NPR - One of their top 50, but not in their top 13
Glide - One of their top 20
Rolling Stone - #48
Paste - #11
Stereogum - #29
Consequence - #20
The Quietus - #62
The Independent - #8
Time Out - #5
Rough Trade - #23
MOJO - #31
Uncut - #69
Monday, December 2, 2024
Robert Smith to talk through The Cure’s ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ on Tim’s Listening Party
From NME:
Tune in to hear The Cure icon go deep, track-by-track, on the their latest Number One album
By Andrew Trendell
The Cure's Robert Smith will be joining Tim Burgess for Tim's Listening Party to talk through 'Songs Of A Lost World'. Credit: Tim Burgess/supplied to NME
The Cure's Robert Smith will be joining Tim Burgess for Tim's Listening Party to talk through 'Songs Of A Lost World'. Credit: Tim Burgess/supplied to NME
Robert Smith will join Tim Burgess for a special run-through of The Cure‘s acclaimed ‘Songs Of A Lost World‘ on an upcoming edition of Tims Listening Party, NME can exclusively reveal.
Becoming a favourite among music fans on social media during lockdown as Tim’s Twitter Listening Parties, the format of The Charlatans frontman talking through new and classic albums with the artists behind them found a new home as a podcast and show on Absolute Radio last year.
Now, it has been confirmed that Smith has recorded a special version of the show that will be broadcast from 10pm this weekend on Sunday December 8 on Absolute Radio before becoming available on the Rayo app shortly after and being made into a podcast early in the new year.
“I’m looking forward very much to my second Listening Party,” Smith told NME, “running through ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ with Tim – this time together in a ‘real life space’ – should be good?”
This comes after Smith hosted a run-through of Tim’s Twitter Listening Party for their classic album ‘Wish’ back in November 2022, done from the dressing room after The Cure played the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam. It became the third most replayed Listening Party with over 40,000 so far (with Iron Maiden occupying the top two places). Revisit the ‘Wish’ playback here.
Since Burgess took it to Absolute Radio, The Listening Party has won Gold as best newcomer at The Arias, The Radio Academy earlier this year. The show has featured the likes of U2, Texas, The Kinks, Fall Out Boy, The Libertines and more.
Sunday, December 1, 2024
From the Cure emails
Songs of a Lost World (Blood Red Moon 2 x vinyl includes instrumentals)
Songs of a Live World (Vinyl, CD, Cassette)
Songs of a Lost & Live World bundles (Vinyl, CD, Cassette)
‘SONGS OF A LIVE WORLD :
TROXY LONDON MMXXlV’
NEW AUDIO MIX BY ROBERT SMITH
NOW AVAILABLE ON VINYL, CD & CASSETTE
RELEASED DECEMBER 13TH
ALL CURE RECORD ROYALTIES FROM THIS LIVE RELEASE WILL BE DONATED TO ‘WAR CHILD’ https://www.warchild.org.uk/
SOME EDITIONS ALSO FEATURE THE ORIGINAL ‘SONGS OF A LOST WORLD’ ALBUM
THE FULL TROXY SHOW REMAINS AVAILABLE TO WATCH ON YOUTUBE
ONLY AVAILABLE AT THE ‘SONGS OF A LOST WORLD’ STORE & ‘PROCUREMENTS’ STORE
SEE STORES FOR FINAL CHRISTMAS ORDER DATES
Roger on Do You
From Roger on Bluesky:
Tomorrow morning December 2nd, 9:00 GMT I will be on Do You Radio with host Charlie and my friend Ian who I met at the first day of art school 50 years ago. Talking about a lifetime of creativity, music, art and friendship. You can listen live or to the stream X doyou.world
Friday, November 29, 2024
More Troxy news this Sunday
From the Cure email this morning:
THANK YOU AGAIN TO EVERYONE FOR HELPING MAKE THE TROXY LONDON NIGHT SO SPECIAL – IN THE ROOM & AROUND THE WORLD
A FRAGILE THING
(LIVE TROXY LONDON MMXXIV)
(AUDIO MIX BY RS) IS OUT NOW EVERYWHERE
ACCOMPANIED BY A SIMPLE RS DMC REMIX,
THE RADIO EDIT & THE ALBUM VERSION
MORE EXCITING TROXY NEWS THIS SUNDAY
Thursday, November 28, 2024
Tuesday, November 26, 2024
Friday, November 22, 2024
Troxy photos
More fantastic photos of The Cure at Troxy on Nov. 1st from Thorsten Samesch. Check his Instagram page for lots more.
