. It's one of those last things before I die wishes.

Retweeted by Reeves:

The Cure @thecure have announced the release date of their first album in 16 years, by placing a single poster outside the pub they played their first gig in 1978.

The Railway, Crawley, Sussex.

Now that’s cool….and two fingers up to the usual corporate hype. pic.twitter.com/rNlWqvafbi

— Sacha Lord (@Sacha_Lord) September 15, 2024

The official FB account and I'm sure others just shared out shots of the Crawley poster and the card and the date and all so yeah, it's all happening.

(Annnnnnd I will say if we get a tracklisting soon -- like, actually soon -- then yes, I think a pre-covers effort is necessary.)

Annnnnd per someone who would know, we have a website:

https://www.songsofalost.world/

Thought the release date might be the code to unlock, but no such luck in either American or British date format.

Er, it is the release date in UK format

ha, yeah, I realized I hadn't quite scrolled far enough to get the correct year

seems the album is being released exclusively as a carved stone

There'll be a USB stick with the flac files embedded within, just requires some effort of the listener...

if you join via the songsofalost.world link there's an "if you want to delve deeper, join the WhatsApp community" link

DOES ROBERT SHOUT ON THERE TOO?

ONWARDS!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37mTYDlm5sE

interesting - I get the feeling he sometimes says things he hopes are going to become real just because he said them, but then he gets insecure and more months go by again, imho - it's a miracle this ever got finished

Dunno, sounds like most of these songs were written years ago and that insecurity made him endlessly tinker with them

I liked all the new songs they played when I saw them 2 years ago so am fairly hopeful for this

I've been re-listening in reverse chronological order in preparation and to put it a bit too bluntly, this better be better than anything they've done since Disintegration. Surprised to find myself liking the first half of the 2004 s/t more than I remembered but the rest... oh boy

the new material i heard recordings of sounded like a very deliberate attempt to make disintegration 2 (though idk if it will be better at that than bloodflowers since i haven't listened to bloodflowers in ages)

The new songs sounded very good but as always the main risk is Robert ruining them in the production (cheesy sound effects, shouty voice mixed way above anything else, etc.)

feels like he knows there's a fair chance it'll be their last album and that's scary from all kinds of angles, most more comfortable to enjoy the spotlight before that moment for as long as you can

much not most

I've been re-listening in reverse chronological order in preparation and to put it a bit too bluntly, this better be better than anything they've done since Disintegration. Surprised to find myself liking the first half of the 2004 s/t more than I remembered but the rest... oh boy

― StanM

Hey, “Wish” is not a bad album. But yeah, 90s onwards their track record hasn’t been stellar.

Hard to distinguish for me between the (very real) post-89 drop in quality and my progressive loss of affinity for the music. I sometimes wonder whether I would have any time for HOTD or Kiss me if they came out today.

^ this is also very true, yes. And Wish, I like a lot of the songs, but somehow (even though they have a lot more varied albums) this never felt like an album-like album

The only album they’ve ever put out that is BAD is Wild Mood Swings. I’ve said this before and I will die on this hill.

I feel like I can't criticize the post-Disintegration era (although beyond Wish I honestly don't like any of it really) because I so clearly started listening to really different stuff in 1990 whereas prior to that I was all about the Cure. Now I feel like I'm ready for a new Cure album again so I have unrealistic high hopes for this one, hahaha

(Also Boys Don’t Cry > Three Imaginary Boys but I think that’s a less controversial statement)

i even like a lot of what's on wild mood swings. could even say i like most of it

Yeah but “Club America” and “Return”

it's hella long. lots of good things on it, but kind of overwhelming.

This album is so wonderful, whenever a random song pop up it just lights me up. This album feels like classic Cure. I would love a new tour to hear these songs loud.

NEWS: The Cure announce live dates for Summer 2026
https://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/2025/10/01/news-the-cure-announce-live-dates-for-summer-2026/

Following on from the release of their most recent album, Songs Of A Lost World, they will play the following dates next year:

JUNE

26 – Marlay Park, Dublin

28 – Belsonic, Belfast

AUGUST

21 – Live From Wythenshawe Park, Manchester

23 – Edinburgh Summer Sessions, Royal Highland Showgrounds, Edinburgh

The Cure will be joined by support acts personally chosen by Robert Smith including Mogwai (Glasgow), Slowdive (Manchester and Edinburgh), The Twilight Sad (Dublin & Belfast), Just Mustard (Dublin, Belfast and Edinburgh), The Slow Readers Club (Manchester) and Stella And The Dreaming (Dublin).

Tickets for all shows (excluding the Isle of Wight Festival) go on sale Friday October 3 at 9am and 12pm for Dublin and Belfast via Ticketmaster.

Gig in fucking Cardiff next summer announced today!!

Go start a moshpit

They're doing lots of big festivals elsewhere as well: https://www.thecure.com/shows/

Troxy show last year getting a short theatrical release:

https://thecurelostworld.com/

THE CURE: THE SHOW OF A LOST WORLD is a recut, remixed and 4K remastered film of that night’s full 31-song show. Directed by Grammy-nominated Nick Wickham, with new surround sound mix by Robert Smith, the film will be released on Thursday 11th December in cinemas worldwide for a limited time only.

One year old.

The Troxy show is playing at a movie screen within walking distance for me tonight. Over three hours long but I'm thinking about going.

I just got tickets for this for Sunday

Watching this on Sunday myself!

I'm here, so excited! Last time I did something like this was the Cure in Orange. I have could also gone on Sunday night but that wouldn't have worked as well.

Could <> have