Friday, January 22, 2010

Robert duets with Anik Jean

Update 2: You can download the track for free here (select "Non, ..." unless you want updates from Anik). Or if you want to avoid giving her your email, click here. (Thanks Steve and Brad)

Update:
This "new" collaboration is really just Robert and Earl Slick's Believe with Anik adding French vocals. Listen to it here. (Thanks Olivier)

Looks like one of Robert's recent collaborations has been revealed. According to 7Jours, Robert is doing a duet with Canadian singer Anik Jean on her upcoming album to be released in April. The song is “J’aurai tout essayé” (“I shall have tried everything”), with lyrics in English and French, comparing love and disenchantment. Looks like Earl Slick will be involved as well. (Thanks Jacques)

103 comments:

  1. What?? Anik Jean! 7 jours!!! The world's gone mad!

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  2. Who the hell is Anik Jean? Is this a good thing or a bad thing (or another of those "flux me" things?)

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  3. Sorry for the ignorance, Who´s Anik Jean ? Which music stile she has ?

    :/

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  4. looking forward to the upcoming collaborations

    not familiar with anik jean, but happy to hear anything with robert :)

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  5. well, to know who is Anik, just click on the link in the Cof news, that's why it's there for! :)

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  6. ME WANT BEER!!!!! GO COWBOY'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  8. well, it seems like she's from somewhere in Quebec. I'm from Montreal and this is the first time i've heard of her.

    Watched some youtube clips and i can't say i like her music very much.

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  9. Wait and see i say... i have never heard of her either, but there's a lot of great music coming out of Canada that's underated so...

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  11. Just listened to her song "Gaspésie" on Youtube. I dug it. Kinda Bloodflowery.

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  12. wow. Somehow it feels like Robert's going to be closer to my home than ever. Weird!
    But anything with Bob is nice, and I dig Earl Slick.

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  13. Anik Jean was sorta "discovered" by Jean Leloup (another singer from Quebec). He wrote songs for her and her first "hit" was a song of his. I don't think she's known outside Quebec and if she is, it's likely to be only in France. So don't wonder why you don't know her; it's perfectly normal.

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  14. Alright perfect.murder, Robert doesn't seem to know with who he associates himself anymore. Anik Jean is a cheesy singer, just like any other commercial shit out there. It's like Robert Smith singing with April Lavigne difference being it's on a smaller scale. I am really, really not fond of this idea.

    And if she was discovered by Jean Leloup well it's time to say Leloup seriously got old. His last album was shit too so no wonder.

    Why Robert always feels the need to collaborate with other musicians, mostly youngsters? The Cure will never recover their good old years, this time is over and it's not by gathering more 13 years old girls at concerts that will make them better, au contraire.

    Now most of you will say "it's Robert's choice", yeah well as Sartre would say one's actions engage humanity...Robert's actions engage humanity and mostly Cure fans!

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  15. thecure.com is down. Not sure how long it's been down or if it is only a temporary condition.

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  16. haha...visiting her website is pointless unless you speak/read French.

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  17. Thanks Lyw, again i don't know her so i can't say but i agree that some past collaborations have left me wondering why they ever happened...

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  20. Again, quite obvious that Robert definitely needs a manager. Otherwise he'll stick forever to those cheesy commercial nu metal/emo/college punk/eurodance idiots. There are so many great artists out there ranging from all styles of indie to electro, that would match quite well for a collaboration. I'm sure anybody here could easily set up a huge list, so here's mine: American Analog Set, Ani DiFranco, The Fields, Archive, Animal Collective, Bloc Party, Built to Spill, Deerhunter, Editors, Eels, Foals, Four tet, Franz Ferdinand, Friendly Fires, Gorillaz, Grizzly Bear, Her space holiday, Hot chip, Human Television, La roux, LCD Soundsystem, The Longcut, M83, Massive attack (ok, he sort of did already), Maximo Park, Moderat, Mode Selector, Modest Mouse, The National, The Notwist, The Orb, Pains of being pure at heart, PJ Harvey, Parenthetical girls, Phoenix, Radiohead, The Rifles, Röyksopp, Russian Futurists, Shout out louds (sound like a Cure clone anyway), Stars, Sun Kil Moon, Silversun Pickups, Thievery corporation, Tiga, Tilly and the wall, Tosca, TV on the radio, UNKLE, Vampire weekend, Voxtrot,The Walkmen, Whitest boy alive, Who made who, The XX, Xiu Xiu, Yeasayer

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  21. Anik Jean is not my lover.
    Anik Jean is not my lover.
    Anik Jean is not my lover.
    Anik Jean is not my lover.
    Anik Jean is not my lover.