Tuesday, November 19, 2024
Robert raises £27,500 for Heart Research UK
From NME:
Robert Smith raises £27,500 for charity with artwork inspired by The Cure’s ‘Songs Of A Lost World’
"I have sadly seen too many friends and family fall victim to heart disease"
By Daniel Peters
Robert Smith has raised £27,500 for Heart Research UK with artwork that was inspired by The Cure‘s new album ‘Songs Of A Lost World’.
Earlier this month, the frontman revealed that he made five works for the anonymous heART project – an online auction featuring 576 postcard-sized pieces, with the identity of the artists only revealed after they are sold.
His creations for the 2024 auction are based on tracks from The Cure’s first studio record in 16 years: ‘Drone:Nodrone’, ‘I Can Never Say Goodbye’, ‘Warsong’ and ‘A Fragile Thing’.
After the auction ended on November 10, the piece of artwork named after ‘I Can Never Say Goodbye’ was the highest piece sold, reaching £15,500, shortly followed by ‘Warsong’ at £3,974.
In a press statement, Smith said that making these pieces “allowed me to combine other passions, expressing emotions reflected on the album in a physical way.”
He continues: “What makes it even more satisfying is how this art can help drive change and support vital research which could save millions of lives.”
“Over the years, I have sadly seen too many friends and family fall victim to heart disease. By bringing together the creativity of so many talented individuals the anonymous heART project is a wonderful opportunity to share this art and support a great cause. The project proves that art can truly make a difference – for artists, for collectors, and for the future of heart health.”
Smith jonied a host of world-famous artists and musicians in contributing to heART, including Julian Opie (who designed the iconic cover of ‘Blur: The Best Of’), the Levellers‘ Jeremy Cunningham and The Twilight Sad.
Sunday, November 17, 2024
Roger joins Bluesky
Joining The Cure, Robert and Reeves, Roger has joined Bluesky. He confirmed his account (@rogerodonnell.bsky.social) on Twitter
Saturday, November 16, 2024
The Cure Galore: Baby from front cover of album given surprise gift on wedding day
From The Yorkshire Post:
The Cure Galore: Baby from front cover of album given surprise gift on wedding day
By Marti Stelling
A York woman who featured on the cover of The Cure’s Galore album as a baby was surprised to receive a signed copy of the album at her wedding, 27 years later.
Ms Slark’s mother Julia contacted the original photographer Andy Vella to ask if the band would send a signed copy of the album as a wedding gift when she married Rupert Lloyd.
Ms Slark, 28, who works as an A&E doctor, said: “I was a very smiley baby so my parents tried to pursue some modelling for me. They sent in my photo to an agency and I was selected to be the cover of The Cure’s compilation album Galore.
“I don’t remember the photo shoot because I was only one-and-a-half years old but my parents told me that an ice cream van was hired for the day. Apparently another ice cream man came over and was really angry because we were on their patch of the beach so we had to pack up and move quite quickly! After the shoot we were given a giant poster which is still in the house somewhere, and a CD.”
Galore is the second singles compilation by The Cure and was released on October 28, 1997. It contains singles from the years 1987 to 1997.
Her mother, who was there when the photographs were taken, said: “Isabel was very happy and smiley the whole day, even when I woke her up at 4.45am.”
“We had to be at Whitstable beach for 5am that morning. Andy Vella was there in a pink classic car and I remember the ice cream van incident very well. In the end the ice cream man hired for the shoot had to park miles away and run up and down to the beach with ice creams!”
Mr Vella captured the cover art for many of The Cure’s albums including Faith, Disintegration and Galore.
Ms Slark, who has not done any other modelling since, said: “I don’t tend to tell people often but when I have to come up with a fun fact or two truths and a lie, it’s my go-to. People can recognise that it’s me on the cover when I hold it up next to me but I never got recognised out and about for it.
“I’m a big fan of The Cure and my favourite song is probably Friday I’m in Love from the album Wish. Both me and my husband had no idea we were going to be given the album at our wedding so we were very surprised.
