Cure's 'Purple Haze' 2nd best Hendrix cover

Guitar World says The Cure's 'Purple Haze' is #2 on their 10 Best Covers of Jimi Hendrix Songs list:
"If you heard this cover of "Purple Haze" with no context, it would be well over a minute into the song before you would have any clue this was a Jimi Hendrix cover.
Of course, anyone who thought Robert Smith & Co. would launch right into a fiery, tritone-laced rendition of arguably Hendrix's most famous song clearly had never heard Disingegration — which, according to Kyle from South Park, is the best album ever.
This synth-laden cut takes the No. 2 spot for being bold enough to push Hendrix's catalog into new territory, instead of trying to outdo the man. A nearly impossible feat, unless you're our choice for No. 1 ..." (Thanks Greg)

Cure on Sky Arts this Friday & Saturday

Couple of Cure shows on Sky Arts 1 & HD this week:

Friday Feb. 21st
8:30 PM - The Cure: Video Killed The Radio Star
9 PM - The Cure Live at Hurricane Festival 

Saturday Feb. 22nd
3:10 AM - The Cure: Video Killed The Radio Star
3:40AM - The Cure Live at Hurricane Festival
8 AM - The Cure: Video Killed The Radio Star
8:30 AM  - The Cure Live at Hurricane Festival
(Thanks Carl and @weathercade)

Roger update

From Roger on Facebook: "I have been in Los Angeles for the past four weeks working on several projects, probably the most important of which is coming very close to an end. I have about three more pieces to write and then we are done. There will be a press conference in early April where all will be revealed!"

Roger will be playing piano at Adam Donen's album launch for 'False Bay Echoes' in London on April 4th. Get tickets here. 

From Adam on Facebook: "Roger's contributions on piano and Rhodes are among the highlights of False Bay Echoes. As you'll hear, after a few Jacks, he becomes a mighty fine blues pianist."

Also, "In between his work for *that other band*, we're currently working on a couple of new works - a ballet of Roger's for which for which I'm contributing the libretto, and a new orchestral piece.

I'm difficult to work with at the best of times, and have never had a collaborator like Roger, and suspect I never will. A completely opposite and therefore like mind, and a melodic genius.

Its an honour to have my dear friend joining me on piano."

Adam also says they'll be bringing the Bernhard Suite to London in June, and hints at the possibility of a show in Berlin as well. (Thanks Roger O'Donnell Discography)

And more news tonight from Roger: "If you like electronic music, as I do, you might enjoy this mix I did for Squarewav.com. AND... a very interesting solo performance in Paris in March, more news to come!!!"

Update (02/21/14): From Roger on Facebook - "Im very very happy to be able to tell you that I have finished composing for our ballet project! Its been about a years process so far and of course I have been learning all the way. .. I have to thank Tattiana my producer for her belief and support for me and our project. Big announcement like I said the first week of April...Also sort of to do with both my current projects something very very special in July!!!! Hahahah so many secrets which Im terrible at keeping!"

And again, Roger makes it absolutely clear for those of you who don't get it: "Not quite sure how fucking explicit I have to be here about the distinction between my solo work which you will read about HERE and my work with The Cure which you will read about THERE www.thecure.com"

Slicing Up Eyeballs' Best of the 80s EPs poll

Nominate your favorite EPs, mini-albums of the ’80s for Slicing Up Eyeballs’ next poll http://t.co/wR5CWq1Hgc pic.twitter.com/VpEg43Pjzm
— Slicing Up Eyeballs (@slicingeyeballs) February 17, 2014

Those great live Cure videos are back!

Remember all of the great live videos from Olivier at It's A Perfect Day, that he took at the recent Cure shows, uploaded to YouTube, and then were removed by whomever? Well they're back! Over 50 videos available here or here. (Thanks Olivier)

Rock in Love: Robert Smith & Mary Poole

Nice article at Rolling Stone Italy talking about our favorite couple. (Thanks madmax64)

Splintered In Her Head NZ tribute band

A new tribute band has formed in New Zealand - Splintered In Her Head. Their first show will be on April 5th, opening for Permanence, a Joy Division tribute band. And later in the year, they plan to play 'Seventeen Seconds', 'Faith', and 'Pornography', in their entirety. More info here. (Thanks Michel)

