Can we just take a moment to appreciate the fact that The Cure did a 45 SONG SETLIST(!) at their shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London?
45 SONGS!
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-cu...-2bc2740a.html
When I've seen them they played 3 hour longs sets, which I thought was amazing... But these shows must have been even longer.
Pretty incredible given that bands half their age couldn't even be fucked playing for an hour when they're "headlining".
Last edited by ophelia_; 03-30-2014 at 08:18 PM. Reason: Prematurely pressed enter
I wish I was at that show.
Monday, March 31, 2014
"AS CLEARLY AND SUCCINCTLY AS I CAN..."
Robert has a LOT to say today! Official site updated with response to the ridiculous negative spin that the online music sites put on his XFM interview and lots more. Thank you, Robert!
"I HAVE LITTLE DESIRE TO BE DRAWN
AND LITTLE CONVICTION IT REALLY MATTERS THAT MUCH...
BUT ON THE BACK OF THE WEARY AND EVER MORE NEGATIVE INTERPRETATIONS OF MY SHORT POST SATURDAY RAH SHOW CHAT WITH XFM
I WILL TRY TO EXPLAIN A VERY SIMPLE CHAIN OF EVENTS AS CLEARLY AND SUCCINCTLY AS I CAN, GIVEN A NUMBER OF GENUINE CONSTRAINTS…
AS CLEARLY AND SUCCINCTLY AS I CAN": I THINK '4:13 DREAM' IS AN EXCELLENT CURE ALBUM, AND ALL THE B-SIDES ARE FAB… BUT THE CULMINATION OF THE PROJECT WASNT QUITE WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN, AS 16 OF THE ORIGINAL 33 SONGS WERE 'LEFT ON THE SHELF'...
AND MY PLAN THIS SUNNY SPRING MONDAY AT THE END OF MARCH IS TO GET TO THE POINT IN THE NEXT MONTH OR THREE WHERE WE CAN RELEASE:
1)A LTD EDITION '4:26 DREAM' DOUBLE CD ALBUM OF 26 SONGS (ALL REMIXED) - IE. 'THE ORIGINAL 4:13 DREAM SESSIONS CONCEPT ALBUM' (INCLUDING THE 'INSTRUMENTALS WITH WORDS') - OF WHICH 10 TRACKS OR MORE WILL BE PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED…
2) A LTD EDITION '4:14 SCREAM' SINGLE CD ALBUM OF 14 PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED SONGS - ALBEIT SOME OF THEM MAY ALSO BE ON '4:26 DREAM'… BUT THESE '4:14 SCREAM' VERSIONS WILL ALL HAVE WORDS AND VOCALS…
AND I WILL BE OVERCOME WITH AN IRRESISTIBLE URGE** TO FINISH SOME (ALL?!!) OF THE OTHER OUTSTANDING CURE PROJECTS
LIKE 'LIVE IN PARIS 2008' AND 'REFLECTIONS 2011' AND 'SUMMERCURE 2012' AND 'LATAM 2013' (AND 'RAH TCT 2014'?!!)
…AND CREATE SOME NEW NEW MUSIC WITH THIS CURRENT CURE LINEUP...
PS
"AS CLEARLY AND SUCCINCTLY AS I CAN":
I STILL PREFER PHYSICAL RELEASES TO VIRTUAL… gulp!
PPS
*"Having said all that, I have no idea… I really don't. I'm really bad at planning long-term stuff." - ME, AT THE WEEKEND…"
Robert commits to so many projects and can never keep up with himself.
I'm glad he said the 4:13 b-sides from the singles are "fab" because they are. Especially Down Under and Without You.
Whatever happened to the remastered and expanded edition of Wish?
To be honest I liked Robert's update, perhaps label interference/contractual obligations really do explain how 4:13 ended up a single side. Was it any good, by the way? I never picked it up. The band tension aspect also makes sense to me. I can't imagine how he could put out a 4:13 remix (essentially) on fiction though, if geffen have the rights. Anyway, we'll see. Surprised to see a list of canned projects that he wants to work on that are IMHO not interesting (except orange) but no wish deluxe...