“It was given to us in the Best Man’s speech which was hilarious, particularly because some of the people at the wedding didn’t know it was me on the cover. It was such as nice moment to share with our friends and family.”
Friday, November 15, 2024
Cure all: Universal Music's Nickie Owen on how The Cure hit the summit across Europe
From Music Week:
Cure all: Universal Music's Nickie Owen on how The Cure hit the summit across Europe
by Andre Paine
The Cure are celebrating huge success with their comeback album.
Released via Polydor, Songs Of A Lost World opened at No.1 in the UK with sales of 51,362 (Official Charts Company). That was more than the rest of the Top 5 combined.
In our interview last week, Polydor Label Group president Ben Mortimer told Music Week that the public response to Robert Smith’s return has been “overwhelming”.
The Cure’s first album in 16 years has also secured multiple No.1s internationally, including in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Portugal. In addition, there was a No.2 finish in Italy, No.3 in Ireland and New Zealand, No.4 in the US (their best result since 1992) and No.5 in Australia and Norway.
Here, Nickie Owen, president, international marketing at Universal Music UK, reveals the strategy behind the LP’s global impact…
After such a long gap between albums, how did you manage to reach so many fans for this project internationally?
“Robert had revealed the album title over two years ago and a number of the new songs had been played live around the globe in the last few years of touring. This means The Cure’s audience, which is truly global, had been eagerly waiting for Songs Of A Lost World for some time.
“The international campaign, brilliantly led by Ben Alexander and Tafara Mugumbate [international marketing, Universal Music UK] started with OOH billboards teasing the release in many major cities around the world ahead of the official announce, as well as sending bespoke postcards to the band’s biggest fans and supporters in the media in key markets. This again ramped up the anticipation globally.
“There was a fantastic 90-minute filmed interview with Robert that we transcribed and translated, so that we could supply it to media for written press, radio features and TV news – that we strategically drip-fed over the two months leading into release internationally. Their incredible fanbase was ready and waiting for the album announcement and we saw that in the huge pick-up online and in the press when the album was officially announced.”
How has this chart campaign helped re-establish the band with a global audience, particularly as they last released a record before the streaming era had begun?
“To achieve the best chart entries of any album in the band’s discography all over the world not only goes to show the size and fervour of the band’s fanbase, but also reminds everyone of the importance of The Cure in music history.
“The quality of the new album, sales numbers that continue to come, and critical acclaim from some of the biggest media in the world firmly re-establishes them as a global phenomenon that can compete with some of the biggest modern global artists.”
France has long been a strong market where The Cure have toured a lot over the years. What was the scale of the French campaign and what has the response been?
“France is a huge market for the band, so it was of course a very important focus for us from the beginning. With this campaign, we were able to partner with the biggest radio station in the country, France Inter, to have their full support from the start of the campaign, flyaway competitions to the band’s show at the Troxy, OOH billboards, fan listening parties and more. With radio still a big driver in the market, we ran a number of on-air competitions with many other major radio stations, and partnered with Deezer to run a huge campaign including flyaways to London for the Troxy show.
“We also had special The Cure ‘corner store’ pop-ups in the country’s main retailer, FNAC for the album, with a full area dedicated to the band from release last Friday, and screenings for fans of the global live stream at the very moment the album went on sale in the stores. In the end, we had well over 20,000 sales week one in France, well over double the sales of the band’s last album, and their first No.1 album there.”
As well as France, you had multiple No.1s in key European markets. How did you coordinate the campaign in terms of label partners, retail, DSPs and media?
“Unbelievably, The Cure have never had a No.1 album in Europe so to have nine No.1s [in Europe plus the UK] is an incredible result and testament to a brilliant album. The Universal territories were unbelievably excited to have a new Cure record this year. Polydor have been fantastic in delivering plans with DSPs that could be rolled out globally. The roll-out was so well timed that it meant all markets were able to have local conversations with media and retail in advance to set out the best possible campaign, which you can see from the results themselves including over 100,000 global pre-orders on the album.
“The great DSP set-up was also evident in the streaming numbers both on the launch of Alone and the album overall. The YouTube global livestream on the night of release was another brilliant way to highlight the album with many countries hosting events locally and having midnight openings for fans.”
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