The new singles story has been picked up by various media outlets:
Billboard
CMJ (Geffen says the album will be a single, not a double)
Pitchfork
Dotmusic
ContactMusic
IGN
Yahoo Music
Digital Spy
NME
FMQB
Undercover (read this one, it's good)
Chart Attack
Spin ("makeup-caked Britpoppers")
The West Australian
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about it being a single CD release I wondered when they said they would release 4 B Sides that those songs were originaly scheduled for the double release
ReplyDeleteIs there any 100 % reliable source on the question if it'll be a single or a double album?
ReplyDeleteOr is everything just speculation at the moment?
No, just speculation right now. The press release from yesterday didn't say it was a double, and now we have someone from Geffen telling CMJ that it will be a single album.
ReplyDeleteGuess we'll have to wait a bit longer to find out for sure.
I did not ever follow Robert Smith amd the 'making of an album' on the internet until this go around. All I found out was that 80% of what he says never comes about. I wouldn't be let down about a double album if he had not said anything. I know nothings for sure, but it's not looking good.
ReplyDeleteI would find it hard to believe that Robert Smith would cave into a record companies wishes for a single release, when everything they have done before has been for the fans, but if it is a single release, those songs will be released some other way.
ReplyDeletewhat happen from the radio promotion??
ReplyDeletesomebody listen "the only one" in the radio?
A double album would be surprising. The record companies know its not cost effective and that it really only attracts fans that would and will allready buy the album, double or not. And that they can indeed "release the songs in some other way" one that will make the record company more $$$.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, as much as I'd love to have more Cure music (i.e. a double album), a single disc might just give this album a chance at being classified as a "masterpiece". Something the Cure hasn't produced since Wish (in my opinion). I think that their last album and Wild Mood Swings would have been much better had they each been stripped of 3-4 of the weaker songs. I'll take a 10-song classic over a double album watered down with fluff. And I'm afraid that's exactly what a double album would be.
ReplyDeleteThe text of "undercover" is so realistic. One more The Cure proves that ONLY music matters and nothing else. Being a fan since a long time (25 years), I enjoy seeing a such statement of music industry (wich I approve), and how The Cure always do as they want, and nothingelse counts, except the fans...
ReplyDeleteThanks Robert
you have a good point, furrever. i was wondering the same thing myself; more material can definitely lead to a bloated mess, and this goes for any band. i don't mind the extra tracks being reduced to b-sides as long as they are readily available. the main album should be as solid as can be, regardless if that takes 10 tracks or 20.
ReplyDeleteglad others think like me...just didnt want to get all bashed for thinking the cure could spend so much time on something that does not come out well, but then they did spend 4 years between wish and WMS and bloodflowers and THE CURE, which are not the best. (and i know they didnt record all those 4 years) point is, id much rather a perfect piece of the cure's soul than an overproduced extended skip 5 tracks till the next good song album. but i have faith in robert. he seems too into it to fail me.
ReplyDeleteGod damn it! I want a double album! Robert's pulling his mainstream crap again. Let's all contact him through the cure myspace page and maybe he'll realize he's making a mistake. I want the artistic album he was going to make not more of the crap that gave us the US 11-track version of the "The Cure" in 2004. This is a huge mistake!
ReplyDeleteThe problem with Geffen making sure the album is a single disc is they'll likely leave out anything challenging. Imagine if "Kid A" had no "Motion Picture Soundtrack" or "How to Disappear Completely". More to the point, anyone remember the crappy album from 2004? The one that excluded the better tracks found on the Japanese release, while giving us North Americans such splendor as "Never" and "alt.end" and "Taking Off" ("Just Like Heaven" Part Deux)? Also, remember, Robert telling fans to chill out about the bonus tracks left off the North American release and that they'd all be released in one form or another by the end of the year? Didn't happen.
ReplyDeleteI want a Robert-produced album. I'd buy the Geffen-produced one because I have the funds and am a completist, but trying to force this thing to be loved by the mainstream in this extremely intolerant climate that eschews Radiohead and gives U2 a ton of Grammys for one of their worst albums ("How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb") when their best album "Achtung Baby" went unrecognized is foolish.
Make a good album and people will buy it. Something with artistic integrity will be loved, but some carefully altered thing to fit the mainstream will suck. And we won't get the extra stuff -- the instrumentals, etc. They'll stay on the cutting room floor for another 15 years or might never be released or be released as crappy mp3s.
Robert said he'd be willing to take a pay cut to have the double album cheaply priced and I want him to follow through with releasing it if it's a better work of art. This is really upsetting. I've been patient and am willing to wait, but I want a quality piece of work, not more stuff that sounds like Cure formula, but is subpar. I want interesting, revolutionary stuff and -- not that the 2004 excluded stuff was so amazing but -- Geffen is likely to exclude that. Again!
