Happy Birthday, Porl!

Hope you have a great day. Cheers!

The Crawley Observer reminisces

The Crawley Observer has a nice little article about the early days of Malice and Robert.

Win an autographed poster

"Jamsbio is giving away 4 autographed posters by Robert Smith in celebration of The Cure's new album. It would be great if you could share this opportunity with your readers. We'd love to have more Cure fans active on the website. We're asking fans to rank their top 5 songs by The Cure. Fans can share and discuss their most favorite songs by the band. They can also share any memories they have of the band, whether it be from a concert or a Cure song that reminds them of a special event."
(Thanks Julianne)

Music Week article

There's an article at Music Week about the first week sales. (Thanks Kate)

What becomes of the broken-hearted?

The Independent has an article about Robert. (Thanks Kate)

Even more 4:13 reviews

UK - The Independent (1/5).
France - Liberation (very negative), Waxx Music (mixed).
US - Tampa Tribune (mixed), Medium Fidelity (positive), NewsOK (negative).
Italy - Music Map (positive).
(Thanks Kate, T2, fmjews)

4:13 charts update

Czech Republic - enters at #7.
France - enters at #8.
Switzerland - enters at #15.
Sweden - enters at #36.
Denmark - enters at #19.
World Chart - enters at #20 (62,000 copies sold)
US - enters at #6 on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart.
(If you missed it, 4:13 entered at #16 on the Top 200 chart)
Canada - enters at #32.
Germany - enters at #21.
New Zealand - enters at #32.
Austria - enters at #28.
Croatia - enters at #12 on the Top 40 (foreign releases).
(Thanks Aaron, David, Jack, Stef, Alban, Farbruun, Jeff, Levko, Bianca, Sanjin)

Postmarks cover Six Different Ways

Pitchfork has an article about the new covers album by The Postmarks, which includes their cover of Six Different Ways. (Thanks Matthew)

4:13 Dream is out in Brazil

"The new album is out in Brazil, been selling in 2 virtual stores: CD Point (price: R$ 28,90) & Video Lar (price: R$ 27,50)"
(Thanks Álvaro)

Watch/Listen to the EMAs online

Looks like MTV is streaming the European Music Awards on their website.

Update: The Cure loses the Headliner award to Tokio Hotel. Linkin Park was 2nd, Metallica was 3rd.

More 4:13 reviews

US - Daily Campus (3.5/5), MN Daily (4), Cleveland Scene (positive), Just Press Play (5/10).
Austria - Falter (positive).
Portugal - Time Out (4/6).
Canada - Eye Weekly (3/5).
Argentina - Clarin (positive)
New Zealand - NZ Herald (3).
Australia - Rave (3).
(Thanks Kate, Thomas, Claudio, Swifty, AndytheCurefan, Ariel)

NME posts Cure Covers

NME's Daily Download has an article about Cure Covers, along with videos and mp3s. (Thanks Darrell)

4:13 Dream is out in Japan

"At last, 4:13 Dream was released in Japan today. In Tower Records Shinjyuku in Tokyo, many CDs were displayed along the wall with a big luminous cover artwork above. The Japanese on the display says "Everlasting Adolescence Syndrome". The album was in the listening booth, too.

Tower Records' free magazine "bounce" November issue has a 4-page retrospective article on The Cure. It features the band's history, short comments on the present & former members, and a discography including soundtracks, covers by other bands, and albums & songs Robert and other members have been involved with. (Pix 3 & 4)

I also went to HMV Shinjyuku but they didn't have any displays. It seems Tower Records Japan is the only CD shop promoting 4:13 Dream on a large scale.

I found some album reviews of 4:13 Dream in Japanese music magazines: "snoozer" December issue has one review, and "rockin' on" December issue has two. All of them are very positive. The reviewer of "snoozer" says it could have been a masterpiece if it didn't lack coherence in the musical styles, but it's still brilliant." (Thanks Junko)

O2 pre-sale tickets available

More pre-sale tickets are available from Ticketmaster.
(Thanks Simon and Rob)

4:13 chart update

Spain - enters at #13 on the Spanish Top 100 Albums chart.

US - enters the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart at #16, with first week sales of 24,000.
In comparison, here's how previous albums fared:

'The Cure' debuted at #7 (90,705 copies)

'Greatest Hits' debuted at #58 (32,452 copies)

'Bloodflowers' debuted at #16 (70,953 copies)

'Galore' debuted at #32 (36,413 copies)

'WMS' debuted at #12 (74,000 copies)

'Wish' debuted at #2 (135,348 copies)

'Mixed Up' debuted at #14

'Disintegration' debuted at #45 (before slowly climbing to #12 and staying in the chart for 55 weeks!)

US - enters the Hits Daily Double Top 50 Albums chart at #20 with first week sales of 21,625. It was #4 on the Newbury Comics Top 10 chart.

Norway - enters at #17 on the official Top 40 Albums chart.

Big Gig tickets on sale now

Tickets on sale now from NME Tickets. The lineup so far is The Cure, Justice, Foals, Crystal Castles, and more to be announced. Tickets are £30.00 + £4 booking fee.

Update: Advance tickets are sold out at NME. Ticketmaster has pre-sale tickets available. Regular tickets go on sale Nov. 10th.

More 4:13 reviews

US - People (4/4), USA Today (2.5/4), Daily Beacon (3/5), The Flat Hat (mixed), Daily Sundial (3/5).
Canada - Journal Montreal (positive), Calgary Herald (3.5/5).
Italy - SaltinAria (7.3/10).
(Thanks Kate, fmjews, Kim, Kevin, and Berndt)

: )

"It's a perfect day for dreams come true
For thinking big and doing anything you want to do
Let's get happy!"

The Cure plays O2 Arena on Feb. 26th

NME confirms that The Cure are headlining The Big Gig at London's O2 Arena on Feb. 26th. (Thanks Kate)

The latest TMU screw-up

Robert gives it to TMU once again. Seriously, do they get anything right? But where is the booklet not available? US? UK? Everywhere? It was on iTunes US when I bought it on the 27th. So if this problem is with the US, TMU are flat out lying. It was there, then they removed it.

4:13 Dream in Brazil update

"4:13 Dream" is now listed for pre-order on at least two websites:

Livraria Cultura - R$27,90

Livraria Saraiva - R$29,90

Both indicate November 7, Friday, as the release date."

(Thanks Marcos)

Rome re-broadcast on MTV Italy

"The Rome show will be re-broadcast on Sunday 9 November at 9.00 pm (cet) on MTV Italy." (Thanks Andrea)

More 4:13 reviews

US - Treble (positive), Boston Globe (positive), NY Times (positive?), Cleveland Plain Dealer (B+), Blog Critics (positive), Arizona Republic (4/5), Aversion (3/5)
Australia - Independent Weekly (negative), Daily Telegraph (4/5)
Germany - In Your Face (8/10), CD Starts (7/10), Laut (3/5), Plattentests (7/10).
Fans - Winosaur, Scott V., Todd.
(Thanks Kate, thistle, Ryan, syrex, Scott, and Todd)

4:13 Charts News

Italy Top 100 - enters at #8.
UK Top 75 - enters at #33 (sales of 7,360).
The Netherlands Top 100 - enters at #38.
Ireland Top 100 - enters at #46.
Poland Top 50 - enters at #27.
Belgium / Wallonie - enters at #26.
Belgium / Flanders - enters at #45.
Australia Top 50 - enters at #30 (and enters at #31 in the Physical Albums Chart, which I assume is a component of the main chart).

(Thanks Pietro, David, Reminder, Fab G, Steven, boc)