The Cure: Classic or Dud?

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Omar raised this question in the "Why are you here?" thread. I put it forth to you all. Were Robert Smith and his ever-changing band musical giants or giant whiners?

― Dan Perry, Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

both

― , Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

DUD

― Tom, Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Dan, thanks for taking the load of my back. ;) So yeah Dud of course. Classic case of crap voice. The music is nothing special. Occasional decent single like 'A Forrest' but for the rest, it's Fat Bob innit? But I'm interested in how Ned is going to explain to us the appeal of The Cure (no, really!).

― Omar, Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Sorry Tom? I didn't quite hear that. Classic, anyway. I don't claim to be their biggest fan, but listening to things like the Boys Don't Cry and Disintegration albums, the good stuff outweighs the duller moments quite comfortably.

― Ally C, Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Absolutely classic in almost every conceivable way. The effortless switches from pop-punk squalling to moody atmospherics to venomous pathos to synth-pop typified by their output from '79 through '83 are impressive enough, but the fact that they went on to create pop masterpieces like _The Head On The Door_, _Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me_ and _Wish_ while retaining enough of their darkness to produce _Disintegration_ and _Bloodflowers_ makes them an essential band of the 80's and 90's. Even their lesser efforts have worthy moments (ie, "Want", "Treasure", "Jupiter Crash", "Trap", and "Gone!" from _Wild Mood Swings_, "Shake Dog Shake", "Piggy In The Mirror", "The Top" from _The Top_). And their remix album is pure money.

Anything to add, Ned?

― Dan Perry, Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Classic, I 'spose. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but _Disintegration_ is very close indeed (overblown rock histrionics done flawlessly; luckily Smith doesn't whine on it much). Funny how so many of the criticisms of the band you hear refer to the concept of "Fat Bob"; in fact I'd say a lot of the attitudes towards British bands and artists on ILM seem to be heavily influenced by the media's portrayal of them.

― Tim, Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

The Cure represented the finest of what the Euro art rock had to offer during the 80s. They were more majestic than Depeche Mode and less metallic than the cult. Classic in my book

― Luptune Pitman, Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Forgive me...as I'm relatively new to this forum, I have a hard time with these polar extremes: ('classic'versus'dud'). In the case of the Cure, I couldn't say either term applies (although one could certainly tag them to individual Cure albums). Like many bands cited around here, the Cure have changed styles in as many albums, playing everything from funereal dirges through spritely, radio-friendly pop ditties and much inbetween. I'm not saying they're a "something for eveyone" band, but musically, they've been hard to pin-down. The one strike against them, however (beyond their tonsorial problems) would be Robert's inimitably distinctive (is that a repetitious statement? like "luminous glow" or "alien outworlder") voice, which is so firmly rooted in their 80's heyday. Even if the band were to put out a radically avant-garde album of the most cutting-edge styles and sounds conceivable, the second Robert opened his mouth and let out his signature wobbly warble, it'd be the old "oh, it's the Cure again." And if you can't get beyond his voice, then there's no point in ever purchasing a Cure album, regardless of era and/or particular incarnation. That said, I think they're a marvellously diverse singles band, but I could certainly see why some would avoid them like the plauge (ho ho, pardon the pun, Camus fans). Sorry, I'll shut up now. - Alex in NYC

― Alex in NYC, Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

classic. 'charlotte sometimes' is one of my favourite songs ever. each record up to and including disintegration is worth owning and even the one after disintegration is not horrible. i have no interest in them now but robert smith's guitar sound is far more influential than he gets credit for. without robert smith there would likely not be a roy montgomery, at least not in his current guise and that would be a devastating tragedy at least for myself.

― keith, Monday, 26 March 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

What seems to predomine here is "I'm not actively into them NOW, but I spent the first half of my teens with the Cure on my walkman". At least I did. I believe this means classic.

― Simon, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Re: classic or dud polarisation.

The idea is to encourage people to be forthright in their opinion but it's not a vote or anything. It's a catchier way of saying "what do you think of this band?"

Cheers!