You know, I quite liked 4:13 Dream. Adding the b-sides to the sequence made for a good album, imo.
1. All Kinds Of Stuff
2. The Only One
3. The Reasons Why
4. Sirensong
5. The Real Snwo White
6. The Hungry Ghost
7. The Perfect Boy
8. Without You
9. This. Here And Now. With You.
10. Sleep When I'm Dead
11. NY Trip
12. It's Over
13. Underneath The Stars
I'm on bord with what you said about the mixing, tho. Thus it's interesting that they plan to remix the whole thing.
New Robert interview with NME
From NME:
The Cure's Robert Smith reveals new album details – and says '4:14 Scream' is 'a terrible title'
Frontman says album will be a mix of brand new songs and material left over since 2008
The Cure frontman Robert Smith has revealed that the group's next album will be a mix of brand new material and unused material from 2008's '4:13 Dream', their most recent record.
Smith wanted that album to be a double, but a single album was eventually released.
Speaking to NME following the group's performance for Teenage Cancer Trust at London's Royal Albert Hall on Saturday (March 29), Smith said of the album: "There’s new stuff that we’re doing with this line-up and stuff we finished with the old line-up."
Asked why it's taken so long to release the tracks, Smith said: "Honestly? Just pure bloody mindedness. I was so fucking angry that [the label] wouldn’t release a double album that I wouldn’t give them the other songs."
The album also follows the solidification of a new line-up of The Cure, featuring Reeves Gabrels of David Bowie's Tin Machine on guitar. Smith said that the new line-up was the catalyst for adding new material to the '4:13 Dream' leftovers.
"A lot of stuff happened, unfortunately, with the last line-up of the band," said the frontman. "People forget sometimes that even when you get older, when you play music with people, there’s a very intense relationship there and when that breaks down then it’s very difficult to just pretend it doesn’t matter. The last line-up, there were a number of reasons why I felt unable to complete what we were doing. It was impossible to just get another line-up and bang out the songs we didn’t release; it would have been wrong."
Reflecting its turbulent origins, the album is tentatively named '4:14 Scream', but Smith believes it's "a dreadful title. Andy who does our covers has done a really great album cover for it, a kind of pastiche of me doing a scream, so maybe we'll keep it. It’s one of those reverse psychology things, where it’s so bad it’s good."
In addition to the new album, the band have said that they will also be releasing a series of live concert DVDs this year, and are planning on taking another 'Trilogy' style tour on the road later this year. The original tour took place in 2002 and saw The Cure headline a string of festivals and gigs in Brussels and Berlin in which they played the albums 'Pornography', 'Disintegration' and 'Bloodflowers' in their entirety. The second tour under the title in 2011 called 'Reflections' saw 'Three Imaginary Boys', 'Seventeen Seconds' and 'Faith' performed in full.
Interesting about Andy's album cover for 4:14. So something like the photo Robert posted here?
>>
The Guardian responds to Robert's comments
From The Guardian:
Why the Cure's marathon gigs might not be the best way to play
The Cure have announced their unhappiness at our reviewer saying they played too long at the Royal Albert Hall this weekend. But, she says, brevity is a virtue
• Read Caroline Sullivan's original review here
In the run-up to the annual Teenage Cancer Trust gig series at the Royal Albert Hall last week, the charity’s website noted that the Friday and Saturday headliners, The Cure, would be playing three-hour sets, with no support act. In the event, they were onstage for around three-and-a-half hours, slotting in 45 songs each night. That’s pretty remarkable (though their 50-song, four-hour show in Mexico City last year is the one to beat), bespeaking a fan/band relationship where the passion has only increased over the years. Going by reaction on Twitter, many people considered it one of the best shows they’d ever seen, and reacted angrily to reviews in the Guardian and elsewhere that suggested there could be too much of a good thing.
