Wednesday, September 19, 2018

The Cure play Florence, Italy on June 16th

Firenze Rocks have announced The Cure as their first headliner for their 2019 festival. From their Facebook page:

The Cure are the first headliner announced by #Firenzerocks 2019!

** only date in Italy! **
Sunday 16 June // Visarno Arena

Official event page 👇
The Cure // Firenze Rocks 2019

tickets available:

• From 11:00 on Wednesday 2 October, preview via the official app of Florence rocks

Ios > apple.co/fr_ios
Android > bit.ly/fr_gp

• from 12.00 on Wednesday 3 October through general sale on > www.firenzerocks.it

Further information on prices and ticket types will be reported in the next few days
Posted by Craig at 8:11 AM

The Cure play Athens, Greece on July 17th


Ejekt Festival has announced The Cure as their first headliner for their 15th anniversary. More information and ticket details will be announced soon.

Posted by Craig at 8:03 AM

The Cure play 2 shows in South Africa in March

The Cure will be playing their first ever shows in South Africa, next March.

March 16th, 2019 in Johannesburg

March 21st, 2019 in Cape Town

Tickets available here.
Posted by Craig at 8:00 AM

Boo Wave Halloween decorations


Matthew Lineham has once again featured Robert in his Halloween decorations for this year. Window clings, art prints, pennant, all available here.
Posted by Craig at 7:58 AM

Michael talks about Beauty in Chaos today


Michael Ciravolo will be talking about his 'Beauty in Chaos' project, which features Simon Gallup on bass for 'Miracle Man', on the Andy Cousins show today.
Posted by Craig at 7:56 AM

Pitchfork's 200 Best Albums of the 1980s


Pitchfork have revised and updated their 200 Best Albums of the 1980s list, and here's how The Cure fared:

#109 - The Head on the Door

The Cure’s sixth LP was also their big American breakthrough—a bright, crisp record nearly devoid of their signature swirling gloom. In this new light, Robert Smith’s dark desires took on positively cheery undertones, from jangly opener “In Between Days” and the eternal synth bop of “Close to Me” to the almost-disco of “Push,” which is basically Blondie viewed through a veil of distortion. It was the only one of the band’s albums to be entirely conceived by Smith, but far from being a hermetic affair, it veered outward, eagerly grabbing at new ideas. And with an added fifth member, multi-instrumentalist Porl Thompson, the sound was tighter and bolder, too. The brief, wondrous record marks a transition point in the Cure’s canon, a snapshot of a band making their way toward sprawling works yet to come. –Eve Barlow


#9 - Disintegration

The stylistic changes, the shifting lineups, the psilocybin and emptied liquor cabinets: Few acts had a more helter-skelter ’80s than the Cure. To trace a path from 1980’s Boys Don’t Cry up to 1987’s Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me is to traverse punky perkiness, black-hearted resignation, foulest bile, insouciant psychedelia, and eyelash-batting pop. But it all comes to a head with 1989’s Disintegration—a sprawling double album that boils down all the Cure’s complexities into two contrasting shades of bittersweet.

Robert Smith’s love songs have never been as direct as “Lovesong,” a synth ballad as plain-spoken as a note left on a pillow, nor as evocative as “Plainsong,” a character study written with Raymond Carver’s sense of focus. If the album’s first half epitomizes the band’s unique fusion of melancholy and whimsy, the second half delves into their soul-scouring depths with surging guitars, storm-tossed rhythms, and Smith’s most desperate wails. “Fascination Street” and “Prayers for Rain” draw from the dirge-like moods of their early-’80s work while blowing that feeling up to acid-drenched proportions; like everything on the album, these two songs are intractable, improbable beasts, the kinds of echo-soaked anthems that made the Cure the decade’s unlikeliest alt-rock heroes. –Philip Sherburne
Posted by Craig at 7:54 AM

Louder's 20 Best Albums from 1982


From Louder:

Pornography

Now belatedly considered one of Robert Smith and company’s best records, not to mention a milestone in the genesis of goth rock, Pornography was nevertheless given short shrift by the critics. Its heavy, distorted guitars, Smith’s echo-charged vocals and bleakly emotional lyrics make for some truly uncomfortable listening, certainly when compared to the jaunty pop of the group’s The Head On The Door era. But hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Posted by Craig at 7:52 AM

AV Club's 9 Increible Cover Songs


From the AV Club:

Dinosaur Jr. - Just Like Heaven

The best covers have a reverence for the original song while adding a unique spin, offering new interpretation of a well-worn creation. My favorite example of this particular combo is Dinosaur Jr.’s version of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven.” The original is a breathy, wispy take of a love lost at sea. But Dinosaur Jr. digs out the menace in the song, adding a ferocious beat to the “you” in the chorus, eventually ending on that frightening note (the band also hilariously chimes in only on the word “head”). And naturally, a trippy J Mascis guitar solo makes every song better. Not only did Dinosaur Jr. love this particular cover—the band recorded it for a compilation album, then refused to give it up, releasing it themselves—but it’s Robert Smith’s own favorite alternate version of the song. J Mascis sent it to him on a cassette, and Smith told Blender, “It was so passionate. It was fantastic. I’ve never had such a visceral reaction to a cover version before or since.” Smith says that the Dinosaur Jr. version even affects how The Cure now plays the song live.
Posted by Craig at 7:50 AM