(PS: Dud. A couple of the singles are nice musically, even very good, but they have Smith's horrible smeared moan over the top of them. He sounds like a fourteen-year-old with a splinter in his toe: there's something wheedling about his voice which makes me want to smack him and tell him to get a grip rather than empathise with him.)

― Tom, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Classic. Part of my yoof, you see. I've whiled away many an unhappy evening in the company of 'Faith' and 'Seventeen Seconds'!

Seriously.. though it seems the norm to slag 'em off these days, it's amazing just how much good stuff they have done. 'Boy's Don't Cry'/'3 Imaginary Boys' is a great debut, whichever version you have. Scratchy wired glum-pop. In fact it's all classic up to 'The Top', their first major clunker.

'Head on the Door' is great pop. 'Kiss Me X3' is also great pop ('Just Like Heaven'), except where they try too hard to make great pop and fail ('Hot, Hot, Hot'). 'Disintegration' is their last great album. But not pop. No problem.

My last encounter with The Cure was 'Wild Mood Swings'. I swung my copy back from whence it came - Record and Tape Exchange. Still, 'Galore' sums up the later years nicely.

Anyway I like old Bob, a pop man at heart even in his gloomiest moments.

― Dr. C, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

I think I've been asked for at least twice in this thread already. ;-)

Classic. And if you disagree with me I'll shove all twenty or so CDRs of rare and odd stuff I have of theirs down your throat and kill you. *proceeds to light candles to huge _Disintegration_ poster in room*

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Classique. They have enough great tunes and came up with some pretty original sounds. I like how they continually evolve, even if some of their evolution has produced some crap music. I could still listen to "Jumping Someone Else's Train" repeatedly after all these years. I heard some of their last record and it was really bad though. And kill that "Friday I'm in Love" dung, boys! But for the most part, great stuff.

― Tim Baier, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Classic, though their most recent stuff sucks.

The Cure are a band who, like Depeche Mode and a number of others of that ilk, should have just hung it up on December 31, 1989. Their glory days were in the 1980s, Disintegration should have been their last album. It would have been a perfect ending. Instead, they chose to put out three subpar releases in the 1990s. While Bloodflowers was a definite improvement over Wild Mood Swings (did *anyone* like that album?) and Wish (which came out at the peak of my Cure fandom and still disappointed me), it still wasn't close to the material they released during the 1980s.

Yeah, some of their stuff is whiny and pretentious. But I think they manage to pull it off reasonably well, and I think the whininess and the pretentiousness will make them staples of every sad-sack high school kid for the next thirty years, whether they continue to release new albums or not. (And hopefully they won't, judging from the poor quality of their most recent albums--I think that the more bad stuff they release, the less "legendary" they'll become.)

By the way, I *was* a teenage goth girl. I was also an early-20s goth girl. I own a velvet and lace cape and little pointy boots and black lipstick. Heh.

― Nanette, Wednesday, 28 March 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

Nanette, I'd argue that _Wish_ is a very underrated album. Its mood is radically different from _Disintegration_, which is one thing that I think threw people off when it came out. I, for one, really dig the snarlier tone of "Open", "Cut", "FTEOTDGS", and "End" and their juxtaposition with more contemplative "Apart", "Trust", and "To Wish Impossible Things". _Wish_ also has "High", which I consider to be the last truly great pop song that the Cure did.

_Wild Mood Swings_ is more problematic. It's a very erratic album and contains a couple of songs that never should have seen the light of day ("Mint Car", "Return"). However, it also contains the absolutely marvelous "The 13th", "Want", "Gone!" and "Jupiter Crash". Some judicious editing (and swapping some album tracks for b-sides) would make this a much better album.

For me, _Bloodflowers_ compares very well to their 80's output. It seems that the group got back into a good songwriting groove for this album, which is particularly evident on "Out Of This World", "The Loudest Sound", "The Last Day Of Summer", "Bloodflowers", and "Watching Me Fall" (Cure cliches and all). The album has a strong sense of flow and there are no embarrassing attempts to rewrite "Friday I'm In Love". It was a good ending for them, assuming that Robert's latest pronouncements about the band's demise are actually true this time.