>>
Robert responds to the Guardian's response
Posted by @thcure overnight:
LAZY NONSENSICAL CONTENT ASIDE; WE WERE DRIVEN TO REACT TO CAROLINE SULLIVAN’S ‘REVIEW’BY THE BLATANT DISHONESTY OF HER ACCOMPANYING COMMENT "I have it on good authority that the band have read the review and liked it." IT WAS SIMPLY TOO MUCH TO IGNORE…
HAVING EXPOSED THE LIE, WE FIGURED WE WOULD AT THE VERY LEAST GET SOME KIND OF A HANDS IN THE AIR “IT’S A FAIR COP GUV” FROM HER FOR ATTEMPTING SUCH A BANAL SELF SERVING DECEPTION… WE THOUGHT THERE MIGHT EVEN BE A FAINT CHANCE THAT SHE WOULD BE MOVED TO APOLOGISE TO HER READERS FOR MAKING STUFF UP!
BUT AS COMMENT BY COMMENT SHE DIGS HER EVASIVE HOLE A LITTLE DEEPER, IT WOULD SEEM WE HOPED FOR TOO MUCH…A SHAME. WE ALWAYS THOUGHT THE GUARDIAN AND ITS JOURNALISTS VALUED TRUTH?
“OK, Robert. Buy you a drink?”... gulp!!! HONESTLY? ummm… WE WOULD PREFER YOU JUST REVIEWED WITH A TAD MORE UNDERSTANDING AND HONESTY AND CONSIDERING LINES LIKE “Not as scary […] as Robert Smith in full fig” MAYBE THREW A FEW LESS STONES? OR MOVED OUT OF YOUR GLASS HOUSE?!!
"Rock is about grabbing people's attention." REALLY? THAT’S WHAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO ‘BE ABOUT’? YOU THINK THAT’S IT? IT WOULD EXPLAIN A LOT
WE WILL NOW DRAW A LINE UNDER THE ‘SAD BITTER JUNK REVIEW’ EPISODE, AND SLIP BACK OUT INTO THE WORLD WITH A SHAKE OF THE HEAD AND A SMILE…PREFERRING THE OLD GOTH DISNEY DICTUM TO ROCKER SIMMONS’;“WE ARE NOT TRYING TO ENTERTAIN THE CRITICS;WE’LL TAKE OUR CHANCES WITH THE PUBLIC”
Articles about this: Paste / Spin / Stereogum / Consequence of Sound / Pitchfork / Holy Moly
I'm listening to the BBC sessions 1979-1985 bootleg for the first time and okay how the fuck did this not get an official release
I'd argue that some of these recordings are better than the studio versions by far.
Just re-reading this and I don't know if I missed this part or if it was published later, but I wonder which track it is, and why it is being omitted?
(the bit I put in bold red...)
http://www.thecure.com/news/1935/as_...nctly_as_i_can
AS CLEARLY AND SUCCINCTLY AS I CAN...
"Having said all that, I have no idea… I really don't. I'm really bad at planning long-term stuff."*
I HAVE LITTLE DESIRE TO BE DRAWN
AND LITTLE CONVICTION IT REALLY MATTERS THAT MUCH...
