The Cure: Classic or Dud?

Great article! It's probably my favorite album of theirs for nostalgic reasons, I think I was 14 when it came out and evidently needed "an album to drown in" as you say. Side 3 is great, Like Cockatoos punches all naysayers straight in the chops.

can never understand why How Beautiful.. wasn't a single. the Bob Clearmountain remix on the box set is a bloody marvel. supposedly Chris Parry wanted him to (re)mix the entire album? i'd like to have heard that.

I love Clearmountain's work on Roxy Music's Avalon. I think his remix of Free's 'All Right Now' is great. I loathe that 'How Beautiful You Are' mix, though.

'A Chain of Flowers' — quite possibly my overall favorite Cure song.

'Icing Sugar' is one of those tracks that I can remember the music for with the click of a finger, but I can never remember the top line on it. It's a great piece of rhythm section work, kinda their version of a Duran Duran middle 8 circa 1982 or something. It sounds unfinished, though, like there should be more to it.

I get what you're saying but I feel the opposite. I love the long instrumental and the short vocals in that song. I think it fits perfectly with the theme of the lyrics. It's an unusual melody that Robert sings incredibly, and he tells the whole story with just a few lines. Even the drum-less version from the orange vinyl was very cool.

a marvelous read, Ned. You had fun writing it.

Darn right!

If I could switch any album tracks with B-sides, I would replace "One More Time" with "Breathe" and "Shiver and Shake" with "A Japanese Dream". I'd also try to squeeze "To The Sky" somewhere on the album.

That Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me is leagues ahead of Wild Mood Swings shouldn't even need to be said, but Wild Mood Swings is definitely another Cure album that would have benefited from having some of the lesser tracks swapped out and replaced with B-sides and trimmed down.

I latched onto the Cure with Standing On a Beach (note the indefinite article!) and played it along with the B-sides to death, then dove into the albums in pretty much reverse order. My first new release as a fan was KMKMKM and I remember feeling I had missed the peak and they would be diluted from here on, which I still feel really. Disintegration is excellent but feels a little calculated, and Wish snapped the thread of my fandom - I never bought it and have never regretted that; I did enjoy the Trilogy DVD though. The Cure are basically three modes for me - feral pop (3IB, THOtD, The Top etc.), focused angst (the early trilogy and Disintegration) and fan service (Wish onwards). I know, get off my lawn etc.

guys i found the best site ever http://cureforall.eklablog.com/audio-c24555404

That'll keep ya busy.

Neat.

still super-duper looking fwd to my contributor copy of that live compilation put together here!

Wait you NEVER got that?

Slicing Up Eyeballs is doing a Cure poll at the moment: http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2017/04/24/vote-for-your-favorite-cure-songs/

It will be interesting to see how the results compare to the one done on this board a couple years ago.

The very first time I listened to "The Kiss," I shut it off after the first few seconds thinking the tape was warped. I went back to the record store, told them I had a defective cassette, and they exchanged it for another copy. I popped in my new copy of the album and realized it was supposed to sound that way.

Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me is my go-to suggestion whenever anybody asks what they should listen to as an introduction to the Cure. I feel like out of all their albums, it's the only one which really tried to show off the full range of what they were capable of doing. Well, Wild Mood Swings tried it too (and I actually like WMS), but Kiss Me did it better.

Hmm. I'm not convinced it does show off the full range of what The Cure do, but then I'm not sure any Cure album does.

Just like Disintegration is Faith for stadiums, Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me just builds on the template set by The Top and particularly The Head on the Door, but twice as long and with filler.

I designed the cover for that ILM live comp and also never got one!

me neither!

Huh. Okay you three (counting (sic)), contact me -- ned at kuci dot org -- and I'll arrange something.

Hi folks,

An Amazon mix up means I now have two copies of the Pornography and The Top deluxe editions.

I'm happy to send them to the first EU Ilxor who PMs me. This site allows private messages, right?

Sorry non-Europeans, but shipping elsewhere becomes difficult.

THE CURE will be celebrating 40 imaginary years on Saturday 7th July 2018 with a 120min headline show at BST Hyde Park, London. Tickets on sale 9am Friday 15th December 2017. Presale is 9am TODAY 12th December.https://t.co/gHw1NfahWr - the password is IMAGINARY.
SEE YOU THERE!!! pic.twitter.com/RbWJLeK4iY

— The Cure (@thecure) December 12, 2017

Nice to see the old logo dusted off

If there is any way I can go to that show I have to. What a fucking lineup. The Cure is turning 40 and so am I so it only seems fitting.

yeah this line-up tidily encapsulates my youth. Not a fan of open-air festivals and a two-hour Cure set might be greatest-hits only, so I don't regret missing this.

I'm kinda tempted tbh. I somehow have never seen the Cure live despite them being one of my favourite bands for 27 years.