There are individual songs I don't like, and _Wild Mood Swings_ is easily my least- favorite of their albums, but I'd be hard-pressed to say that I actively dislike any of the Cure's albums.

― Dan Perry, Wednesday, 28 March 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

one month passes...

I'm in sympathy with the way that the 'classic' brigade have articulated that they love the band even though they can see their sillinesses, repetitions and limitations. Possibly a lot of pop love is of this kind.

― the pinefox, Saturday, 28 April 2001 00:00 (seventeen years ago) Permalink

one year passes...

The Cure are damned by having so many annoying fans.

They have many good tunes. However, they have many bad ones, viz "Friday I'm In Love".

Still, at their best they show an impressive ability to make both poppy goth jumpathons and total doomfests.

― DV, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

Dud. Possibly something worthwhile beyond Smith's vocals, but I can't get past them.

― DeRayMi, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

I've had a love/hate relationship with The Cure that had long since given way to indifference. but recently I've listened again to Robert Smith's 1983 collaboration album with Steve Severin - The Glove is great! (probably like how I'd rather listen to the Andy Partridge solo album Take Away/Lure Of Salvage than most XTC.)

as with many Cure detractors, Bob's voice and self-pity usually get to me. still have fond memories of Seventeen Seconds and Faith but I also enjoy some later stuff where twisted humour, all of Pornography, or tenderness, "The Upstairs Room" and "Birdmadgirl", balance out the self-loathing and sappiness.

the Laurence Tolhurst abuse didn't help Robert Smith's case (and John McGeoch was a better Banshee).
― Paul, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

stop

― Paul, Friday, 26 July 2002 00:00 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

The Cure are fucking appalling. As someone else already keenly observed - a classic case of having a fucking awful voice. I mean I don't mind some of the musicianship but fatboy Smith is such a twat. Really.

I had a girlfriend once who was into these boys hard and she used to play is it 'Pictures of You' (?) over and over and over (a sort of pining for a lost love I think; not me, incidentally). Anyway, it used to bore the hell out of me, not to mention what felt like a large hole in my brain.

The thing is, with the Cure, it's like the Manic Street FUCKING Preachers syndrome - people who like 'em don't just like 'em, they fucking LOVE 'em, and think they're prophets or something. No, they are miserable, half-goths with absolutely nothing to say and even less charisma.

That said, I am admit that I am hardly familiar know their canon, since I can't bear exposure to it for protracated periods.

Still; DUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUD

― Roger Fascist, Monday, 29 July 2002 00:00 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

Actually, I think it's that the boring protestations of those who don't 'get' the music always have to be matched by those who emphatically do. One defines the other ..

― Dare, Monday, 29 July 2002 00:00 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

Not at all, Paul. There's something about The Cure and The Preachers that triggers fervour of a disturbing religiosity in people's heads, well, in my experience anyway. And if you wanna put that to the test, gently question a more avid fan and watch them twist like they was shackled to the cross.

Hmm, having said that, I do get riled when someone fails to 'get' my favourite bands and indulges in the kind of mindless attack I have already posted against The Cure. Yet, I feel that certain bands are wont to attract a more dependent following, who hang the band's music like metaphorical rosaries. And I'm not sure that even among my most beloved artists, there are those which I could hold in such equally mindless esteem.

What say you?

― Roger fascist, Tuesday, 30 July 2002 00:00 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

two months pass...

If i brooded around and had a aweful voice, would i be as good as the cure, which coincidently, isnt even good to begin with

DUD

― Hayward, Thursday, 3 October 2002 02:11 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

Oddly enough, I've never really sought out their albums; I'm sure I'll get around to it, but I'm pretty sure they'll always be available... Pretty much all of their singles, though, are flat-out amazing - how could they not be classic?

