A thread for the Cure reissues

All together now..

"Dow do do, Dow do do .."

If The Cure in Orange is part of this, then it's about fucking time!

I dont really care about videos - give me the Wish remaster and maybe a '40 Imaginary years' book and I'll let them retire quietly

There's a ton of really smart early TV performances that I'd like to own in decent quality, foreign TV shows and things like The Tube and the Oxford Roadshow.

Wow 30 years since Orange, say it isn’t so.

I used to love the little interstitial bits on the Staring at the Sea VHS some funny shit there

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKOdo_hD9k8

Yeah, I remember there being a couple of funny bits of studio footage circa Japanese Whispers and The Head on the Door ... and outtakes from the 'Let's Go To Bed' shoot.

That was the bit I was 'do'ing

I love that part where Robert and Lol are sitting for photos and Lol says something like, "I felt terrible earlier, but now I feel wonderful." To which Robert responds, "That's because of all the drugs we took."

And then turns and looks wide eyed straight into the camera and covers his mouth with his hand.

Hah. About half of The Cure's discography is about drinking or doing drugs.

Footage that surfaced earlier in the year, would buy the shit out of a collection of this type of thing.

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

Christ, HOW long ago did I start this thread. ANYWAY:

http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2022/07/28/the-cure-wish-reissue-delixe-edition/

That's pretty awesome. Sometimes I think that they've been dragging their feet with this one because it's the last reissue anyone will be excited about.

Here it comes!

It looks lovely. The Lost Wishes stuff ought to have been on Join the Dots if there was any room but also their CD debut was always going to be one of the big draws to Wish.

Anyway I've/we've waited years for more instrumental demos - hope some of them are RS and his chintzy home get-up but I guess they'd be marked as such if so.

You're welcome folks! I did that!

I'd been waiting years for this so I could replace my old cassette and burned CD copies, but I finally gave up and bought a new copy of it three weeks ago so OF COURSE this gets announced now.

Kidding aside, looks great!

Definitely going to be worth having a non-mastered disc of any Cure album still kicking around.

*RE

Sometimes I think that they've been dragging their feet with this one because it's the last reissue anyone will be excited about.

I realize WMS is not going to be high on priority lists -- some excellent live shows from that era, though -- but I do want to see Bloodflowers get the treatment just so at long last there's a properly available version of "Spilt Milk," absolutely one of the greatest songs, and I still don't know why it never made Join the Dots.

oh i'm actually v curious about what a wms reissue would entail

it would be very cool to see some of the full swing tour shows released.

A few things missing on that reissue: eg unplugged Letter to Elise, live early versions from the secret gig, but yeah this is exciting.
Otoh the October release makes me think this was green lit once it became clear that the there would be no new album for the tour.

"...nine of which are completely unrelaxed songs"

HOW long ago did I start this thread

seventeen years ago
a measure of life

...too apt.

live early versions from the secret gig

I do half wonder if there's supposed to be a reissue of Show/Paris in the works with more.

I was thinking Show would be next. As its their only live album to align with a film a natural three-disc set is assumedly a possibility. Only problem with that is extras.

I can't imagine quite what a WMS set would look like but it's probably where the existence of JTD would frustrate the most given those B-sides are better than a lot of the album.

re: wish era live extras-
they recorded two full nights in paris. the coinciding album is basically a highlights disc. would love to see at least one of the complete shows released.

and yes it's short, but i would go goofy over an official release of their mtv unplugged set. licorice otm: that version of "elise" is magic.

All these early versions were infinitely better than the final studio takes

seventeen years, a three-disc version, and STILL no release for Slvvy!

This is such amazing news but I'm with baaderonixx, what does this mean for the new album?

The only remastered one I don't own is Mixed Up but all the other ones I have the expanded copies. I will buy Wild Mood Swings as well, if and when that one comes out.

checked and a Show reissue was first promised before the Wish reissue was

I'll be buying WMS as well - its quality may, or may not, be patchy but it'll be fascinating regardless of its form.

I'm extremely fond of the original Mixed Up, which was a big CD for me growing up, so the deluxe was a no-brainer for me. The new mixes weren't all that but CD2 at least is largely solid (it was worth it just for A Japanese Dream with that crunchy drum outro).

https://i.imgur.com/t5v8xfs.png

What are the best WMS b-sides? That was my first Cure album, which put me off them for ages. Even now I can hardly muster the energy to put it on

Home
A Pink Dream
Ocean
It Used To Be Me
Adonis
Waiting

Good news indeed. Wish (heh) they'd included the B-sides.

You'll get that box set and you'll love it. (Why haven't you gotten that box set.)

All those WMS b sides sound fine but all very indistinct. Would they have made a superior album or would it be medium-paced water-treading? The feeling is that in the end, they picked the songs that had variety....

A few years back I made a "lost album" of tracks from 'Wild Mood Swings' and era b-sides, when (contra "indistinct") I realized there was a thread of consistent production signatures, particularly a heavy use of strings, across a good number of the tracks.

I honestly suspect there might have been a different album they had in mind at some point--many of the b-sides even have segues and transitional portions more like what you'd expect from an album. Surely not this exact track list (especially not including "Dredd Song"), but something like it. It's ultimately no 'Disintegration,' but I like it better than any proper album after that one. I've always been a fan of their more tonally consistent albums (i.e. 'Disintegration,' 'Faith,' etc.) than their "mood-swingy" ones, and their moody tracks more than their manic ones, so 'This Is A Lie' is, in my "head-canon," The Cure's mid-90s album:

The Cure - 'This Is A Lie'
('Wild Mood Swings' Era Reconsidered)

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 (Ambient Mix)

Total Time: 53:43

* From 'Wild Mood Swings'

https://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/thisisalie_small.jpg

Assuming you have 'Wild Mood Swings' and the 'Connect The Dots' box, you can sequence it or download it here.

I was being a bit mean when I said the WMS B-sides are a better than "a lot" of the album proper. They sort of feel apart from it altogether to me which is probably due to the variety feel they were going for. The only real dud on the album for me is "Round & Round & Round".

Anyway, re:Wish, can I just say the Higher Mix of "High" is maybe a top 10 Cure track for me. Outdoes the album/single version completely, which to make room for the jangle has the keyboard arpeggios mixed far too low :(

Thanks for that excellent "lost album", Soundslike. I've listened to it a bunch of times now and enjoyed it. That's more than I can say for WMS, which I listened to probably 2x max and shelved in disappointment.

It's excellent rainy day Cure music, too. Love the 1-2 punch of "It Used To Be Me' into "Numb".

Glad you're enjoying it! It is oddly compelling--pulls one through its running time like an album should. All the strings and transition parts of the tracks make me think that must've been the intent, at one point. I definitely like it better and have listened to it many more times than 'Wild Mood Swings'.

Dunno. It does hang together and clearly that’s the album RS initially set out to do (admitted so in that recent extensive WMS retrospective in DEK magazine) but I find most of these songs ponderous and kinda boring (like most of his post-Wish output), mikes away from the eerie mystery of Nick Drake who was apparently the inspiration for that aborted album.

Well, it wouldn't make my top 5 Cure albums, but I was surprised at how good it is compared to how I thought about them at the time (largely due to finding WMS haphazard and its manic bits unconvincing).

woo! after twelve years of waiting my deluxe Cure CD collection will finally be complete

(wouldn't say no to nice deluxe editions of In Orange or Show, of course)