XFM's 50 Best Debut Singles of All Time

XFM says 'Killing An Arab' is one of the 50 Best Debut Singles Of All Time:
"Robert Smith's debut single was released on the indie imprint Small Wonder in December 1978, but reissued on the Fiction label the following February. Radio programmers freaked at the A-side, which they took to be somewhat racist... rather than the punky tribute to the existentialist novel The Stranger, by Albert Camus that it actually was. They favoured the impressive B-side, 10.15 Saturday Night instead." (Thanks @DarkkMokko)

Roger in new Mission book

Looks like Roger will be contributing to the new book about The Mission. (Thanks John)

NME's 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time

NME isn't happy unless they're compiling a list, and their latest is The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time. The Cure have 5 entries. The usual suspects. Yes, it's ridiculous. That's the NME.

#45 - 'Boys Don't Cry'

An insistent riff and guitar jangle forged the template for the following decade's British indie boom on this beer-soaked dancefloor anthem.
Read more at http://www.nme.com/photos/the-500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-100-1/330996/1/1#C5M2CKkLbG5H83uM.99

#236 - 'Inbetween Days'
With the doomy Goth side of his ouvre set to one side, Robert Smith and chums were inspired by the breezy pop of New Order for this huge worldwide hit.

#356 - 'Close To Me'
Through Robert Smith’s confidential whispers, 'Close To Me' bristled with a jaunty yet longing romance.

#360 - 'Pictures of You'
The prettiest thing The Cure have ever done. A sparkling sonic expedition and damn, [i]that[/i] intro.

#366 - 'Friday I'm In Love'
Turned out you weren't the only one who loves the weekend. Irrepressibly joyful.

The Cure & Romcoms

Kristina Monllos at The Awl wonders Why Do So Many Romcoms Use Songs By The Cure? (Thanks David)

Is Trilogy 3 with the b-sides doable?

Some say there's no way The Cure could do a 'Reflections' style show (3 albums & b-sides) for the new Trilogy shows because it would be too long. Guillaume crunched the numbers, and ...

#TheCure Trilogy Top/Head/Kiss + singles b-sides : 50 tracks. 3 hours and 11 minutes. Wanna hear "A Chain of Flowers" live... @CraigatCoF
— Guillaume G_z (@guillaume_g_z) February 6, 2014

Doable! Actually shorter than some recent shows.
(Thanks @guillaume_g_z)

'The Top' is one of the 20 Great Stoner Albums

MetroWeekly says: "As stale and selfish as a sick dog, spurning sex like an animal of god. I'll tear your red hair by the roots and hold you blazing, hold you cherished in the dead electric light," Robert Smith sneers on "Shake Dog Shake," the opening track from "The Top." Launching with a sudden drum barrage and mad cackling laughter, "Shake Dog Shake" is an apt introduction to this schizophrenic album. "The Top” is dreamy, loopy, psychedelic, and a bit cracked...  the first time Robert Smith merged the sullen musings and manic aggression of albums like "Faith" and "Pornography" with the kaleidoscopic pop of singles like "Let's Go to Bed" and "The Lovecats."  This combination became the template of The Cure's greatest successes to come; a bipolar mix of kinetic and iridescent pop, anguished confessionals and venomous freakouts.  “The Top” propels the listener headfirst into a sickly sweet and mad world that's equal parts nightmare and daydream fantasy. Essentially a Robert Smith solo project -- The Cure had functionally ceased to exist as a band at this point -- "The Top" is a feverish album, careening madly around the big tent in Robert Smith's head.  It's "Sgt. Peppers" played by a cast of evil clowns lurking in dark hallways; they'll either butcher everyone in the house or throw the world's most demented sex-balloon party, or maybe both. (Thanks @banditFFX)

Bring The Cure to Australia & New Zealand

From Michel: "We are a group of dedicated Cure fans, promoters and musicians based between Australia and New Zealand, who have recently launched a campaign to persuade The Cure and their management to bring the band back to the antipodes.

Efforts commenced earlier today with the launch of two sister Facebook pages, in response to the official press release announcing the scheduled release of a new album, and "Trilogy"-style tour in late 2014 of the band's studio albums from 1984-1987.

The Cure have toured Australia and New Zealand in 1980, 1981, 1984, 1992, 2000 (Aus only) and 2007, with another two very exclusive dates at the Sydney Opera House during the 2011 Reflections tour. Sadly for thousands of fans throughout the rest of Australasia, the two Sydney shows (of course) sold out rapidly. 