― Clarke B., Thursday, 3 October 2002 04:37 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

The albums are SO WORTH IT, Clarke.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 3 October 2002 11:13 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

Quite.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 3 October 2002 23:38 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

hmmmmmmm .............
dud

― donna (donna), Friday, 4 October 2002 01:02 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

I'm exactly like Clarke. Always loved what I heard, but only own 'Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me'... Last year I told a friend of mine that the reason for this is because I pretty much know that I'll like them and am just 'saving it'. Is this like some weird Cure phenomena?

― Kim (Kim), Friday, 4 October 2002 01:39 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

I LOVE THE CURE. They fill a niche that no other band does. From the acutely depresso Pornography stuff to the silly dance stuff to the haunting gothy Faith stuff to the blatant sunshine pop... they've done all this convincingly and well. Did they invent the drugged up goofy romantic miserable goth ecstatic giddy thing?

Yet I do wonder how much my own nosatlgia plays a role. I still think Wish is great, despite every. review. ever. written. Maybe if I hadn't listened to it for the 1st time as a teenager travelling thru Europe with schoomates I'd think differently.

― Aaron A., Friday, 4 October 2002 03:43 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

Where to start, Ned and Dan? I'm thinking _Pornography_, but some of their _Disintegration_-era stuff kills me (esp. "Lovesong").

Also, I really really like the Wolfgang Press song on _Lonely is an Eyesore_, but I've heard their recordings are pretty patchy. Any recommendations there?

― Clarke B., Friday, 4 October 2002 05:30 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

In your place I'd start with 17 Seconds, Clarke. It has their greatest song on it, "A Forest" and I find it the darkest and most powerful of their records. A lot of their stuff didn't age too well (even Disintegration), but this record definitely stood the test of time.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Friday, 4 October 2002 07:03 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

I wouldn't go for _Pornography_ first; I think I'd get _Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me_ and the cassette version of _Standing On A Beach_ in order to get the b-sides.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 4 October 2002 11:04 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

Classic until "Stranding on a Beach" came out, after which they descended into the depths of self-parody.

― TMFTML (TMFTML), Friday, 4 October 2002 17:37 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

I kinda saved them also, Kim - owned the two singles compilations for years before actually buying my first proper album (Disintegration) just this year. Though I do like it, it hasn't swayed me into snatching up the others yet. Maybe in another four years I'll get another one.

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Friday, 4 October 2002 17:51 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

They fill(ed?) a niche no one else did (which I usually characterize as "Harlequin romance rock") and they did a perfectly accomplished and unique job of it most of the time but it's not one I care to listen to much at all. I can play Pornography maybe a couple times per year and it's sometimes nice to hear the singles on the radio but overall there's not a big connection. And I couldn't imagine sitting through a whole album of stuff like "In Between Days" or "Let's Go to Bed". The singles comp (Staring At the Sea?) is probably as much as I'd need of that. I'd buy Disintegration if I thought I'd ever listen to it. Wish and Wild Mood Swings were awful.

― sundar subramanian, Friday, 4 October 2002 18:32 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

I honestly cannot comprehend how _Wish_ is AWFUL.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 4 October 2002 18:34 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

the cure were/are one of the best bands for dancing to whilst only wearing underwear...hopefully not by yourself...

― g (graysonlane), Friday, 4 October 2002 18:47 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

Ok, I'm a liar. I totally forgot that I also had 'Standing on a Beach' on cassette - played it to death. I don't have it anymore though. I think my brother "borrowed" it and never gave it back! Ooooh...that little...

― Kim (Kim), Friday, 4 October 2002 20:39 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

I like just like heaven, I'm going to get Kiss me times 3.

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 4 October 2002 20:43 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

classic classic classic and why should you not dance to the cure in underwear by yourself! unless you are wearing the underwear out to the goth dance club, of course.

― teeny (teeny), Friday, 4 October 2002 20:44 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

Have you ever been to a goth dance club? Underwear as outerwear is pretty much de rigeur.

― Kim (Kim), Friday, 4 October 2002 20:48 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

Clarke, start with Disintegration first, and then try Seventeen Seconds and then Pornography. I've argued elsethread about this already so I won't go into the details here...just click the link, cause there's a lot of other good talk there anyhow.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Friday, 4 October 2002 20:55 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

Pretend that there's a smiley at the end of my last post. I sound like a meanie otherwise.