Muld - man, you really need to calm down. We don't even know if it will be a single or double yet. One guy from Geffen telling CMJ that it's a single, doesn't make it so. It certainly wouldn't be the first time someone at Geffen would give out bad info. Just relax, enjoy the new single (or at least the b-side) and wait and see what gets announced. Nothing we say are do will change it now.
ReplyDeleteAnd just for you - "So say we all!"
: )
Interesting analogy, Muldy, with the Kid A thing. But I have to agree with Craig here (surprise!?) -- this is one unconfirmed claim. We don't KNOW anything yet.
ReplyDeleteI find your examples of 'challenging' Kid A songs interesting. Compared to, say, the title track and Idioteque, How To Disappear Completely and Motion Picture Soundtrack are extremely accessible, I think. Even Treefingers is less accessible. I think.
If this album does turn out to be a single, I'll be disappointed -- less material is cause for a bit of sadness. But at the same time, every Cure album since Kiss Me has been a couple of tracks too long (though you throw some b-sides into the mix and it's a different story). As long as all of the tracks get released, be they on the album, as b-sides, or on an EP or two (and physical releases -- I'll be really upset if they're mp3 downloads), I can't get too bothered about it not being a double album.
But all of this is still just speculation off a single comment from a single article's single source. Hardly something substantial.
Let time tell.
(As always, Muldy, good to see you away from AtEase.)
Im going to agree with muld and be completely flustered at the mere idea that this is going to be a single disc to appease the mainstream. I do remember Roberts comments about leaking the songs left off and even insinuating that there were going to be some bonus songs to hold us over whilst we fester over the tour delay.. After everything that Robert has said about this being a double disc.. another stripped down album would be an upset. things that show a band cares... carnage visors, box sets, posters and stickers, bonus backstage footage in videos, interesting videos, more bsides then you could shake a stick at, tab books, zines,a website that the band was actively involved and enthusiastic in, tee shirts you wanted to buy, buttons, small pre tour shows.... I could go on and on. A double disc with some random songs (good or bad) would be a nice gesture to cure fans. Hell, just film three hours of them backstage playing poker and i would appreciate it. I still get a kick out of watching them in the fiction office on picture show.
ReplyDeleteKMKMKM was a double album, and I hear very few fans complaining about the quality.
ReplyDeleteDisintegration would have been a double album had it not been the first Cure album designed to take full advantage of the space on a cd.
Wish was supposed to be a double album, but Robert backed down when the record company put pressure on him. Because of that, the Wish instrumentals were relegated to the ultra-rare Lost Wishes cassette, and still haven't seen a re-release. Additionally, Robert should have relegated Wendy Time to b-side status (wah-wah to the max!), and made The Big Hand and This Twilight Garden album tracks. Heh, in fact, regarding the latter, I remember when The Cure had a contest before the Dream Tour to let fans have some say as to what they wanted in the setlist, and This Twilight Garden surprised Robert by making it into the top ten! Of course, sadly, it didn't get played during the tour.
Let's tally this:
KMKMKM: double album, huge seller
Disintegration: could have been a double album, also a huge seller
Wish: Was supposed to be a double album, and was a huge seller, backed in part by the best-selling US tour that the band has ever done
Gee, anyone notice a pattern here? Their longest albums, outside of the foreign releases of the self-titled album, have been their biggest sellers. Considering this, I don't see why any of you have an issue with a double album.
Oh, and speaking of foreign releases, I wonder what bonus track(s) Japan is going to get this time around.
Oh, and considering the sales figures of the longest Cure albums, I don't know why the record company would have an issue, either. You know, it's obvious that Robert knows nothing of the music business, with only tens of millions of records sold. If he did, it would be in the hundreds of millions... :P
ReplyDeleteThe Cure was a great album, but ONLY in its entirety, including TGB, Fake, GN, and This Morning. THOSE were classic songs, especially TGB which is one of the greatest Cure tracks of all times. It was a TRAVESTY not have just ONE version with ALL of those songs - instead fucking over the fans and releasing multiple versions. Imagine HOTD without, say, Kyoto Song, or Faith without, say, Primary. It's unfathomable, right? Well, I find it unfathomable to exclude TGB and TM. Sure, the production of TM is crap, and sure, the production of TC in general is crap, but the inclusion of ALL those songs would compensate for crap like Taking Off or Us or Them. The stronger tunes would eclipse the lesser tunes - and indeed they do on the Jap version.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, if we get a single album instead of a double, then FOR SURE we will miss out on the best tracks, because Robert/Geffen will try to overly commercialize the album. It will FAIL again in sales, because younger fans just aren't that interested in older bands like The Cure and REM. Sure, they kiss the asses of U2 - lord knows why, as their last few albums have been HORRID - but in general younger fans are interested in newer bands.