Nevertheless, we are heartened by the fact that the band's last two visits to New Zealand in 1992 and 2007 resulted directly from fan-initiated petitions like this one!"

Bring The Cure to Australia 2014

Bring The Cure to New Zealand in 2014
Here's an article on the New Zealand effort. (Thanks David)

And now there's one for Argentina. And a 2nd one for Argentina.

What we might expect from '4:14 Scream'

Going back through some of the old 4:13 era articles and some more recent stuff, and thought it would be fun to put together a list of songs that might be included on 4:14 Scream.

Songs that could be on it:
A Boy I Never Knew
Please Come Home
(Both of these were from 'The Cure' sessions, but said to have been re-recorded during the '4:13' sessions)

Strum (from 'The Cure' sessions)
Lusting Here In Your Mind (from the '4:13' sessions)
Christmas Without You (from the '4:13' sessions)
An unknown number of instrumentals (from the '4:13' sessions)

Spot Marks The X (from the '4:13' sessions)
16 (from the '4:13' sessions)
Thanks to fmjews for finding these titles from an early tracklist that Ideal Copy had up in 2008. Not sure if these are missing songs or just working titles for songs we already have.


Robert speaking with XL (June 2012): "But for sure, before our public farewell, we'll release the record. It'll be the continuation of the previous one and it'll be accompanied by the DVD of our show in Paris in 2008 and perhaps by a live show from this summer. It will be slow and full of emotions. The typical Cure-sound."

On 'Lusting Here In Your Mind', Robert told Billboard (July 2007), "It sounds suspiciously like heavy rock to me". He also mentioned 3 songs were old Cure demos from the 80s that they revamped. We know 'Sleep When I'm Dead' (from The Head on the Door era) was one, but what are the other two?

In an NME interview (March 2012), Robert said he "has 12 tracks, including instrumentals, that he wants to release, but only as part of a double 4:13 album." In that same interview, he says 4 songs on '4:13' should be on '4:14', and 4 on '4:14' should be on '4:13'. Hoping Robert will tell us which ones should be switched, then we can all make proper versions of the albums, the way he originally envisioned them.

Robert told UOL (April 2013) the following: "my personal favorite is the album that we're about to launch. I think it's definitely my favorite kind of music. There's a song on the album called "Christmas Without You". It's the best song I've ever written."
The song (which was said to be about the death of a close friend) was recorded during the '4:13 Dream' sessions. In this Blender interview (March 2008), Robert called it “one of the most unhappy things we’ve ever recorded”, and told Billboard (July 2007), "That's not a very happy song".

Can't find the interview,  but Robert did say that there would be more keyboards on '4:14' than there were on '4:13'.

Overall, the tone of the album should be "dark", as it was always referred to as the darker half of the 2 albums. However, as Robert said, he had to switch a few songs up, to give '4:13' a bit more balance, so it's not out of the question that there could be some lighter moments on this one. Just hope and pray there's not another 'The Only One' on this! :)

Roger Daltrey on Robert Smith

From Rolling Stone (via NME): "Robert Smith doesn't answer his emails," Daltrey said with a laugh. "He's hard to get hold of, but I remember them playing in 2006 and they did a three-hour set which was just magical. Robert lives around the corner from me, although I've never seen him, nor have his neighbors. I think he must only come out at night."

And for those who still insist the news is fake, a hoax, a 4:13 Nightmare, sorry, Rolling Stone says they have confirmed it.

Now that we have that out of the way, details about the album are starting to surface! Sounds awesome, bro! Fuck Goth Tom! ;) (Thanks Raphael and @mlindenuk)

Cure announce live DVDs, album, Trilogy 3 tour

Read the official press release here. (Thanks Julian)

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New Cure album on its way?

New album from @TheCure (working title '4:14 Scream') expected "in the next few months" with live dates to follow in late 2014.

— BBC 6 Music News (@BBC6MusicNews) February 3, 2014

This sounds like a fan generated rumor, especially that title. Therefore, it's probably true. :)

New Levinhurst EP on Feb. 3rd

Posted on the Levinhurst Facebook.

Available now at Amazon & iTunes.

Vieilles Charrues 2012 special tonight

"Just a quick note to let you know that Arte will show a 75 minutes highlights of the Vieilles Charrues Festival 2012 tonight at 00:15 French time. The Cure are scheduled, but no details about what they will show." (Thanks Sylvain)