Worth seeing at some point. That said, if I lived there, obv I'd go but yeah, a festival set is not how I want to see the Cure. (Much less with Interpol, honestly.)

love that old logo

line up looks rly good too

BTW, following up on Tim Pope's tweets the other week:

So, 50 boxes of ‘stuff’ has just arrived at mine. Just peeked and apart from dust they seem to be filled with what looks like films, photographs, memorabilia. They go by the year. Hm. Can’t wait to get cracking, though might take me a while. I can feel Christmas is nearly here.

— Tim Pope (@timpopedirector) December 10, 2017

And earlier today

Things are starting to happen and are afoot, right? I'll say more, too, shortly.

— Tim Pope (@timpopedirector) December 12, 2017

I'm really, really glad Tim Pope is involved, because I absolutely love his work. He is to The Cure what Anton Corbijn is to Depeche Mode, just a perfect fit.

One of my favourite stories is regarding the 'Hot Hot Hot!!!' video - the band apparently gave Tim Pope the brief to make them look like a "lowdown funk band", and Pope interpreted "lowdown" as "dwarf"

I'm kinda tempted tbh. I somehow have never seen the Cure live despite them being one of my favourite bands for 27 years.

― Colonel Poo, Tuesday, December 12, 2017 12:28 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

They are amazing live. Still. Definitely go if you can.

Okay we have word

So, 2018 will see me collaborating with Robert on a feature-length, chronological documentary of The Cure’s history from the 1970s via present day to the future. Robert himself will tell the story and this will work alongside other events for the band’s 40-year celebration.

— Tim Pope (@timpopedirector) December 13, 2017

The film to which I will bring my own style of jiggery-pokery will use as well as 'old favourites' a cornucopia of material from Robert’s collection which has never been seen before: Super-8; interviews; bootlegs; rare performances; behind-the-scenes, blah. Updates ’as and when’.

— Tim Pope (@timpopedirector) December 13, 2017

i may well be in London that weekend but it's too early to say, so hopefully, if I am, I can snag some second market tix for this.

I hope this will be some kind of three hour extravaganza a la The Cure's gigs - no point doing a documentary if you're just gonna skim over everything.

Saw Mixed Up 2xLP on the leaked RSD list. Hope that's true and hope it has the original 12" mix of Primary on it this time.

That plus a sequel called Tied Up. That said, CD versions as well or GTFO.

I saw somethign else listed but assumed it was post 92, therefore totally pointless and forgettable, so I ignored it.

pretty interested to find out R.Smith's curatorial choices for Meltdown

look at these people hating on the fucking Cure of all bands, at the beginning of this thread.

https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/blog/first-acts-confirmed-robert-smith-meltdown-festival

*yawn*

pretty dull all around but good on him for giving the Anchoress a slot. the Libertines?

Good on him for bringing The Church aboard. Their latest album is fantastic and I always saw them as somewhat kindred spirits with The Cure so this is cool.

Hi folks,

An Amazon mix up means I now have two copies of the Pornography and The Top deluxe editions.

I'm happy to send them to the first EU Ilxor who PMs me. This site allows private messages, right?

Sorry non-Europeans, but shipping elsewhere becomes difficult.

― Duke, Sunday, 18 June 2017 23:13 (eight months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is still the case. Do get in touch for free CDs

The CDs are now spoken for. Thanks.

'Torn Down'
Presented as a 2LP picture disc set in a die-cut gatefold sleeve with a download voucher.

A1: Three Imaginary Boys – Help Me Mix by Robert Smith ( 3:21 )
A2: M – Attack Mix by Robert Smith ( 3:07 )
A3: The Drowning Man – Bright Birds Mix by Robert Smith ( 4:29 )
A4: A Strange Day – Drowning Waves Mix by Robert Smith ( 5:05 )

B1: Just One Kiss – Remember Mix by Robert Smith ( 4:57 )
B2: Shake Dog Shake – New Blood Mix by Robert Smith ( 5:11 )
B3: A Night Like This – Hello Goodbye Mix by Robert Smith ( 4:24 )
B4: Like Cockatoos – Lonely In The Rain Mix by Robert Smith ( 3:49 )

C1: Plainsong – Edge Of The World Mix by Robert Smith ( 4:33 )
C2: Never Enough – Time To Kill Mix by Robert Smith ( 3:34 )
C3: From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea – Love In Vain Mix by Robert Smith ( 6:21 )
C4: Want – Time Mix by Robert Smith ( 4:44 )

D1: The Last Day of Summer – 31st August Mix by Robert Smith ( 5:44 )
D2: Cut Here – If Only Mix by Robert Smith ( 4:25 )
D3: Lost – Found Mix by Robert Smith ( 3:59 )
D4: It’s Over – Whisper Mix by Robert Smith ( 4:54 )

I'm not interested in the Mixed Up remaster, but this looks intriguing.

I like the titles of those mixes!

The Last Day of Summer – 31st August Mix by Robert Smith

^ Particularly this one!

Intrigued but apprehensive since I dont really trust Robert's taste anymore. I also suspect that some of these songs, the older ones, might be re-recordings with new (shouty) vocals.