From the Phantom of the Friend of COF:
"First off, let me preface by saying that this is an album that I find to be best listened to as a cohesive piece of music…i.e. play the whole thing start to finish…don’t skip around cause you know certain songs or have heard things on youtube or the web…press start, dim the lights, crank it up (as the mix sounds great loud) and GO!...and don’t stop for like 54 minutes…it is well worth it…and the more you listen to it, the more it will immediately grow on you each time…then you can pick your favorites…and the coolest part to me is the total dichotomy of the peacefulness of UTS starting the album to the frantic last two songs…Robert picked a great running order…
-As far as the guys, Robert sounds the best he ever has…Vocals and lyrics are top notch, and presentation (i.e. effects) and where vocals balance in the mix is just perfect…Second, Simon is the driver of many, if not all, of these songs…This is nothing new to long time fans, but wows me every time…His bass is so beyond “normal” bass playing of supporting the drums and rhythm guitar…he plays so many lines and notes it really gets the song moving…He has it downtuned to D in a few of the songs so the bass is nice and thick/low…Third, Porl…Dear lord he is rocking out all over and the injection of his playing really defines a lot of this album (this is of course me guessing what he has played in terms of actual record parts)…But needless to say his style is appreciated…And last but not least, Jason fully completes the circle…great drumming on this one and the selections of rhythms work so right on each individual piece of music…This is a BAND…and they certainly sound like it…I am a 22 year Cure fan…So I grew up on the “early stuff”…and as much as I would say Disintegration is my fav cause of the time in my life it effected me, it is the NOW of this band that excites me…and I think will excite you as well…
Note that the singles are similar to what we all have already over the last few months added to our collections…for the causal listener you might not pick up on changes…but there are definitely different vocal effects, background noises and such going on in the songs…SWID to me is way more ambient on the album and i love this “mix”…I threw some notes in below as Craig has requested it and as a long time COF anonymous contributor, I don’t want to let you guys down!…still, I don’t want to give it all away as I still hate the internet for giving things up early (it steals the mystery out of most things these days); but I figure a few small thoughts from my mind wont hurt…so this is just a quick commentary on the songs…you will most likely hear via web or live or MTV or something the actual pieces of work this weekend from the Rome show…so enjoy…and look forward to this…and
buy the music…
don’t file share and all that crap…actually
support a great band who made a great piece of work that I know we have all been waiting for…
Times approx
01 UNDERNEATH THE STARS (6:17)- I think most of us know this one already as a live favorite unless you have been living under a rock…album version is solid and doesn’t really stray from the live one…lots of 6 string bass, and beautiful guitar parts…lots of chimes too
02 THE ONLY ONE (3:57)- pretty close to single; just a bit of a different mix sonically
03 THE REASONS WHY (4:35)- Starts with a subtle guitar line and builds into a 6 string bass part (not like what we are used to in sound) and adds more guitars and bass as it grows…Great chorus to this song and Robert’s vocal effect is super cool…
04 FREAKSHOW (2:30)- see The Only One…
05 SIRENSONG (2:22)- think very layered slide guitar a la the Cocteau Twins with a great song and melody and subtle piano…Not a long song but a beautiful song…
06 THE REAL SNOW WHITE (4:43)- This is a rocker…I can hear a number of influences here…Hendrix, Beatles and bands of that era…”You got what I need”…
07 THE HUNGRY GHOST (4:29)- one of my favorites on the album…Builds with a guitar line that reminds me of the beginning of “It’s Not You” and then leads into a GREAT chorus with solid guitar sounds…”We’ll never satisfy the hungry ghost”…
08 SWITCH (3:44)- Super rocker…pure chaotic wah at beginning…love it…
09 THE PERFECT BOY (3:21)- see The Only One…This is a gorgeous song no matter who mixes it!...
10 THIS. HERE AND NOW. WITH YOU (4:05)- Excellent song the whole way through…one of my other favs on the album…Really driven by Simon’s bass and featuring some wild guitar/keyboard sounds with an underwater effect to them…Very magical song I think…If there was such a thing as a next single, I would pick this song…”I don’t remember getting here”…
11 SLEEP WHEN I’M DEAD (3:51)- this mix feels more ambient than the single we all have…this is an incredible song…and I like the album version much better…the subtle background keys and lines really give this song color…
12 THE SCREAM (4:35)- ok these last 2 songs are the barnburners…this is where we end with some serious rock and if it was me playing at least one smashed guitar if this was live…This one starts slow…Middle Eastern feel a la “The Blood” although not acoustic…Something about this song makes me feel like it could have fit into the Top era…So the song builds up and then Robert let’s out this banshee scream of death…If you have headphones on or your stereo up you will actually get distortion which I think is perfectly fitting (for those who record, think needle well past the red line)!!!...Once the scream dies out it is time to kick the walls down and rock out…just builds into chaos and then dies out leading into…
13 IT’S OVER (4:16)- leading into this song which we all know and some saw live as Baby Rag Dog Book…this sounds incredible on the album…Starts with thumping Simon bass and Jason drums…and just kicks in and goes!...i thought it was cool live from what I saw (yes in person), but to hear it sonically recorded is great cause it matches the intensity of the live version and they captured the sound and feel…"
Thank you Phantom of Friend of COF for taking the time to review this for us!