So the album will fail miserably because it won't lure in the kiddies like RObert/Geffen are hoping it will, and it will piss off the hardcore fans because it's too derivative and commercialized.
DID ROBERT LEARN NOTHING FROM THE 2004 FIASCO?
Keep in mind I LIKE "The Cure" a lot - barring about 2-3 songs (Taking Off, Us or Them, alt.end), I think it's a strong piece of work, especially Lost/Labyrinth/B43/EOTW, and The Promise/Never/Anniversary/IDKWGO are good in their way too. But again, it was a travesty to leave off the best songs - TGB, GN, Fake, TM - from the US version. The multiple versions of the album ended up in a rather disjointed mess, because internationally the fans don't have a shared album experience. I'm nostalgic for the times when there was ONE album released, and all the fans the world over had the SAME album experience.
And Robert doesn't even sing the best songs - or practically ANY songs - from The Cure at concerts. He only sings the worst ones, perhaps hoping we'll change our minds? Which we won't .
And he ignores Bloodflowers too, one of the Cure's strongest albums!
ROBERT, get your freakin' HEAD out of our ASS! You will NOT become massively popular again. Your popularity has PEAKED. And it's okay, really. Just please your hardcore fans and all will be well.
Of course, you don't OWE us anything and you owe it to yourself to make the music you want - but my creeping suspicion is that you are doing things to gain new fans rather than to please yourself, and it AINT GONNA HAPPEN!
That's funny, Taking Off, Us or Them, and alt.end are among my favorites from that album. I find it amusing that people post opinions about "good" and "bad" Cure material as 'fact' rather than one's opinion. I love the pop Cure songs as well as the doom and gloom. The only album I didn't fully enjoy was WMS, but it also has its charms. I love the 3 new tunes they've been playing on tour and if it's any indication of the new album I couldn't be more psyched.
ReplyDeleteClockwise Cat, regarding the self-titled album, I agree on some of the things that you said. I have the vinyl version, as well as the American and UK versions on cd. I like Taking Off, but Craig was right when he called alt.end "alt.ctrl.delete.from.album", and the fact that that became a single is sad. I don't really like Us or Them, as it sounded like forced anger, and I really didn't like Never. It sounded like a Smashing Pumpkins song with Robert on vocals. Don't get me wrong, I like SP, but Never didn't sound too original. I'm really not thrilled with Fake, and thought that it was the worst of the self-titled album tracks to be released.
ReplyDeleteNow, as for tracks that should have been included, TGB, definitely. Heck, I even saved my last relationship for a short while by paraphrasing a stanza in that song when I told my girlfriend, "I don't want someone like you. I want you." I later told her that I had Mr. Smith to thank for that, but she still appreciated the sentiment. On a related note, I sang One More Time to her during my first visit on the night before I had to fly back home, and I burst into tears just as a finished, sobbing that I didn't want to leave, to which she responded simply by holding me close. Heck, I still can't stop from tearing up when I listen to it because of that memory.
Ahem, anyway, back to the self-titled album. I don't think that there was anything wrong with the production of This Morning, other than the fact that it sounded overproduced and cluttered, like a Faith track with too many instruments. It's a good song, but depressing. Going Nowhere is excellent, but I never had a chance to hear it live, as the band segued from A Forest into Forever at the Toronto show.
Heh, I should burn a copy of the original album for myself with the tracklisting that I think that it should have had, with a corresponding list of singles!
Oh, and one more thing. Speaking of tracklists, Robert should step aside and let a small group of fans handle that, because he's obviously lost in that regard.
jpx, fine - we both have our opinions about good songs on tc. i didn't mean to state mine as fact - i just sometimes come across that way.
ReplyDeleteshawn - i agree that fans need to decide the final tracklisting. imo, the idea (on the us version) to include us or them and alt.end and exclude tgb and gn was just miserably misguided. i can't imagine what he was thinking! maybe he wasn't...
You guys don't really think fans should be involved in track selection, do you?
ReplyDeletewhy not? robert has such a piss-poor track record in that department, ya know.
ReplyDeleteof course it would never happen and chaos would ensue because fans would disagree over which tracks should be included.
so it's just kind of fun to entertain the idea. :-)
How about a "make your own" Cure album? Robert could post the 30 tracks that they supposively recorded and we could select our own track listing. I'd be into that.
ReplyDeleteThen again I'm such a sucker for The Cure that I'd end up taking all of them.
I hope the new album isn't called "13", it makes me think of "The 13th". shudder.
""If you want i can take you on another kind of ride..."
ReplyDelete"Believe me i would but..."
Deep inside the 'but' is 'please'
I am yearning for another taste
And my shaking is 'yes'"
Just for you, JPX. :)
Oh, and Robert's explanation for the title?