Sunday, July 22, 2018

Reeves helps rework Bowie's 'Never Let Me Down' album


From Georgie Rogers:

BBC 6 MUSIC INTERVIEWS: DAVID BOWIE LOVING THE ALIEN BOXSET WITH REEVES GABRELS AND MARIO MCNULTY

The 12th October will see the release of the latest in the series of career spanning David Bowie box sets. So far the first three have covered from 1969 through to 1982.

The next is called 'LOVING THE ALIEN' and reflects 1983 - 1988.

The eleven CD, fifteen-piece vinyl set which includes newly remastered versions of Bowie's most successful period - starting off with 'LET'S DANCE' which propelled him into a commercially mainstream stadium-filling stratosphere, then it's follow up 'TONIGHT', 'NEVER LET ME DOWN, the live album 'GLASS SPIDER (Live Montreal '87)' and the previously unreleased 'SERIOUS MOONLIGHT' live album.

Now the accepted wisdom is that while 'LET'S DANCE' was all killer, and 'TONIGHT' has its moments (Loving The Alien) but 'NEVER LET ME DOWN' wasn't Bowie's finest moment, and admittedly the 80's production hasn't aged that well.

So this set includes a complete re-versioning of the album.

Early this year engineer Mario McNulty - who had remixed the album's track Time Will Crawl back in 2008 with Bowie - he got in the studio with drummer Sterling Campbell, bassist Tim Lefebvre (who played on Blackstar) and guitarists Reeves Gabrels and David Torn to record a new version of the album with Bowie's original vocals.

Reeves Gabrels was David's guitarist from 1988 through to 1999. He was also in Bowie's heavy alt rock group Tin Machine and plays in The Cure. I spoke to him for BBC 6 Music about the project...


Listen to the BBC 6 Music interview here (Bowie segment starts at 44:25, Reeves interview at 46:24). They also talked to Reeves about The Cure, and say they'll air that part in a couple of weeks.

And here's more info on the project from Rolling Stone:

Also exclusive to the box set is a 2018 reworking of Never Let Me Down with new production and instrumentation overseen by Bowie producer/engineer Mario McNulty. Longtime Bowie collaborators including guitarist Reeves Gabriel and drummer Sterling Campbell, Blackstar bassist Tim Lefebvre and composer Nico Muhly also contributed to the project, which was born out of Bowie’s desire to rerecord the 1987 LP that he called “a bitter disappointment.“

“The seeds of this new reimagining of the albums were first sown in 2008 when Bowie asked McNulty to remix the track ‘Time Will Crawl’ and record new drums by longtime Bowie drummer Sterling Campbell along with strings,’ Parlaphone wrote of Never Let Me Down (2018). “The track was issued on the iSelect compilation to much acclaim and, in the notes for that record, David remarked ‘Oh, to redo the rest of that album.'”

In early January, the musicians involved entered New York’s Electric Lady Studios to fulfill Bowie’s wish and remake Never Let Me Down, which now features a guest appearance by Laurie Anderson on “Shining Star (Makin’ My Love).” The 2018 reworking also boasts “newly ‘remixed’ artwork reflecting the album’s subject matter and features unseen images from the original cover photographic session from the archive of Greg Gorman.


Posted by Craig at 9:47 AM

Cure article in new Rock & Folk

Posted by Craig at 9:30 AM

Killing an Arab: The Cure try to reclaim their most controversial single


From the New Statesman:

Killing an Arab: The Cure try to reclaim their most controversial single

Can a song about murdering an Algerian ever be benign?

By Calum Bradshaw

“It should be a great gig – but they won’t play “Killing an Arab”” – this was the last text message my dad, at home, sent to me before my phone battery died in the sweltering heat of The Cure’s 40th anniversary celebration concert at London’s Hyde Park earlier this month.

My dad grew up on The Cure. He had the hair, the platforms, and the drainpipe jeans. He’s stuck with them through every sea change and slump. Against the grain of critical consensus, he reckons that “they’re at their best pre-“The Caterpillar”” – he’s a man who likes OG Cure, from “Boys Don’t Cry”, to “A Forest”, and the band’s first ever single, 1978’s “Killing an Arab”. If not for the inconvenient timing of his wedding anniversary, I’m sure Dad would have dusted off the Doc Martens and hopped on the train to the gig with me.

“Killing an Arab” is a short, spiky track with a colourful history. Written by frontman Robert Smith while he was still at school, it was released in 1978 with the B-side “10:15 Saturday Night”. Its main chorus line runs: “I’m alive / I’m dead / I’m the stranger / killing an Arab.” Its been called either racist or misunderstood in equal measure, and in Hyde Park – despite my dad’s convictions – The Cure played it.

