The Cure -- Songs Of A Lost World

I just listened to A Fragile Thing on headphones and enjoyed it much more - bass sound is great

I ordered the album on cassette because listening to Disintegration on a Walkman is one of the defining experiences of my music-listening life and I reckon it will be a kick to do the same with this album

having said that I am tempted by the "hi res" stereo version as well

those of us who have been buying Jethro Tull deluxe CD editions for the past decade expect a blu-ray with hi-res versions of the album

Shit, I just listened to that and plain enjoyed it. Didn't need to hold it up to the canon or ask what should have been done better, just a good Cure song like I haven't heard in decades. EXCITED.

weirdly no "another happy birthday" on the album but that was the weakest of the songs they were playing live so i don't mind

i still don't love the production on "a fragile thing" but it doesn't do anywhere near as much damage as it did on "alone"

oh I hadn’t clocked that Another Happy Birthday was missing, interesting

I listened to the live recording only once, because I wanted to have an almost virgin experience right now. Hearing this in HD sound is an engulfing experience. Can't wait for this album.

The Cure are on the front cover of Uncut Magazine on Sale Friday in the UK, with an exclusive Robert Smith interview.

1/6 Whatever’s ailing you, we’ve got @thecure! Robert Smith opens up about Songs Of A Lost World and much more in the new issue of Uncut, in shops on Friday or available for pre-order now: https://t.co/19BMG2NqoB
Includes a FREE 14-track CD curated by Kim Deal! >>> pic.twitter.com/3Xe3FEVUZE

— Uncut Magazine (@uncutmagazine) October 8, 2024

First printed review of the new Cure album, in Classic Pop magazine (issue on sale with Human League on the front cover)

5 stars, calling it a masterpiece

They gave 5 Stars pic.twitter.com/YyEBif7j1X

— WitchHouse raver (@kampfbeagle) October 10, 2024

I wonder if anyone here is on an embargo :-)

*crickets*

The part about Robert getting better at playing piano though. I'm sure he plays some keys, but most of them must be Roger's.

dunno - this feels like a mostly solo album. I heard somewhere that all the songs were credited to Smith only (first time since HOTD).

the main difference in terms of actual songwriting contributions are that no one else's demos made the tracks he was considering for the album - since kmkmkm usually at least a few of simon's tracks would make each album but he didn't use any of them this time.

Roger tended to get a few b-sides up each album, right?

i know roger wrote the music to "fear of ghosts" and "out of mind", and "homesick" came from him & simon jamming to some chords written by lol, he's probably written others over the years but idk which off the top of my head

i think most of them have contributed songs over the years but simon's the most significant in terms of writing after robert

Weren't "Kiss Me" and "Disintegration" (and "Wish"?) built out of collaborative demos, with everyone contributing ideas?

from kmkmkm through to 4:13 dream the general creative process was that everyone submitted demos, they'd all discuss which ones they liked the most, and then robert would try come up with vocal parts for whichever ones he felt like, taking into account the band's feedback to some degree

from what he said in an interview a while ago they still did that process with everyone submitting demos for this album, but he just didn't end up using anyone else's ideas this time

if you listen to simon & robert's demos they're usually pretty fully-formed in terms of arrangement. i think it's been said that some of the others (perry iirc) tended towards less fleshed out ideas that required more input from the rest of the band though

i've seen people say "another happy birthday" was based on a bloodflowers-era demo from perry so maybe it was never considered for this album & instead is planned for that second half-finished album?

The London Troxy promo show will be streamed live on The Cure's youtube channel

(for free, the promo mail also said)

Reviewed at NME with 5 stars

looks like the embargo is smashed, but those subversives at the NME

The Cure – ‘Songs Of A Lost World’: a masterful reflection on loss
https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/the-cure-songs-of-a-lost-world-review-lyrics-3801637

Robert Smith and co’s first full album in 16 years deals in darkness and death, but with flowers on the grave

By
Andrew Trendell

Andrew Trendell
https://x.com/AndrewTrendell
@NME
News Editor | Journalist (NCE/NQJ) | Ex-consultant + producer for
@SomethinElse
+
@BBC6Music
| Ex-
@Gigwise
Editor.