The meeting that the song is about occured on the 13th, the song was written on the 13th, and he was reading an article about the 13th motel killings. He felt like someone up there was trying to tell him something. (Taken from Stiff As Toys And Tall As Men, which hasn't been updated in nearly a decade)
I think that the new album will be a double but with 2 separate discs: The first one (more pop and light) called 1 and the second one (more introspective and doom) called 3.
ReplyDeleteSo you have: 13 (the 13th studio album)
31 (the birthday of the band 1978-2008: not 30 but 31 years...)
1+3= 4 (the band members)
"Think of a number
between 1 and 3
That's a kind of stupid choice
You're giving me"
fmjews... you've really got to let go of that terrible Jim Carrey movie, THE NUMBER 23.
ReplyDeleteShawn-w, you're killing me! Aside from Heroin Face, The 13th is the only other Cure song that I find unlistenable.
ReplyDeleteSay what you will about The 13th, it was the last truly innovative Cure song. WMS is the last truly innovative Cure record. WMS does not merit its relentlessly brutal treatment.
ReplyDeletei'm with the cat. WMS suffers because of how long it took to come together... as well as the very disjointed feeling of the songs... the 13th is a GREAT song... and if WMS would have been as planned, it would have been an entirely acoustic album called "bare" and the 13th would have fit better...
ReplyDeleteI like parts of WMS, and I count "Want" among some of the best that The Cure have to offer, but in my opinion I find The 13th to be grating. I truly believe that the failure of that album was due, in large, by choosing that song to be the single. I remember the first time I heard it how utterly disappointed I was. For me it's a tuneless track without a hook and I'd rather listen to a milk truck being dropped off a cliff. But that's just me =)
ReplyDeleteI've heard that milk trucks sound beautiful falling off cliffs, so I can certainly sympathize with that sentiment. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe 13th is a flawed song, to be sure, but it's great in its way. If Robert had dropped the "do it to me do it to me" nonsense I think it would have been stronger. I LOVE the mariachi horns, though, and Robert's singing on it is grand.
The rest of WMS is swell. There are a couple of stinkers, yes, but in general I think it's an unfairly maligned masterpiece.
And yes, I know I'm in the minority with that sentiment, but whatever. I loves me some fun and funky Cure!
I really dislike the idea of fans picking the tracklisting, although the idea of a pick and mix option on itunes or something is a cool option, though I'd end up picking them all just to hear them.
ReplyDeleteI think fans choosing the tracklisting is a step to far, I mean really who are we to judge what they should or should not release.
I think 'The Cure' is certainly not perfect, but it does have some excellent moments, and the extended version with the Japanese tracks is great, I also dont love 'WMS' the first Cure album I actually disliked, but in hindsight it also has some lovely moments, shave off say 4 tracks and it would be much better, but then thats personal opinion, i didnt care to much for stuff like 'Round and Round' etc.
But I love the pop Cure and the atmospheric Cure....I do hope the album is a double, but we will have to wait and see I guess!
Go Cure Go!
ahhh...if only robert would speak....he knows by now all his lil details for this new album
ReplyDeleteAt least the video for The 13th was good. I can't say the same for Gone! The best part of that video was at the end, when Robert drove his car into a wall.
ReplyDeleteThe first couple of times that I listened to WMS as a whole, I used many profanities (I don't swear anymore; I'm being serious). However, I got over it a while ago, but WMS is still near the bottom of list in terms of favorite albums.
Have to agree with clockwise cat, WMS is not as bad as we all say. Drop 4 of the worst songs and it would have been stellar. Want is one of favorite songs. And both Bare and Treasure are heartbreakingly beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThe arguments of muldfeld, shawn w, and clockwise cat are starting to change my mind about the double vs. single album. I agree that since Geffen would almost certainly pick the wrong tracks for a single album (like they did with The Cure), we'd be better off just getting a double.
However, if Robert and Geffen could agree on picking the right tracks, then I maintain that they'd be better off with a single disc. The last album would have been a masterpiece had they switched out several of the lesser tracks for the b-sides. Tacking on the b-sides would have made it good too, but keeping it down to 10 or 11 of the best tracks would have put it up there with Disintegration and Wish (IMHO).
Let's not forget Xfm, the London radio station founded by the band themselves...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.xfm.co.uk/news/2008/the-cure-return-with-four-new-singles
furrever, I don't really know what went one with the self-titled release, except that Robert accused the record company of wanting all of the different versions, and the company countering by stating that Robert had the final say on the tracklistings, and that it was his choice to do it that way.
ReplyDeleteMartin, the URL isn't showing up in its' entirety, so I'm going to repost it...
http://www.xfm.co.uk/news/2008/the-
cure-return-with-four-new-singles
one=on
ReplyDeletecountering=countered
ReplyDelete