BUT ON THE BACK OF THE WEARY AND EVER MORE NEGATIVE INTERPRETATIONS OF MY SHORT POST SATURDAY RAH SHOW CHAT WITH XFM
I WILL TRY TO EXPLAIN A VERY SIMPLE CHAIN OF EVENTS AS CLEARLY AND SUCCINCTLY AS I CAN, GIVEN A NUMBER OF GENUINE CONSTRAINTS…
LIKE NOT WANTING TO NAME TOO MANY NAMES OR POINT TOO MANY FINGERS
IN 2007 THE CURE (ME, SIMON, JASON AND PORL THOMPSON) REHEARSED AND RECORDED 33 SONGS WITH THE INTENTION OF CREATING A DOUBLE CD ALBUM CONTAINING APPROXIMATELY 2 HOURS OF MUSIC:
13 SONGS ON EACH DISC, MOST WITH WORDS AND VOCALS, BUT A FEW WITH WORDS AND NO VOCALS (IE. 'INSTRUMENTALS WITH WORDS'…!) - THE RUNNING ORDER WAS FLUID, AS I WAS CONSTANTLY REARRANGING THE ORDER IN WHICH THE 33 A4 'MASTER SHEETS' WERE STUCK ON THE WALL OF THE CONTROL ROOM… CHOICE CHANGED DEPENDING ON THE PROGRESS OF THE RECORDING…
WE PLANNED TO RELEASE 4 OF THE ALBUM SONGS AS 'SINGLES', PLUS 4 'B-SIDES'…
LEAVING A 'MARGIN OF ERROR' (SHOULD WE NEED IT) OF 3 SONGS…
HOWEVER, TOWARDS THE END OF THE PROJECT, I RAN OUT OF THE ENERGY AND CONVICTION I NEEDED TO RESIST A GROWING COMMERCIAL (AND TEMPORAL) PRESSURE FROM INDIVIDUALS AND RELEASE STRUCTURES I WAS OBLIGED TO WORK WITH, AND (TO MY DISCREDIT?!!) ABANDONED THE DOUBLE ALBUM/INSTRUMENTALS PLAN…
INSTEAD I COMPILED '4:13 DREAM' (13 SONGS WITH WORDS AND VOCALS), AND IT WAS THIS SINGLE CD ALBUM, ALONG WITH THE 4 OTHER 'B-SIDE' SONGS ACCOMPANYING THE 4 (REMIXED) SINGLES, THAT WAS RELEASED IN 2008
COMPILING A SINGLE CD ALBUM REQUIRED A DIFFERENT APPROACH (FOR ONE THING THERE WAS NO LONGER THE TIME TO 'SPREAD OUT' AND CONNECT THE DIFFERENT MOODS AS I HAD ORIGINALLY INTENDED… )
AND AS A CONSEQUENCE A NUMBER OF (MY FAVOURITE!) SLOWER SONGS AND INSTRUMENTAL PIECES WERE LEFT UNFINISHED AND UNRELEASED
"AS CLEARLY AND SUCCINCTLY AS I CAN": I THINK '4:13 DREAM' IS AN EXCELLENT CURE ALBUM, AND ALL THE B-SIDES ARE FAB… BUT THE CULMINATION OF THE PROJECT WASNT QUITE WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN, AS 16 OF THE ORIGINAL 33 SONGS WERE 'LEFT ON THE SHELF'...
IN 2009 PORL THOMPSON LEFT THE BAND
AND THAT VERSION OF THE CURE WAS OVER
FOR GOOD
AND LIFE CARRIED ON…
IN 2010 THE CURE HAD 'A YEAR AWAY'
IN 2011 ROGER O'DONNELL REJOINED THE BAND AND THE CURE PLAYED AROUND THE WORLD…
AND ENOUGH TIME HAD PASSED…
AND I GOT THE URGE TO REVISIT OUR 'LIVE IN PARIS 2008' FILM TO SEE HOW FAR WE HAD GOT WITH IT…
AND FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 3 YEARS LISTENED TO THE UNRELEASED '4:13 DREAM' SESSION SONGS...
AND I FOUND I STILL LIKED THEM… ALBEIT I WASN'T SURE ABOUT SOME OF THE LYRICS...
…SO I STARTED WRITING NEW WORDS FOR THE INSTRUMENTAL SONGS
AND I STARTED SINGING THEM
AND RESINGING OTHERS
AND I BEGAN THINKING OF WAYS TO FINISH OFF THE PROJECT TO MY SATISFACTION
AND LIFE CARRIED ON…
IN 2012 REEVES GABRELS JOINED THE BAND AND THE CURE PLAYED AROUND THE WORLD…
AND (MAINLY BECAUSE OF THIS 'PLAYING AROUND THE WORLD' AND 'LIFE CARRYING ON' STUFF) OTHER UNFINISHED PROJECTS STARTED MOUNTING UP…
IN 2013 THE CURE CONTINUED PLAYING SHOWS AROUND THE WORLD…
AND THE PERFORMANCES GOT BETTER AND BETTER…
AND LIFE...
