Watch Roger live in his studio

Roger did an electronic rehearsal in his studio tonight. Watch it here. He will be doing a half hour of improvised piano playing.live at 3pm (UK time) tomorrow, March 13th.

Update: Here's Sunday's piano improv. It starts at 14:22. And thanks for the little surprise, Roger. Such happy memories from that.

Update 2: Another live session and a taped interview segment Sunday night (3/13) at 7:30pm UK time. Okay, the live show is over now, but you can watch it here. (Thanks Aaron)

Cure #20 on Just Press Play's Top 100 artists

The Cure come in at #20 on Just Press Play's Fifty Years of Great Music: The Top 100 Artists. (Thanks Kate)

Underneath The Stars autographed print

Available on ebay (both prints now sold) or from St. Paul's Gallery.

"The Cure Underneath The Stars (from the album 4:13 Dream)
Official Signed Limited Edition Fine Art Print - Signed By Robert Smith + Tim Wakefield

Robert Smith chose Underneath The Stars from the Cure's album 4:13 Dream as his Soundwave. Robert Smith chose this image saying "it looks like the stars exploding in the night sky". The artist says "The Cure are one of my favourite bands and working on this gave me the chance to catch up on so much new material. Underneath the Stars was a perfect choice for the artwork and it worked so well". The prints are available now in a limited run of only 50 prints World Wide." (Thanks Aaron)

HispaCure 7th anniversary party

Hispacure, the Cure fanclub in Spain, are celebrating their 7th anniversary this Saturday, March 12th, in Valencia, Spain. Details about the party can be found here in the comments, and at their website. Congratulations to Ivan & our friends at HispaCure, and thank you for the help and support over the years! Cheers!

Looking Back: The Cure in 1991

Andrew Boe has written a great article on The Cure in 1991 for Three Imaginary Girls. Really enjoyed reading that. Let's hope Robert is aware of our love for that era of The Cure, and includes as much material from it as possible, on the 'Wish' remastered set. (Thanks Andrew)

Rihanna "samples" LGTB

As Perfect.Murder first mentioned in the Lady Gaga thread, Rihanna has also "sampled" The Cure for her song 'S&M'. Listen at 2:31, and again towards the end of the song. Clearly a bit of 'Let's Go To Bed'. (Thanks Perfect.Murder and Joanne)

Boris sighting!

Not exactly sure what/where this is, but it's a very brief video of Boris Williams, posted on Facebook by Dy Pillbox. The english translation is "Boris Williams (The Cure) playing on one of my demos for the process." Always so nice to see Boris!

Update: For Sofia...and others without Facebook. : ) And for those who missed it last May, here are some photos of Boris playing in Paris last year.

'Pornography' radio special in Italy

"I'm Richard Marra of Radio Zammù (Italy). I am writing to alert readers of Chain of Flowers that today at 6 pm, "Discocracy" will speak of Pornography by The Cure. We'll revisit the themes of the disc of 1982 and listen to the most significant tracks. Leading the editorial staff of ilcibicida.com, Italian musical webzine."
(Thanks Richard)

Happy Mardi Gras!

Wherever you're celebrating across the world, or even if you're trapped in some sad place that doesn't celebrate, but you have the spirit, have a very Happy Mardi Gras!

Entreat Plus for Record Store Day?

We might finally have an answer about the cancellation of the 'Entreat Plus' vinyl release in North America - it was being saved for Record Store Day 2011? Sunshine Records in Canada has it listed as a RSD exclusive. (Thanks Shawn)

Update (3/7/11): Just got confirmation from David at Sunshine Records: "The Cure Entreat Plus has been listed as an RSD title by Warner. A bunch of releases that were cancelled earlier are now coming as RSD titles."

Update 2 (3/23/11): Well the RSD release sheet doesn't have 'Entreat Plus' listed, so the mystery continues. I've heard that this isn't the final, set in stone list, and there's more that may be added (for instance, the list is also missing the Interpol 2011 remix EP that Matador Records has mentioned), so we'll wait and see. (Thanks We Listen For You)

Cure covers

Warm Ghost has a cover of 'All Cats Are Grey' on their new EP 'Uncut Diamond'. (Thanks Chris)

Lady Gaga samples 'Lullaby'?

Has Lady Gaga "sampled" a bit of 'Lullaby' in her new song 'Government Hooker'? Listen to that keyboard bit towards the end. Coincidence or intentional? (Thanks Aaron)

More memories from 1991

As we continue down memory lane, with our thoughts on the T&C 2 show, and the anticipation that was building for the 'Wish' album, here are some 'Wish' era press clippings I found in an old folder - reviews of T&C2 from Q (part 1 - part 2) and NME (this scan is from JC), and a very interesting Aug. 1991 article from Select (Album working title was 'Higher'? 'Anniversary' was written for 'Wish'? What was 'Decadence'? Talk of 'The Last Day of Summer', and titles of songs for Robert's solo album).

Update: More scans added. (Thanks JC/Perfect Murder)

John Martyn tribute out July 12th

Consequence of Sound reports that the long-awaited John Martyn Tribute album, 'Johnny Boy Would Love This', which features Robert Smith's cover of 'Small Hours' (you can read the lyrics there, too), will be released on July 12th.
The original story at Direct Current says there will also be a DVD released with interviews and footage from the recording sessions.

Roger at Synthetic update

Roger has posted two of the tracks he's working on, 'Flower' and 'Trees', for his show at Synthetic in South London at The Cavendish Arms on March 23rd. He's also playing at the Picture House in Exeter on March 17th. More info here.

He's also posted the first rough idea, 'Approach', for a new Charlie Crow album (Yes!), and some samples from his 'Scheherazade' project with cellist Julia Kent.

More pre-Wish release talk

With all of the talk and discussion about 'Wish' and the early versions of the songs which debuted 20 years ago at the T&C 2 secret show, John at the On Nights Like This blog has posted a couple of press clippings from those days, which talks about a slightly different track list for the album. (Thanks John)

Update: John has also posted photos of the merchandise he bought at the 'Wish' shows.

The Cure - Away (Cut) live at T&C 2 in 1991

Posting this because I've just been reminded of how much I love this early version of 'Cut'. Those early versions of the 'Wish' songs were fantastic. If for some reason you've never seen/heard them, also check out 'Wendy Time' and 'The Big Hand'.
(Thanks again for the reminders, Fred and melt05)

Update: And how about this fantastic demo version of 'Wendy Time'? A taste of what we might get on the 'Wish' remastered set. (Thanks JC, Brian, Ben)

Cure covers

Consequence of Sound reports that the Deftones' cover of The Cure's 'If Only Tonight We Could Sleep' will be included on their limited edition (5,000 copies) 'Covers' LP, which is being released for Record Store Day 2011 on April 16th.

Cure for sale page

Been getting a lot of requests to post Cure items for sale, so instead of saying no, or having them take up space on the front page, I'm putting them on their own page now.

Surprise! Cure in the studio!

Eden Gallup posted this yesterday on Facebook: "In the studio with the cure. Great to hear them playing again ! Surprises!" (Thanks Gildas)

Update: Clive makes an excellent point in the comments. Eden said they were "in the studio", but didn't say a recording studio. He could have just meant a rehearsal studio. So no confirmation of any actual recording going on right now. Sorry for jumping the gun on that.

Update 2: Not recording according to Eden's latest update: "To clear up some confusion, the cure were not recording anything new last week, just dusting of and getting together for 2011, looking forward etca"

Update 3: Received further confirmation on this. It was just a session to get together and play again, to try things out, so that future plans could be made.