― Kim (Kim), Friday, 4 October 2002 20:57 (sixteen years ago) Permalink

ten months pass...

"And yet Robert Smith - the Chatterton of Crawley - had created if not a wall of sound then a very high hedge of sound, over which he seemed to peer at the world like a boy who couldn't be bothered to ask for his ball back."

the "cure=suburbia" part of Michael Bracewell's England Is Mine is one of the best things ever!

― etc, Wednesday, 20 August 2003 08:54 (fifteen years ago) Permalink

"Join the Dots" (B Sides and rarities) is out on October 21st. I presume it'll have the much talked about Cassette b sides from Standing on a Beach on it, but does anyone know that actual tracklisting is?

― flowersdie (flowersdie), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 09:05 (fifteen years ago) Permalink

Hopefully it'll have the stuff off "curiosity", too. And that soundtrack they did.

Classic, BTW. Again, my mid-teens coincided with Disintegration and I was full-on obsessed for a couple of years. I bought a shedload of albums at Oxfam last year, and a friend and I drove our GF/wives insane by listening, back to back, to 17 Seconds, Faith, Pornography and the Top. Divorce was on the horizon by the end of that evening.

― Jim Eaton-Terry (Jim E-T), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 13:04 (fifteen years ago) Permalink

Hopefully it'll have the stuff off "curiosity", too. And that soundtrack they did.

Thing is, there are SO many B-sides and rarities which have officially surfaced that they'd have to put out a box set. As it is, if the remasters that are surfacing next year are going to include bonus discs for each with room for other oddities, then that will partially settle the problem.

― Thy Lethal Zen Ned (Ned), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 13:42 (fifteen years ago) Permalink

Skipping 1053 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

That's the beauty of opinions, I guess. I think it's terrible. I also think the remixes collected for the original Mixed Up are pretty great overall. Lots of good points being made, I don't know if a record company would turn down a Cure album, no matter how bad, but I'd like to think there was some type of quality control happening somewhere.

How does the Mixed Up remaster sound? I have the orignal 2LP set, but thought about getting the new pressing if it sounds better.

― brotherlovesdub, Wednesday, 25 April 2018 22:16 (six months ago) Permalink

Also, I don't think it's a stain on their legacy. Not sure I said that, but it's not much of a stretch to get to there from what I did actually say. I'm a 'strictly nothing post-92' Cure fan, so their legacy was already stained in my opinion. I wasn't in love with Wish overall, despite loving a few songs on the album.

― brotherlovesdub, Wednesday, 25 April 2018 22:18 (six months ago) Permalink

this is because he had already sold the 40th anniversary gig as being The Cure's only European show for 2018

counting on Brexit to get him off on a technicality

― startled macropod (MatthewK), Wednesday, 25 April 2018 22:21 (six months ago) Permalink

I had high hopes given the tracklisting, but it's not good. umsworth OTM.

― Flowersdie, Wednesday, 25 April 2018 22:25 (six months ago) Permalink

yeah, I'm just funning bcz so many reactions to Mixed Up 1 were "wtf, stain."

Wrong Number rules btw, one of maybe five great things they've done since Wish

― chilis=lyrics...hypocrits (sic), Wednesday, 25 April 2018 22:27 (six months ago) Permalink

not a fan of remix albums but will still probably buy on CDs and i don't buy CDs anymore. i have all the newer ones so i will keep going. i just listened to "Want" and i actually like it.

― Bee OK, Thursday, 26 April 2018 00:53 (six months ago) Permalink

listening to that pod cast "i just finished Wish and it's next."

happy happy, joy joy!

― Bee OK, Thursday, 26 April 2018 00:53 (six months ago) Permalink

Man this is pretty bad. Sounds like he sat at his computer and just slapped some EDM synth plugin presets all over his original vocals. "Just One Kiss" is the only somewhat freaky and ok one out of them all. Terrible.

― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Thursday, 26 April 2018 01:19 (six months ago) Permalink

"Clearly the Cure as an entity isn't fully in charge or RS wouldn't be doing that show as Robert Smith and Friends."

I don't know. Maybe Simon has some rights....but as for this, roger didn't even know this was coming out; he learned it from me on facebook.

― akm, Thursday, 26 April 2018 02:12 (six months ago) Permalink

If the tracks were the originals it would pretty much be my own Cure "Best Of". But I lean towards the "this is horrible" camp.

― LeRooLeRoo, Thursday, 26 April 2018 02:41 (six months ago) Permalink

No surprise there. RS has lost his ear for music in the late 90s. Don’t think he spent much time on this though

― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 26 April 2018 05:50 (six months ago) Permalink

one month passes...

Extremely great interview by a board vet here

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jun/07/the-cures-robert-smith-i-was-very-optimistic-when-i-was-young-now-im-the-opposite

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 7 June 2018 16:30 (five months ago) Permalink

Had no idea they used Plainsong in Ant Man. I'm never going to watch the movie. Was it good?

― how's life, Thursday, 7 June 2018 17:42 (five months ago) Permalink

that's a great interview, thanks for posting Ned!

the great thing about "Plainsong" in that movie is that it's so prominent. they played the full song too or pretty close from what i remember. all in slow motion. the movie is a super hero movie if you are into that sort of stuff. i am, so i liked it.

― Bee OK, Friday, 8 June 2018 01:54 (five months ago) Permalink

found it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9urW_X0LJss

― Bee OK, Friday, 8 June 2018 01:55 (five months ago) Permalink

there's a difference between "written by Joe out of Adam & Joe and directed by Peyton Reed" and "written & directed by Zack Snyder" or "written & directed by Frank Miller"

― we used to get our kicks reading surfing MAGAzines (sic), Friday, 8 June 2018 02:01 (five months ago) Permalink

Great interview yeah. I wonder what Bob made of Plainsong being used in Toni Erdmann..

― piscesx, Friday, 8 June 2018 03:05 (five months ago) Permalink

since Parry sold off the business, Robert seems to have been happy to license songs to any film that asks.

― we used to get our kicks reading surfing MAGAzines (sic), Friday, 8 June 2018 05:27 (five months ago) Permalink

speaking of, i found this in regards to:

(07/23/15): Director Peyton Reed tells Film School Rejects how and why this scene happened.
Reed also would’ve been upset if Marvel couldn’t secure the rights for a song from The Cure’s finest album, Disintegration. Ant-Man may be the first movie in history to have a song by The Cure playing during one of its big set pieces. At one point Ant-Man and Yellow Jacket fight in a briefcase to the amazing sound of ‘Plainsong’. “In the briefcase battle, we knew we wanted to have an iPhone joke,” Reed says. “We had all these different versions of jokes, like, Yellow Jacket saying, ‘You’re going to end up dead!’ and then you’d hear ‘Searching for the nearest Panera Bread.’ There were some funny jokes and some not-so-funny jokes, but, at the end of the day, they were just jokes. What if he activated the music feature? What would it be? I’m a massive Cure fan. We came up with a bunch of things, but we thought we could find a joke for ‘disintegration.’ The first song on Disinigration, which is the second CD I ever bought, was ‘Plainsong’. It’s such an epic song that it transcended the joke — scoring this whole battle in a briefcase. There was this weird, cold wave goth vibe, changing the character of that action scene. You have all these action scenes you want to have a different flavor. Then it became a question of, ‘Will [The Cure frontman] Robert Smith let us use his music?’ He ended up loving it, so he did.”

― Bee OK, Friday, 8 June 2018 06:03 (five months ago) Permalink

BTW, for those who didn't read the article that Ned linked, possible new The Cure album after 10 years. God, i hope so!

― Bee OK, Saturday, 9 June 2018 01:50 (five months ago) Permalink

Yeah, but Robert Smith said it, so there's a 99% chance it's just slightly drunken bullshit.