IN 2014 THE CURE CONTINUE(D) PLAYING SHOWS AROUND THE WORLD…
AND MY PLAN THIS SUNNY SPRING MONDAY AT THE END OF MARCH IS TO GET TO THE POINT IN THE NEXT MONTH OR THREE WHERE WE CAN RELEASE:
1)
A LTD EDITION '4:26 DREAM' DOUBLE CD ALBUM OF 26 SONGS (ALL REMIXED) - IE. 'THE ORIGINAL 4:13 DREAM SESSIONS CONCEPT ALBUM' (INCLUDING THE 'INSTRUMENTALS WITH WORDS') - OF WHICH 10 TRACKS OR MORE WILL BE PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED…
2)
A LTD EDITION '4:14 SCREAM' SINGLE CD ALBUM OF 14 PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED SONGS - ALBEIT SOME OF THEM MAY ALSO BE ON '4:26 DREAM'… BUT THESE '4:14 SCREAM' VERSIONS WILL ALL HAVE WORDS AND VOCALS…
"AS CLEARLY AND SUCCINCTLY AS I CAN"?!!:
ITS MAYBE STILL A BIT TRICKY TO EXPLAIN WITHOUT TITLES AND LYRICS AND…
MUSIC!!!
BUT...
OF THE ORIGINAL 33 SONGS RECORDED IN 2008
32 WILL GET RELEASED
(THERE'S ALWAYS ONE…!)
AND I WILL BE OVERCOME WITH AN IRRESISTIBLE URGE** TO FINISH SOME (ALL?!!) OF THE OTHER OUTSTANDING CURE PROJECTS
LIKE 'LIVE IN PARIS 2008' AND 'REFLECTIONS 2011' AND 'SUMMERCURE 2012' AND 'LATAM 2013' (AND 'RAH TCT 2014'?!!)
…AND CREATE SOME NEW NEW MUSIC WITH THIS CURRENT CURE LINEUP...
"Down, down, deeper and down… "
HA!
AND ONWARDS
RSX
PS
"AS CLEARLY AND SUCCINCTLY AS I CAN":
I STILL PREFER PHYSICAL RELEASES TO VIRTUAL… gulp!
PPS
*"Having said all that, I have no idea… I really don't. I'm really bad at planning long-term stuff." - ME, AT THE WEEKEND…
**"TRUE ART IS CHARACTERISED BY AN IRRESISTIBLE URGE IN THE CREATIVE ARTIST"… EINSTEIN, SOMETIME EARLIER!!!
http://craigjparker.blogspot.com.au/...odbye.html?m=1
Judging by no Porl, Roger, or Reeves in the band, and by the stickers on Robert's guitar, this appears to have been recorded between 2009 - 2011. Guessing 2011 based on this first being reported by The Sun on April 11th, 2011. Articles here.
Also, according to The Art of McCartney website, Robert will do a solo cover of 'C Moon' by Wings. It will not be on the standard CD, only the Deluxe Set & Triple Vinyl Shoulder Pack. Press release says if you pre-order , you get a download now of 'Hello Goodbye'.
From The Guardian:
Hear the Cure cover the Beatles on their first new recording for six years – exclusive
Version of Hello Goodbye comes from forthcoming all-star tribute album to Sir Paul McCartney
November 17 sees the release of the tribute album to end tribute albums – a 34-song salute to Sir Paul McCartney, featuring the likes of Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Kiss, Barry Gibb, Dr John, BB King and more. Needless to say, The Art of McCartney comes in 327 formats of varying levels of deluxitude, from a simple two-CD set all the way up to a box set featuring a “specially designed Hofner violin bass shaped USB with flac files of the album”.
But you want to know what the music’s like, don’t you? Here’s a very special taste, in the form of the first new recording from the Cure for six years – a version of Hello Goodbye, featuring Sir Paul’s son James on keyboards. Have a listen and let us know what you think.
Articles about this: Spin / Pitchfork / Vanyaland / Diffuser / USA Today / ABC News / Slicing Up Eyeballs / Consequence of Sound / Elmore Magazine / Live4Ever / Something Else / NME / Rolling Stone / Gigwise / RTE Ten / Music-News / Stereoboard
That's a fucking good cover. That is how it's supposed to be done. Not that crap version by the Jonas Brothers for Target.