    LBW:Great job to order that list in alphabetical order, except maybe The Fields were out of place.

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  22. Well, after give it a second listen: She's at least a better than Avril Lavigne. Maybe one of Robert's better choices (ok, that's easy).

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  23. The Fields are sort of always out of place, but I really dig their stuff.

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  24. Truly disappointed for the first time. I liked a lot his collaboration with Blink 182, and i know that one have to listen before the sentence but... but... but. Let's duet with Shakira and Lady Gaga, both are Cure fans. At this point I can't see the difference. Musical style? Yes, but all the rest? Just the same. Let's wait and listen anyway.

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  25. @Heron
    you are right, the website is still down..

    maybe universal finally realized they should stop supporting a web page for a band no longer on their label?

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  26. i'll be happy if a new website gets set up semi-soon though. maybe there would be some more news to go along with it.

    (maybe they'd put the real lineup on the bio page)

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  27. Maybe Robert is not interested in collaborations with artists that are too much like him... in the same vein, spirit.
    Maybe it's more stimulating for him to seek opposites and try strange mix-up.
    Just a thought.

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  28. Talk about accuracy in songwriting. "I shall have tried everything" indeed! Gotta love Bob's sense of humour and his self-awareness. Am looking forward to hearing this, despite the nay-saying. :)

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  29. In 1987 there were talks for The Cure doing a duet with Bananarama, that would have been fun!
    I hate Lady Gaga, and, unfortunatly, it wouldn't surprise me if he agreed to duet with her! Hurgh!
    Who are the artist that are respectable is, as always, a personnal opinion.
    A proper duet with Kate Bush, a guitar part with Sigur Ros or Low, or even a surprise collaboration with The Go! Team would suit me! (and Shelleyan, and Cocteau, and Sioux, and NMA, and MBV...)

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  30. For LFB: This list is more than partly awful. Bloc Party are you serious??? Franz Ferdinand, Come ON. All this commercial pop-rock material. The cure is already commercial enough these days with the "let's play rock" spirit that came to Robert from I don't know where. The only collaboration you listed that makes sense is with the WALKMEN. Why? Because they are humble, their songs don't all sound the same (unlike all the other bands you listed) and because it wouldn't provoke a big hype of Emo kids claiming they love the Cure just because they heard Robert Smith singing with their favourite Emo-punk-oh-so-dramatic singer.

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  32. Thecure.com is back up. No changes as far as I can tell.

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  33. yeah i saw. i was hoping something more exciting would happen.

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  34. I don't really understand why various people see the need to rant and rave about this.
    We haven't even heard the duet yet.
    It's not even done under the Cure moniker anyway, so if you don't like it upon hearing it, even if you're a CURE completist, then you don't have to even buy it. Simple.
    The same degree of fuss was kicked up when Ross Robinson was announced as producer of next Cure record, Robert duetting with Kelly Clarkson (or whoever it was), bla bla bla.
    The fact remains that Robert has been enough time 'in the game' that I'm sure he thinks he can do pretty much whatever he likes. He has earned it. If it turns out to be rubbish, in ones own opinion, then so be it. But posting pithy comments about how it's going to be crap is a bit unproductive, in my opinion.

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  35. Some people are afraid of change.
    People love to complain.
    Etc.

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  36. and he is a full grown up person, he doesn't need our permission, or care about what we think, to do whatever he wants, as long as that's what he wants to!

    That said, we have the right to say we like it or not!

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  37. I don't know why people are treating who Robert works with as such a big deal.

    The whole thing seems pointless until we have heard the damn song. There was a unanimous tut when Robert worked with Blink 182 until the song came out and it blew almost everyone away.

    Lets just wait and see and leave our previous judgments at the door.

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  38. Well as I see most of you play the "Robert can do whatever he likes" card. In all fairness, it's true. And that's exactly why one's got the right to "rant and rave". He does whatever he wants, so I'll complain whatever I want.

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  39. @Craig - Might be interesting for some to know about.. Roger put up some dates for two shows coming up on FB:

    February 18th: A preview of the album "Before" performed with Paul van Dongen in Toronto

    March 6th: London @ Ship of Fools performing a specially composed piece "Autumn, Winter, Spring"

    He writes that more details will follow..

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  41. Morris, the post says "lyrics in english and french", so I guess he'll be singing the english part and Anik the french one. Will be kinda cute to listen to

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  42. I just recently have found out who Bananarama were (yes i'm young) and I'm happy he didn't due with them...

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  44. * he didn't DUET, of course

    ____________

    Of all Robert's collaborations I loved Perfect Blue Sky best..