― (V) (°,,,,°) (V) (Austin), Saturday, 9 June 2018 04:17 (five months ago) Permalink

two weeks pass...

so finally got around to listen to the new remixes - not as bad as I thought, although very throwaway.
The cheesy Avalon-ish version of Night Like This for instance is pretty great. The actual mixing though is pretty crap (as usual), with vocals way too high up (this ruins what would otherwise be a pretty badass version fo Shake Dog Shake)

― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Sunday, 24 June 2018 18:58 (four months ago) Permalink

re-discovered how great the "Everything Mix" of 'The Walk' was. Weird to think that remix is nearly 30 years old - it really sounds like it could have come out last month.

― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 27 June 2018 15:39 (four months ago) Permalink

That's a great interview - I enjoyed reading Robert's thoughts on his approach to writing lyrics. While I can understand why he shies away from certain kinds of approaches, I'd be interesting in seeing what kind of lyrics he's come up with while deviating from his preferred methods.

― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Wednesday, 27 June 2018 15:50 (four months ago) Permalink

i finally listened to the remix album today and it wasn't bad. i do own the original CD but i'm not a remix type of person, so i never really warmed up to it. this new version is not bad but is still a remix album.

― Bee OK, Saturday, 30 June 2018 02:55 (four months ago) Permalink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2E3EWhvDsc

― Y'all (Ross), Saturday, 30 June 2018 02:56 (four months ago) Permalink

Hi Turrican :)

― Y'all (Ross), Saturday, 30 June 2018 02:59 (four months ago) Permalink

so weird how the fest was billed as old members coming back and drastically different versions of songs and then none of that happened.

― kurt schwitterz, Saturday, 30 June 2018 05:23 (four months ago) Permalink

no surprise here

― kelp, clam and carrion (sic), Saturday, 30 June 2018 16:29 (four months ago) Permalink

Might as well throw this out there in this thread:

My take a Cure album that never was--but that I suspect may have been intended to be at some point--circa 'Wild Mood Swings' but IMO far superior to that album, comprised of a few album tracks and some of the b-sides, almost all of which are superior to the album that was released. There were enough tracks in that era that heavily featured string instruments--not something they often did before then--that it makes me think at some point that was a sound they had in mind for an album. The vibe is just too coherent and consistent for it to be an accident--a lot of the b-sides even have album-style intro-outro segue portions, such that it all hangs together rather nicely as an album. I would rate it around the equal as 'Wish,' which for me is to say not amazing but quite good, a few spotty mid-90s production flourishes notwithstanding.

https://scontent.fzty1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/20045576_10159281061750495_3240874481460166229_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=84d76d07d27915aa6b90954cb2abd7be&oe=5BB337C1

01. Adonais
02. Jupiter Crash
03. A Pink Dream
04. Treasure
05. Home
06. Waiting
07. Dredd Song
08. It Used To Be Me
09. Numb
10. Ocean
11. Bare
12. This Is A Lie

http://www.mediafire.com/file/8f97pneclpg72ut/ThisIsALie.zip/file

― Soundslike, Saturday, 30 June 2018 20:53 (four months ago) Permalink

Yeah I think RS has alluded to this a few times. He was planning to release a Nick Drake influenced set of songs and worked with strings for quite a bit, at a time when he was the only remaining member of the band. I guess when Simon came back he decided to /had to go back to a more traditional sound. Anyway, the idea sounded good on paper, but always found these acoustic and strings songs incredibly dull and lifeless.

― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Sunday, 1 July 2018 15:32 (four months ago) Permalink

The liner notes for Join the Dots confirms as much: RS initially envision Wild Mood Swings as an all acoustic album.

― (V) (°,,,,°) (V) (Austin), Sunday, 1 July 2018 16:57 (four months ago) Permalink

*envisioned

― (V) (°,,,,°) (V) (Austin), Sunday, 1 July 2018 16:58 (four months ago) Permalink

I find hearing it all together as a 50-min. album, it really works. It's not especially acoustic, but it does feature strings heavily.