Good stuff. Goes on too long though, faithful to the original.
The Cure at Hammersmith Apollo (12-21-14)
Dec. 21st, 2014
Eventim Hammersmith Apollo in London, England
Doors 6:30 PM / And Also The Trees 7 - 7:45 / The Cure 8:07 - 11:16
Setlist: Shake Dog Shake, Kyoto Song (last played June 21st, 2008), A Night Like This, alt.end, Wailing Wall(last played Nov. 17th, 1984), Bananafishbones, The Caterpillar, The Walk, A Man Inside My Mouth (1st time ever played), Close to Me, Lullaby, High, Birdmad Girl, Just Like Heaven, Pictures of You, Before Three, Lovesong, Like Cockatoos (last played Sept. 6th, 2004), From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, Want, The Hungry Ghost, One Hundred Years, Give Me It
1st encore: The Empty World (last played Oct. 17th, 1984), Charlotte Sometimes, Primary, The Top
2nd encore: Dressing Up, Piggy in the Mirror (last played Dec. 17th, 1997), Never Enough, Wrong Number
3rd encore: Three Imaginary Boys, M, Play For Today, A Forest
Robert: "We're probably going to overrun a bit but pfft it's Christmas"
4th encore: The Lovecats, Let's Go to Bed, Why Can't I Be You?, Boys Don't Cry, Hey You (last played March 5th, 2004).
yup. pretty amazing. i have tickets for the 23rd but i won't be able to make it due to poor holiday planning and super expensive flights .
not only are they playing all of the top (one of the most underrated cure records), the opening band, and also the trees, has been a long-standing favorite of mine for YEARS. they haven't been back to the states in maybe 10-20 years at this point, so they were worth the price of admission for me if i could have made it.
if anyone hasn't heard them before, and also the trees are a mix of early angsty cure and literary-driven nick cave. they haven't broken up- have just been releasing records since the 1980s. there are A LOT of cure parallels. lol tolhurst produced a few of their early records and singles, and there's an excellent robert smith mix of their 1989 track 'the pear tree' that expands on the original.
related and unrelated, are you guys hip to this band & this remix yet?
Last edited by frankie teardrop; 10-06-2015 at 11:12 AM.
I'll be there to see The Cure tomorrow night. I would be really super excited except it seems hardly any time since I saw them last (London again, in March). But yes, the setlist is interesting. I can't help wonder if they will play all of Head on the Door tonight and Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me on Tuesday - I think RS did mention the idea of a (different) trilogy tour a while back. Hmm. With a show like that though it's hard to criticise, whatever happens.
Never heard of And Also The Trees before now... sound good, but not sure I'll end up catching them. Don't get me started on Cranes though. Home town heroes and all round legends.
not to oversell them, but if you can make it to the venue in time, definitely make that happen. i don't know what they're playing these days, but if they do any of the following: scarlet arch, virus meadow, a room lives in lucy, etc. you're in for a great opening set!
edit (from 2013):
Last edited by frankie teardrop; 12-22-2014 at 10:17 AM.
All I want to see is one hundred years fate intervenes every time I try and see this band
PS
It looks like they're just doing The Top as it is its anniversary (released in 1984), and the merch at the shows features The Top artwork. Weird that they aren't doing it in sequential album order though.
They changed it up a bit tonight, but, not much, Robert even mentioned a couple times that this was a Top heavy set.
The Cure, in a small venue for extended playing time = Heaven
So I did end up catching And Also The Trees - or part of their set anyway. Pretty good indeed.
The Cure were of course fantastic. I have to say I'm not that familiar with The Top so it was a bit unusual. Generally I preferred the setlist from earlier in the year when they played more recent stuff, and more from Disintegration, but this time I got to see Primary and Charlotte Sometimes which I was rather pleased about. I did have to leave early though to get the last train home from London. Left after Fascination Street I think. It's nice they play long sets, but a shame for those relying on public transport to get home. Oh well!