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

I see Robert Smith's entire career as a messy mix-tape full of odds and sods stuff. Some of his best albums (e.g. KMKMKM) are all odds and sods...

 

Yeah, that's a fair point. I suppose The Cure itself is a mixtape.

 

Disintegration might be his most (or only?) coherent album.

 

Yet I believe Bob has said more than once that he doesn't really think Lullaby fits the rest. I'm sure he has said he wrestled with himself for a long time over whether to include it or not.

 

Pornography even more. But these are exceptions. Most Cure albums are a hodgepodge of different moods.

 

I don't about other parts of the world but mine due for delivery from Amazon UK tomorrow (saturday)

I am not interested in Deluxe editions as anything worth hearing IMHO from the Wish sessions was on Join The Dots. 3 CD version will be full of crappy Simon demos - they werent good or interesting enough 30 years ago and they aren't now. Again IMHO before people get triggered

 

Not sure I agree with that. Its so dominated by Roger's keys and doesn't sound like anything before or since Cure wise.

Probably only 'Sinking' or 'This Twillight Garden' have anything like the Distintegration sound for me (keys wise) - both could fit on the album without looking out of place I feel

 

There's an official "Listening Party" on Twitter tonight for Wish, 11pm UK time at @timstwitterlisteningparty and Robert Smith will be there live commenting on the album as it plays.

 

Hopefully he will find out how to remove the Caps lock before joining.

 

It’s always been his thing, going back at least to the days of his “Cure House” website posts in the mid 90s.

 

I have just finished playing the main album (on Spotify with Bluetooth earplugs so I will refrain from comments on the audio quality) but, as it was 30 years ago, I don't really love this album he way I do other Cure albums. Everything sounds like a rethread of other songs already heard, some songs are tuneless dirges (Cut, End). The singles are nice pop songs but they don't make a great album. And the production is very congested, in many tracks I can only hear an overwhelming guitar, a voice and some background noise.
Anyway, this is not a thread to review the album but what I wanted to say is that whatever issues this deluxe edition might have, they start with the album itself.

 

You basically summed up 'Bloodflowers' there too - I always thought that album basically took the sound of those songs then made a whole album out of it.

 

Just picked up the vinyl here in Dublin. Won't get to listen to it til tomorrow though. Work and all that !

 

Its a shame we likely won't ever hear Mark Allen's mix of the album. I wonder if it's less congested.

 

I finally found this ex-Fiction employee interview I've mentioned before:

A peek behind the scenes at Fiction (exclusive interview)

Key bit regarding the Wish mix:

9. Do you still like the music of The Cure? What are your favourite albums/songs?

I can't name a favourite album. That would be like choosing a favourite child... I do wish that the original mixes of the Wish album were out there. I heard them not so long ago and wept. That album was messed about with too much. I hope all Cure fans can hear it as it was intended. It had the life mixed out of it.

 

Does anyone know if Miles cut the new pressing of Wish?

 

yes he did and apparently pressed at Pallas from what I heard…

EDIT: I got this info from a guy who writes for clash magazine and posts on Twitter. I saw the deadwax though and info on discogs and not sure now. The entry doesn’t have Miles on the deadwax.

 

Any news about the actual release and vinyl…ideally vs the original pressing? Rather than a career overview and shipping updates?

 

I would think the original was cut from the same files as the cd. In theory, this should sound better.

 

For those who got the vinyl, does a digital download come with the album? If so, is it for mp3 or lossless files?

 

Im surprised people care about digital downloads with vinyl. If I’m buying vinyl, the quality of the product is the thing that interests me. Don’t most people have Tidal, Spotify etc who listen digitally?

 

You can't play records in the car. I don't stream, not my thing. My digital library is meticulously maintained on iTunes.

 

The demos on CD2 are actually quite nice. You can hear the songs for what they are. I think that if this album had a cleaner sound, like The Head On The Door, I would like it much more.
We know that a disc of demos doesn't have a lot of replay value but to be honest neither does a remaster of a 30 years old album.

 

No?
Flashback 1964: A Newfound Pop Star & His Car Record Player

 

Try listening to the Kiss Me and Disintegration bonus discs again. Anything marked 'Studio Rough Vocal Guide' (Last Dance, Icing Sugar) is clearly modern Robert singing over old instrumentals, adding a whole lot of effects to hide it. But his voice and inflection changed so much since the 80s that it's impossible to look past.

It doesn't take much to beat the original vinyl. I wouldn't be surprised if that was just the CD master dumped to wax. I enjoy owning it for the sake of the cover and because I've had it forever, but I'm much more likely to grab the CD if I want to listen to the album.

I'm listening through the bonus material on Spotify now and it's nice to see that Robert didn't re-record any vocals this time around. It's too bad they've given Boris' drums the Jason effect again like they did on Entreat+. The versions of some of these demos that have circulated for decades had that huge Wish/Disintegration drum sound, but all of the reverb has been stripped here. I get it, it sounds more like a band playing in a room together making a demo, but it's not how Boris' drums ever sounded.

I don't mind the 'slog' of the second disc. Most of KMKMKM bonus disc was instrumental demos as well. It's not like they were thinking "let's record extra music for the bonus discs 30 years from now." It is what it is.