The song draws its inspiration from the central action of Albert Camus’s novel L’Étranger (The Stranger), which follows a protagonist who murders an Algerian man on a beach after a love dispute involving the victim’s sister. This Arab, as he is continually referred to in the novel, is never named, and the protagonist, detached and unrepentant, is executed for his crime. The novel is an exploration of the nihilism and narcissism of its protagonist, and is held up as a crucial component of the 20th century canon. Sadly, few of the skinheads who turned out to early The Cure gigs had swotted up on their existentialist literature, and somewhat missed this memo.

Instead, racist interpretations saw Smith fighting a rearguard action over a song that, as he said in a 2001 interview with now defunct Canadian music magazine Chart Attack, he “had no idea that anyone would ever listen to... other than my immediate school friends”. When The Cure played at Kingston Polytechnic in 1979, they were asked not to include “Killing an Arab” in their set, over concerns of a racist message. It was widely dropped from radio playlists, and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee asked for the song to be withdrawn from sale – it later reached a joint agreement with the band and copies of the singles collection Standing on a Beach were marketed with a sleeve sticker denouncing anti-Arab interpretations. The sticker read:

“The song ‘Killing an Arab’ has absolutely no racist overtones whatsoever. It is a song which decries the existence of all prejudice and consequent violence. The Cure condemn its use in furthering anti-Arab feeling.”

Read more »
Posted by Craig at 9:27 AM

Roger at the British Grand Prix

Posted by Craig at 9:20 AM

Cure discussion on We Dig Music podcast


Posted by Craig at 9:17 AM

Saturday, July 7, 2018

The Cure at Hyde Park (July 7th, 2018)


The Cure's 40th Anniversary Party
July 7th, 2018
BST at Hyde Park
London, England

Setlist: Plainsong, Pictures of You, High, A Night Like This, The Walk, End of the World, Lovesong, Push, In Between Days, Just Like Heaven, If Only Tonight We Could Sleep, Play For Today, A Forest, Shake Dog Shake, Burn, Fascination Street, Never Enough, From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, Disintegration

1st encore: Lullaby, The Caterpillar, Friday I'm in Love, Close to Me, Why Can't I Be You?, Boys Don't Cry, Jumping Someone Else's Train, Grinding Halt, 10:15 Saturday Night, Killing An Arab.

"Thank you very much. See you again very soon. Thank you."

Articles & Reviews: Independent / Drowned in Sound / NME / Metro / Clash Music / Rolling Stone / Louder / Disarm / Big Issue / MusicOHM / Musik Express / Radio X / Yahoo / Muzikalia / Outside / Independent.IE / Spin / Le Temps / Mic / Statuesque Music Reviews / Slicing Up Eyeballs / Post Punk / NWI Times / Sopitas

Photos: Consequence of Sound / Sing Birds Sing: Twilight Sad - The Cure - Kathryn Joseph / Sound of Violence: Twilight Sad - The Cure / Marsworld: The Cure - Slowdive - Editors - Interpol / Paige K. Parsons: The Cure - The Twilight Sad / Aaron Law /

Scopes: Snuffybear (audio only)

Videos: Plainsong / A Night Like This 1 - 2 / Push / Just Like Heaven / Play For Today 1 - 2 / Shake Dog Shake / Burn / From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea / Disintegration 1 - 2 / Friday I'm in Love / Close to Me / Boys Don't Cry / Boys Don't Cry & Jumping Someone Else's Train & Grinding Halt / Jumping Someone Else's Train & Grinding Halt & 10:15 Saturday Night & Killing An Arab  / 10:15 Saturday Night & Killing An Arab / Boys Don't Cry & Jumping Someone Else's Train & Grinding Halt & 10:15 Saturday Night & Killing An Arab


Thank you so much to Snuffybear and everyone who shared photos and videos and reports and everything else! Thank you for letting fans who couldn't be there, celebrate the band that they love! Happy 40th anniversary, The Cure! We love you!









Posted by Craig at 6:12 AM

BST Hyde Park merch




Posted by Craig at 6:00 AM

Monday, July 2, 2018

Tim will be filming the Hyde Park show

Posted by Craig at 12:19 PM

Hyde Park t-shirt, lanyard, and mug


Cure Hyde Park T-shirt (£25) and Lanyard (£8) are up for ordering.

"Enter unique code from your email if you paid for shirt with Hyde Park ticket." Thanks @GMFree1.


Update (July 2nd, 2018): And now there's a mug, too
Posted by Craig at 12:18 PM

All Cure edition of Dark Wave this Sunday

Posted by Craig at 11:40 AM

Photos from the Crawley Museum Cure Exhibit




A post shared by @_all_decay on







Posted by Craig at 11:37 AM

Saturday, June 30, 2018

Updates from the Crawley Museum Cure Exhibit






The Cure exhibition will run from July 1-22. Opening times are Wednesday to Saturday 10.30am to 4pm, Sunday 2-4.30pm.
Posted by Craig at 11:30 AM
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