New Album also reviewed in the new issue of Mojo:

The new MOJO, starring @DavidBowieReal and a CD of premium sci-fi rock. Plus @thecure, @officialcult, Supertramp, The Saints, @EzraCollective, @idlesband, @Manics, King Crimson, Tina Turner, @tompetty, Kim Deal, Faces and more. Info: https://t.co/p0Z56MrfZK pic.twitter.com/2aIgwHlrbk

— MOJO Magazine (@MOJOmagazine) October 10, 2024

Mojo: Issue Details 373 December 2024
https://www.mojo4music.com/magazine/latest-issues/mojo-373-december-2024-david-bowie/

I really wonder what was behind Perry's reappearance on the last tour. It doesn't sound like he's played on the album and it's not like they needed a 6th musician on stage. Can't help but feel like this was a favor to him (maybe to get him some needed extra cash)

The cash could be a factor but IIRC he at least makes some "Friday I'm In Love" royalty coin, such as that may be these days.

the Mojo review is by Victoria Segal as mentioned by John Mulvey on Twitter/X

xp yeah that might provide a steady income but his whole demeanor on that tour (from what i could see on photos) looked like someone who didnt really want to be there

maybe he lost a bet with Morrissey

I’d argue the the sixth person onstage let them do arrangements that were a lot closer to the studio overdubs

i assume it's so they can more accurately replicate the handful of songs from wish that have a three-guitar lineup as well as songs that have too many keyboard parts for one person - they've played "six different ways" and "a thousand hours" for the first time in decades

maybe he's someone's only friend in the band

Xp possibly, although I don’t think Perry played any guitar this time around

he played a bunch of guitar & six-string bass on the recent tour

Ah my bad

I'm really starting to believe that this album is going to be a masterpiece.

https://www.stereogum.com/2283833/the-cures-robert-smith-explains-why-ticketmasters-dynamic-pricing-is-a-scam/news/

As the singer for the Cure, Robert Smith could reap some great financial benefits from Ticketmaster’s insane price gouging. But for the past couple of years now, he’s been parroting all of our complaints about the company, even getting them to issue partial refunds to fans due to egregious fees. And he’s not done calling them out yet! In a new, rare interview with the Sunday Times, Smith spoke again about the “scam” of modern ticketing.

I was shocked by how much profit is made [by ticketing]. I thought, “We don’t need to make all this money.” My fights with the label have all been about how we can price things lower. The only reason you’d charge more for a gig is if you were worried that it was the last time you would be able to sell a T-shirt.

But if you had the self-belief that you’re still going to be here in a year’s time, you’d want the show to be great so people come back. You don’t want to charge as much as the market will let you. If people save on the tickets, they buy beer or merch. There is goodwill, they will come back next time. It is a self-fulfilling good vibe and I don’t understand why more people don’t do it.

It was easy to set ticket prices, but you need to be pig-headed. We didn’t allow dynamic pricing because it’s a scam that would disappear if every artist said, ‘I don’t want that!’ But most artists hide behind management. “Oh, we didn’t know,” they say. They all know. If they say they do not, they’re either fucking stupid or lying. It’s just driven by greed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmX1dWsEuJg 100 minute interview here, from the album's website

some of the details are here: https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-cure-have-another-new-album-thats-virtually-finished-and-another-to-come-3802243

he says the second album is "virtually finished" and there's a third album in the works too but he doesn't say much about it other than acknowledging that he 'can't help himself' saying things like that. "another happy birthday" and "it can never be the same" (which was originally intended for 4:14 scream iirc) are planned to be on the second album. he also plans to re-record a song called "boding of sky" (i think?) for the next album after cutting it from this album at the last minute. it was originally the closer (he said it's an acoustic song and compares it to "untitled") but was cut after he changed up the track list to add "drone:no drone" and "all i ever am" which apparently made the album a bit less bleak so it didn't need a lighter closer.

he says he started talking about the album in 2019 even though it wasn't anywhere near done to try to motivate himself to finish it quickly & because he was really excited about the two songs they had finished - "alone" and "endsong". covid then meant that he didn't really work on the album for two years, but he says he realises in hindsight he could have finished during lockdown with the time available.

he mentions he brought perry back into the band because he wanted to do justice to the new songs live.

There ya go. (Heard from someone who'd know that this'll be his only in-depth interview for this album so it's key watching.)

I love how everything turns into a long rambling story <3

Loving this interview

What an outstanding interview. I just sat and watched the whole thing in one sitting like I was a teenager again.

Yep! Hanging on every word because at the endnof the day RS is still a musical hero for me.

Oh noooooooo it’s gone

Uggghhhh, hope it comes back up! Was looking forward to watching that tonight.

still works here? regional Vimeo maintenance maybe?

For me it says, "This video has been removed by the uploader".

Posted to youtube here.

I get “this video has been removed by the uploader

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7hxkerU7EE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7hxkerU7EE