12 Imaginary Years: The Cure 1977-1989 song by song thread

"A Normal Story"

A bouncy counterpart to the tracks that made the cut - probably provided some light relief in the studio.

2/5

 

A Normal Story

I played the video that Lance linked above and thought it sounded familiar, and indeed it was - despite the label it's Going Home Time.

This is A Normal Story - again it just sounds like The Cure doodling around, looking for some inspiration to turn a jam into a song and not finding it. 2/5.

 

Haha! Well that just goes to show how memorable these outtakes are... I thought it sounded a lot like the last one but didn't bother checking back.

A Normal Story is still pretty thin gruel but sounds slightly more like the material that made it on to the album.

 

Well crap, no wonder it sounded so much like the demo I heard the other day, hahahaha! Same rating, basically.

Don't worry this is the last of these demos...for now. I may go over future such demos two in one go. While these demos give me a bit of a break becuase fewer people rate them, they are tedious.

 

Normal Story

The Cure experimenting with New Wave during the Faith sessions?? No existential crisis that day? Whatever it was, it wasn't working nonetheless. 1/5

 

A Normal Story

Nothing to comment on as nothing is happening.

This demo dross should be covered in a day to avoid killing the momentum of the thread. Strange decision to include this crap (that was never intended to be released) but originally nothing beyond 1989 was to be included…….

0.5/5

 

Another promising genesis of a song to my ears, and not at all unpleasant upon initial listen. And another with suspected minimal repeat play value.

A Normal Story

2.75/5

 

Normal Story - 1/5. Sounds like a jam session with Robert sprinkling his voice across it. Must remember that it was a part of Deluxe, an extra for die-hards.

 

The sleevenotes for the deluxe do (in the full song titles) make it clear that the tracks were all either an RS home demo, a group demo, or studio outtakes.

Nothing is labelled as being from a jam, The Cure don't really jam anyway, as acknowedged by RS many times.

The poor writing quality of most of the DE bonus tracks really just serves to confirm what is said in Ten Imaginary Years, that they tried to record an album and it simply wasn't working, so they started again.

RS knows these songs are rubbish, that's why Faith v1.0 was abandoned.

At least the tracks marked as being 'studio outtakes' are presumably the abandoned tracks from the initial session.

 

A Normal Song

Another sketch of a song that doesn’t really go anywhere. Also another demo that sounds a bit like it belongs in the world between TIB and 17S. It’s mid-tempo, but positively bouncy compared to the material that mad Faith.

I think @Suggy Bop Bop gives us a good reminder that these demos are likely a major part of the reason why Robert abandoned the early Faith sessions and started again. In that light, they show how Robert was really finding himself. The official releases of 17S>Faith >Pornography comprise a nice linear journey into darkness. A classic goth trilogy that seems so focused and relentless.

These demos show that it took work for Robert to get there and he might just as easily have gone back to some sort of post punk thing. Had he worked on these, we’d see this alternate universe Faith as the heir to Jumping Someone Else’s Train, Play for Today and M, all of which are great poppy songs. But instead, he tapped into the more difficult material on 17S - Secrets, the title track, In Your House, Three - and extended into further into the depths.

And as well see in a few days, despite audience reactions on the Faith tour, instead of going back to pop, he doubled down on darkness again for the next record…

(Also, as a bit of thread feedback, @Lance LaSalle , even if these demos are sub-par, I’m happy to take the scenic route and have appreciated it on your other threads. In fact, when I took over the reins of the Wilco thread I spent more time on the odds and sods than previous. If not on a thread like this, then where?)

 

Thanks for the feedback, I'll think about it while we are going through Pornography.

 

"A Normal Story" - Fine for what it is, which isn't much. 2/5

 

I can see pros and cons to both approaches... I don't mind spending a day on each outtake as I'm not sure I'd give enough attention to them individually if they were grouped together on the same day and it's been interesting to hear what could/couldn't have been. It gives people a chance to catch up too, but I can see why others might see it as slowing things down too much.

I'm in no rush though and I'm in for the long haul either way - keep up the good work Lance and the gang!

 

A Normal Story
More annoying post-punk toytown music.
0/5

 

A Normal Story

This feels similar to The The Violin Song in its poppiness, and with a guide vocal by Robert. I prefer A Normal Story, probably because the guitar and bass make it feel a little more substantial than The Violin Song, but it’s still clearly unfinished (unfortunately).

3/5

 

Do whatever is easiest for you I say. I don't think any of the demos are of anything people really want to talk passionately about. They make the Vanilla Tapes sound good!

 

A Normal Story - Another track where I got all I needed in the first 45 seconds. It's a decent bass loop but it's not much of a song. The "ooooh' vocals are really annoying on this one. 1.5 Rating.

 

I hear ya. I noticed a bit of a drop off with posts on some of this stuff (it happens with the Paul Simon too), and there's at least two more days ahead of this, I guess there's not much to discuss with this stuff, but it's ok, I look forward to whatever songs Lance posts, good or bad (and get a kick out of the negative feedback sometimes, lol). So we'll be completists!

 

A Normal Story: 2

The bass loop is good. End of story.

As the kids say in South Park: You know, I learned something today. Sometimes you have to try and do it wrong many times before you do it right. I mean, Charlotte Sometimes is right around the corner.

 

I agree the demos of unreleased material can be a bit of a slog.

I do like "Temptation Two" though, but I wouldn't be heartbroken if no one else wanted to discuss it.

On another note, we are leaving for Slovakia today so I may miss a couple songs. I will try to catch up as soon as I can, though.

 

A Normal Story

We have had normal "Primary", we have had slowed to a ominous crawl "Primary" and now...happy "Primary" and it sounds not good!

also please robert remove the whooping guide vocal...

1.5/5

 

Thanks. I will check them out.

Here...

 

Cheers, sadly it's possible... If the swooping vocal on Going Home Time is genuinely from 1981 then I find it fascinating to hear him experimenting with a vocal style that he would dive head first into 3 or 4 years later. If it is another piece of RS's revisionism then it's even more ridiculous than what he did with The Glove reissue. More to the point, it's pretty annoying that we can't be certain either way. Not that it keeps me awake at night or anything, but still...

 

I don't think it is a later addition - the Glove era vocals seem to be resung as he only ever did guide vocals to demonstrate the melody to Jeanette. I'm not convince the other vocals are resung as they might be alternate unfinished studio takes. Isn't the version of Icing Sugar the same one as on the orange 12" with some editions of Kiss Me?

 

Until someone happens upon a time machine so I can see for myself, I will remain convinced that those KMKMKM and Disintegration studio rough takes are actually 2000+ era RS vocals... it's clear as day to me!