― Soundslike, Sunday, 1 July 2018 17:00 (four months ago) Permalink

I don't think the Judge Dredd tune would be on it. I think he never really liked it and it just sounds like what it probably is, something to fill up a soundtrack.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 1 July 2018 17:36 (four months ago) Permalink

Really digging this unrecord, Soundslike! I don't know much Cure post-Wish (have listened through them all 1x or 2x but without sparking much interest) but these are sounding great.

― cheese is the teacher, ham is the preacher (Jon not Jon), Monday, 2 July 2018 18:07 (four months ago) Permalink

now someone post zips of DJP's mostly-b-sides versions of the last two albums plz

― kelp, clam and carrion (sic), Monday, 2 July 2018 18:21 (four months ago) Permalink

So the trend of b-sides being better than album cuts has continued post-'Wild Mood Swings'? I admit I didn't follow past there. . .

― Soundslike, Monday, 2 July 2018 22:30 (four months ago) Permalink

there are fewer b-sides overall but many of them are quality. all the various s/t bonus tracks are great

― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Monday, 2 July 2018 22:42 (four months ago) Permalink

Enh, the self-titled's non-album material was pretty strong, but the 4:13 Dream stuff was hit or miss. 'Down Under' and 'Without You' are decent.

Same with Bloodflowers. There weren't really any "b-sides" from that album, but the outtakes and related recordings from the time are kind of meh.

― (V) (°,,,,°) (V) (Austin), Monday, 2 July 2018 22:53 (four months ago) Permalink

"Spilt Milk" is from the Bloodflowers era and is all time.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 2 July 2018 23:09 (four months ago) Permalink

It's alright. Definitely the better of the "lost" songs surrounding that album.

― (V) (°,,,,°) (V) (Austin), Monday, 2 July 2018 23:11 (four months ago) Permalink

Coming Up, the Australian bonus track, was deeply meh, but I don't know what else was an outtake from around then. Of the two new songs for the Greatest Hits the next year, Cut Here is great and Just Say Yes is underwhelming but tolerable.

While I'm posting, here's Wolf Alice clashing Boys with Boys Don't Cry for an Australian radio session:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg1ocz7TUL4

― kelp, clam and carrion (sic), Tuesday, 3 July 2018 00:26 (four months ago) Permalink

Really enjoyed the Hyde Park event yesterday evening. The sound could have been a bit better, but it was an interesting mixed crowd and good atmosphere. I stood rooted to my spot for the whole set and my knees were 'locked' when i went to move: the old person's personal indicator of a good gig.

― Luna Schlosser, Sunday, 8 July 2018 10:37 (four months ago) Permalink

I was going to go but I asked a friend if they were interested when it was first announced and they said the sound is always shit in Hyde Park because of draconian noise level restrictions so I gave it a miss, the ticket price made that decision easier

― Colonel Poo, Sunday, 8 July 2018 12:58 (four months ago) Permalink

Hi dere. I’ve got a question that’s probably been asked or answered a dozen times, perhaps by me, but I seem to recall reading somewhere that part of Robert Smith’s guitar sound was an intentional detuning of some of the strings, perhaps making the high E string a bit sharp. Now I can’t find this anywhere so I am asking ~~for a friend~~here while the thread is live.

― Pwn Goal Picnic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 8 July 2018 13:07 (four months ago) Permalink

That's a good question! I know RS (like other guitarists) had an epiphany that what the chorus effect was doing was in essence just detuning his guitar, so I can see how he might make that leap, though in practice it seems a pretty imprecise way to go. I know he did use a six-string bass - tuned up? - as his guitar quite a bit, which also throws off nailing his sound, at least sometimes.

― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 8 July 2018 13:36 (four months ago) Permalink

Yeah I saw something about a Fender VI, I think it was

― Pwn Goal Picnic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 8 July 2018 13:46 (four months ago) Permalink

Here’s something about that. Interesting that he wrote “Primary” on one but then used a Precision to record it.

― Pwn Goal Picnic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 8 July 2018 13:54 (four months ago) Permalink

Link I meant to add: http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3687

― Pwn Goal Picnic (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 8 July 2018 13:56 (four months ago) Permalink

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