    Who's with me on that?

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  45. And it would be quite cool to hear RS sing in French but that won't happen...

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  46. @Lovecat44 - Perfect Blue Sky and Yesterday's Gone..
    Never get tired listening to either of them! :)

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  47. Hello everybody!
    I read some news but surely no real news about simon leaving the band and porl and the return of roger and perry.
    I'll look for the link and I'll post it.

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  48. i would assume that's just an extension of the porl rumors.

    i doubt simon's leaving :)

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  49. it would've been interesting to see what would've happened if Alan Wilder had joined in '95. both he and rog are of course bloody excellent.

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  50. Well, from what I hear this will be an interesting collaboration... I dunno, I'm just excited for new Robert vocals :D

    "2010 is the new 2003"... Well said, Pietro x]

    Also, I'm watching John Tucker Must Die and the bit of "Close To Me" with the trumpet at the end was playing... haha random Curespotting.

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  51. Although I'm not too enthusiastic about Anik Jean, I'm excited about the song. But still: Korn, Blink 182, Blank & Jones, 30 Seconds to mars, AFI, My chemical romance as collaboration partners or remixers, I wonder if we have to blame the same person(s) for that list of shame, who also told him to forget about all those unreleased songs and put out karaoke-like instrumentals of the album tracks on the KMKMKM bonus disc.

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  52. @Lyw...
    Of course I'd rather see Robert perform songs with some weird, creative artists like the Walkmen (and there are quite some others who fall into that category in my list, just to name The Field, Built to Spill, Human Television, the Notwist, Xio Xiu, Parenthetical girls...), but quite obviously Robert is looking for commercially succesfull bands that are (or claim to be) inspired by the Cure. So instead of ending up with all those EMOs (which is an absolute no go, at least from my european perspective, maybe people feel more relaxed about it in the states) I'd rather see him perform with Bloc Party, Maximo Park or Franz Ferdinand. So they're just the lesser of two evils to me, as Robert will most propably never come up with some really inspiring and surprising side-show thing (the closest he went was with "truth is", which is really a gem).

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  53. ...hmmm he's "looking for commercially successful bands " ???.. so whys he doing this song with someone no-one on heres ever heard of then? hardly a masterplan for world domination is it?

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  54. ...and ...to state the onvious apart from the blink 182 song ,, its kinda been dance acts hes recored with so far .. or have i missed something

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  55. I agree with Deadboycraved. If anything, his past collaborations seem to be done as either favours (Blink 182, Billy Corgan) or to bring attention to lesser known artists, as with this case.

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  56. LFB, I agree. That's so true about those Korn, Blink 182, Blank & Jones etc collaborations and that KMKMKM karaoke. I think someone's pushing bad influences. And if it's not a person, it's just the whole MTV. Don't worry Emo is a definite no for me too and I'm not in Europe (nor USAs but so (too) close enough).

    As for deadboycraved, this one might not be successful but is definitely commercial. And that's the key word, and that's too bad.

    I just makes you wonder, someone who can get everything chooses...that

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  57. The Blink 182 collaboration was just fine. i like that song.

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  58. @LYW i was answering LFB 's statement about "commercially successful " acts ,, it was two words together in the statement made ..
    the semantics of the words individually may be arqued in such a subjective matter as this ,,but together i think they have a definate meaning, and that iswhat i was referring to

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  59. @deadboycraved, my bad. Well I think both our points were made ;)

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  60. i do agree lyw he should ditch the whole emo crowd ,, but .. id rather stuff was out there i didnt like , or wouldnt choose to normally listen to at least..than nought at all

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  61. and before i hear "..." im not gonna shout it down ,, blink 182 case in point , great song, fucking awfull band - a pleasant surprise

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  62. Yes I agree with deadboycraved and others said... "All of This" was a effing great song, even though I despise anything else by blink 182... As long as the song is good, it shouldn't much matter who its by :)

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  63. i enjoy blink-182's self titled album a lot. i think it's very good.
    then again i was twelve when it came out, and that's what twelve year olds were listening to.

    their "elise" cover, on the other hand..

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  64. anyway, i would kill for some more cure news right about now :)

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  65. I too enjoyed (and still enjoy) Blink 182's self titled effort so high 5 Lindsey.

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  66. gah I feel like I missed out on this whole cultural thing x] when I was twelve I was listening to the Beatles and Rolling Stones and Dire Straits ahaha :P

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  67. I liked Blink's self-titled as well, and still do; I was certainly old enough to know better at the time, too. One of the best cd's that I only bought because of the Robert Smith appearance.

