The Cure's "Wish" finally get the deluxe edition treatment. Track listing on page 20!*

I just noticed that Amazon [U.S. store] decreased my pre-order purchase of the 3-CD Wish re-issue from $29.98 to $23.99. I don't know when it happened and I sure wasn't expecting it!

 

I was never a fan of 'Wish' itself, though I had the three CD singles and loved the B-Sides. The album itself? I tried and tried but could just never get into it.

Today I was thinking if I could make a more interesting version of the album that removed some of the lesser tracks, but then discovered something interesting. The 3 Australian (Disctronics) singles sound mastered about the same volume, and remain detailed and powerful at higher volume. But when I compared them to the Australia Disctronics Pressing of the CD, the CD is notably quiet, flat, muffled, lifeless and seemingly-lacking all dynamics. It's an unexciting listen. I can see why I never responded to it.

Were all Wish CD pressings like this? Or are there versions that sound more like the singles? I found a cheap German copy without a cover for a few bucks, so I'll compare it when it arrives. What about the Japanese or US releases?

I just imagine the re-release will just be brickwalled, which does not favours to a band like the Cure where the space around each instrument is so important to achieve the big dynamics they specialise in.

 

I'm willing to bet all worldwide share the same mastering. My US SRC matches the German.

 

Demo for 'Cut' is out

NME: The Cure release 1990 demo of 'Cut' from upcoming 'Wish' reissue.
The Cure release 1990 demo of 'Cut' from upcoming 'Wish' reissue

 

Damn.. that was about time lol. I swear.. i thought they are going to hold this back forever

 

As with the Wendy Time demo, I prefer this demo to the final album version.

How they turned that lovely demo of Wendy Time into the atrocity that ended up on the album is beyond me.

 

This seems to be it (and the one embedded in the article wouldn’t play for me, seems to be because I’m in the US).

 

I’m intrigued by the Wish remaster - it’s not my favourite album of theirs, IMO it sounds a bit like a ‘best of’ of previous albums, but with new songs. That said there are a handful of absolute classics on it.
Anyone heard any mastering/remastering by Miles Showell? Personally only interested in digital… it’s been a long while since the last load of remasters, which are very mixed to my ears - some are good (earlier albums), some are just plain too loud, some create a different ‘vibe’ (Pornography was that for me - I actually like the remaster as a ‘change’ although I much prefer the original version).
I’m a little hopeful this might be a different remaster experience to the previous ones…

That said if they do Wild Mood Swings I’m def not interested! That was the first Cure album I heard in full as a teenager and it regrettably put me off listening to all their previous albums for years!

 

Miles is only as good as his source. If he doesn't cut it half speed the channel balance should be correct.

 

Robert's vocals on the 1990 "Cut" demo sound a little... new to me.

 

I don't know, it's hard to tell. He does broadly follow the structure of the "Away" live version from "Play Out", which is from a year later (1991) and a bit faster, moving already towards the final version. But it's honestly difficult for me to tell whether the vocals have been re-recorded now. Given how ready the band is to give us lots of instrumental demos, I guess not?



I think in the end the claims that the Disintegration demos and monitor mixes had been resung by Robert were proven wrong in this very forum (a forum user claimed to have heard these recordings years ago with exactly the same vocals). So Robert apparently only re-sung the Glove demos, but nothing else...

 

What is the backstory on cut-away-cut name for the song? Any idea?

 

Good thing nobody ever says that about Peter Gabriel!

 

and don't forget the tours for each album (plus a short one for the singles collection/standing on a beach/1986), releasing "mixed up" (1990, with "never enough" and "harold and joe" as it's single/b-side), and winning the best band/brits award in 1991.

it's really an amazing run both creatively and commercially.

 

My guess is that, at the time of the recording of this demo in 1990 it was still called Away. This must have changed at some point during the recording of the album.

 

i'm looking forward to giving "a wendy band" and "frogfish," just because of the interesting titles
there's been a cure/"frogfish" on youtube but it was never verified as legit, so we shall see.

 

This is so, so, so much better than what ended up on the album. The demo has groove, flow, melody and feeling. The final version is a histrionic mess.

 

Makes me want to hear Dave Allen’s rejected mix too!

 

Me too, I don't dislike the final version, but I bet the Dave Allen mix would be a good in-between.

By the way, I have the suspicion that the Open (fix mix) and High (trip mix) may be the original Dave Allen mixes of those songs. There are no credits in the UK single that includes both of them, but, to my mind, having listened to them on Youtube, they both sound more like alternate mixes than proper remixes. Also, both (and in particular High) feature more loudly the psychedelic overdubs that Dave Allen spoke about (phasing, vocal ad-libs, etc) and could be thought as being closer to the Disintegration sound.

The credits in the deluxe edition should enlighten us as to whether this is the case for Open, but, unfortunately, not for High...

 

Think you're correct, I thought the same thing.
I really like this mix. It's the best I could do with that transfer, it had a pretty high noise floor.

 

I love it, had not listened to it until today. I like how spacious it is and how the effects are louder. Thanks for your work on this!

 

Thanks! It's a fun hobby I enjoying doing- for some reason I find doing them relaxing after work
Really looking forward to the extras on this deluxe!

 

Wait, you are David M. Allen?

 

Mine's official, is your avatar?