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  68. Hello
    I have the MP3 of this infamous song "j'ai tout essayé", with R.Smith and Anik Jean.
    Email me if you want to know more.

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  69. Olivier, how did you come by this Mp3?

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  72. I posted it on my youtube channel :

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7wLOPzwYis

    Enjoy (or not....)

    By the way you can listen to my other songs on youtube and tell me what you think.

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  73. hahahahaha all this barneying fr a song thats already been out fr years oh dear lol

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  74. i wonder why they changed the title?

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  75. Haha... just a new version of "Believe" with Earl Slick and they added French Vocals of that girl to it. Like that better than the original though.

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  76. Exactly. Why even bother doing that? As pointed out on another forum, anyone else thinks they just added the previous Robert's Believe lyrics to this? 'cause it sounds exactly the same

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  77. I really like Believe. I like this version too.

    That is all.

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  78. @deadboycraved: Ok, should have written "commercial" instead of "commercially succesfull", that fit's better to my point.

    And don't get me wrong, I also liked "All of this", I sort of even liked the whole selftitled Blink album (especially "Feeling this"), but that doesn't change my overall oppinion about his choice to collaborate with them.

    I guess it's more a question of principle to me. All those mentioned nu metal,collegepunk, Emo, collaborations/remixes just feel horribly wrong to me, maybe because they sort of imply a link between Robert and those bands/styles that I simply refuse to accept. Robert's not the grandfather of Emo, so he shouldn't pretend to be. I mean, just remember that MTV tribute gig!
    That's why I prefer "Perfect blue sky", "Truth is" or "Da hype", they were simply easier to accept.

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  79. I don't think Robert has much to do with this

    I think Earl Slick just wanted to make something better out of his solo material

    and use his Robert collaboration for a more potential single

    It's obviously much better than the original (especially drums and bass)

    Let's wait & see for the radio results

    Would've liked to hear them record the vocals together


    Her songs "Gaspésie" and "Confessions" seem to stand out a bit

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  80. Truth is ?? Best collaboration ??

    I try not to overthink those things.
    There's always good songs popping up now and then and to be grabbed somewhere in the world.


    Though I can easily answer this one actually.
    My fav collaboration was TO LOVE SOMEBODY with Billy Corgan.
    I loved the vibe of Robert's voice on that one and I've listened to that album quite a lot.
    I still wait to hear more of that Robert

    And as for the "EMO flux"
    I think Jared Leto did a pretty good job adding (better) vocals and guitar melody on the THE ONLY ONE remix
    And the "mixing" should have sounded even more comercial to me

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  81. Just right now

    I'd wish to see her naked in a new Tim Pope video


    How optimistic would that be ??
    (At least she could give it a try)

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  82. http://www.anikjean.com/Jaurai_tout_essaye.mp3

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  84. this is the old voice recording from the collaboration to earl slick or its new voice recording? i think its the same like earl slick song.

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  86. @ notherbob: yes, and Yesterday's Gone definitely too. There were I think 3 versions, one more upbeat, two slower ones. The longer one of the slower ones is very good. Has kind of a Last Day Of Summer feel to it..

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  87. strangely, i really like her singing in the chorus

    must be the French charm again..

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  88. I have to say, show some faith in what he is doing, has anyone heard the song yet? it might be good....everyone is far to quick to prejudge

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  89. Um, yes, we've heard it. Read the updates. It has been on YouTube for a while, and she's giving the MP3 away for free on her website.

    And Robert's part of the song has been out for a few years now.

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  90. arghh? Where do you come from? A cartoon?

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  91. It's another boring collaboration. I wouldn't even say I don't like it...it's just...a song that doesn't matter.
    I agree that his choice of collaboration partners is pretty awful, with the Korn-thing being the top of the iceberg...but (to LFB or whoever posted all these artists) have you ever thought about the possibility that a lot of the more "credible" or "likeable" younger bands like Editors maybe wouldn't even want to be part in a Cure-/RS-collaboration, for whatever reason?
    I love both bands, still I think something like this could only go wrong.

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  92. The new CURECONNECTIONS Signal To Noise player has been posted!

    This playlist includes some pretty spectacular live versions of One Hundred Years, Cold, The Figurehead, Secrets & A Night Like This.

    Come check it out!
    http://www.cureconnections.com/babble/5008-the-ccc-music-player-signal-to-noise.html

    Smooches,
    Pussycat

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  93. Ok I agree with the comment from Yawns about the collaboration, I like Roberts vocal, but agree Anik adds nothing to it at all. A shame, Its hardly a collaboration is it, just two vocals meshed together.

    Looking forward I think to the Alice song and the John Martyn offering.

    But of course.....the dark dream sounds better.......

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