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

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Lance LaSalle, Apr 13, 2023.

  1. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    But, you see, I want that.
     
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  2. smokeverbs

    smokeverbs Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit, MI, USA
    Too bad, Sir. This is a journey and I'm in for the long haul. I missed most of the old thread due to health issues, and I'm loving this time 'round, even slogging through the demos.

    Are you going to hold up the Blue Sunshine album? Please?
     
  3. jalexander

    jalexander Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    No. The orange 12” version of Icing Sugar is the “new mix” which doesn’t have drums. It’s on Join the Dots.
     
  4. markreed

    markreed Forum Resident

    Location:
    Imber
    I get the impression The Cure don't "jam" much, the nearest example I can think of are the many iterations of Forever, which aside from a radio session in January 1981, doesn't appear to have been recorded in the studio. At what point are we picking that song up?
     
  5. smokeverbs

    smokeverbs Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit, MI, USA
    My guess would be soon, as it appears on both an upcoming deluxe on our list, as well as on "Curiousity".
     
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  6. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Oh, I disagree, that is just terrible in my opinion.

    Though I agree that they are not anything to be passionate about...so far, I haven't heard ones on subequent albums...except some of those Three Imaginary Boys demos were actually pretty good.

    But I'm leaning towards just doing them a song a day anyway (as I've been doing) because I find them interesting (so far) if not stellar and it does make it easier for me to put up one a day. And they don't really have that many. And, if five days or so of slightly lower traffic occurs that also gives me a break.
    After Pornography.
     
  7. markreed

    markreed Forum Resident

    Location:
    Imber
    Fab! I may sound grumpy (I'm not), that song sometimes gets forgotten because its had a really weird, long journey to its release.
     
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  8. edfom

    edfom Forum Resident

    Location:
    Marquette
    The new vocals for The Glove annoyed me for so many years and I hate that they made me second guess what else may have been tampered with. The sad part is, if Robert had just been honest and said he went back and recorded new vocals for Blue Sunshine as a "what if" then no one would care. It would have even been considered a brilliant move. Instead we got lies and the term "sound soap" from Severin concerning the supposed unearthed vocals. Now that 17 (!!!) years have passed since the deluxe edition of Blue Sunshine came out I've been able to put aside my annoyance at the lies and enjoy that version of the album for what it is. The other stuff that could possibly be new vocals pasted onto old demos... I'd honestly rather not know anymore.

    Anyway, just waiting for Carnage Visors to come up because I'm really interested to read what people think of that one...
     
  9. CaptainFeedback1

    CaptainFeedback1 It's nothing personal.

    Location:
    Oxfordshire, UK
    Me too!
     
  10. jalexander

    jalexander Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    I’m pretty sure the deluxe edition version of Carnage Visors has vocals added in the 2000s. And don’t get me started on Airlock… I waited 20 years for that thing and it’s a new recording by Robert and Jason. :evil:

    In all seriousness, the new vocals annoy me too, and thanks to this thread I also learned that Pillbox tales was a revisionist recording way back in 1986! So it obviously doesn’t bother Robert at all…
     
  11. Lars Medley

    Lars Medley I lost on Jeopardy!

    Location:
    Utah
    I'm going to elect not to score this one. On the subject of how to treat the demos -- I can see the benefit of lumping together these tracks into one day of discussion but I'm not super familiar with the DE sets in between the Top and MU/TD (I only got the ones I didn't have original CDs of at the time the came out - then the bonus material on Mixed Up & Wish were compelling to me). I guess it depends on how slight the material is. Lance I'll trust your judgment.
     
  12. TheVeryDab

    TheVeryDab Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    ‘A Normal Story’ 2/5 - a number of fair comments highlighting the circumstances of ‘Faith’ and its troubled birth and these outtakes as possible evidence of why a re-start was needed. Not much to add to what sounds like at best another Cure-by-numbers or self-impersonation.
     
  13. CaptainFeedback1

    CaptainFeedback1 It's nothing personal.

    Location:
    Oxfordshire, UK
    I have never noticed anything different about Carnage Visors on the DE compared to the cassette version I grew up with... are you sure?!

    And Airlock - where did you get the Robert and Jason thing from? There is a 1982 show on YouTube with Airlock at the start, I'm going to have to A/B the two of them, although on first listen I think you're probably right... :shake:
     
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  14. jalexander

    jalexander Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    Thought the emoji in my post might reveal that I was telling a tall tale like Robert. :D I’m not aware of any issues with those songs.
     
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  15. CaptainFeedback1

    CaptainFeedback1 It's nothing personal.

    Location:
    Oxfordshire, UK
    Jesus, thank Christ for that...

    10 points though, you totally had me!
     
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  16. Jim B.

    Jim B. Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
    There wouldn't be any legal issue would there why he would lie?

    He changed record labels in 2002 I think so maybe he could use those tracks for the deluxes if they were vintage recordings but if there were new vocals then his new label would have a claim to them and need paying to licence them out for the deluxes?
     
  17. alugjk

    alugjk Senior Member

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA
    A Normal Story

    Bland and unremarkable.

    1.5/5
     
  18. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Our votes for "A Normal Story"
    1-8
    2-10
    3-2
    4-0
    5-0
    Average: 1.7361
     
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  19. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Today, Carnage Visors: The Soundtrack.


    Carnage Visors was the title to a music piece written to accompany a film that "opened" for The Cure. This solved the problem that they had with opening acts, in which either they or the opening act would get shafted in the sound check. With this film, they were able to tour without an opening act.

    The film itself, which as far as I know is not on YouTube, was animated and directed by Simon Gallup's older brother Ric Gallup. The original film was accidentally destroyed and the one that they ended up doing was hastily done in just a short time.

    Carnage Visors title is meant to be the opposite of "Rose-Colored Glasses."

    Line Up:
    Robert Smith: six-string bass, synthesizer, guitar, drum programming
    Simon Gallup: bass
    Lol Tolhurst: drums

    Carnage Visors was released on Side B of cassette editions of Faith, and it was also released on the Faith Deluxe set in 2005.
     
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  20. vertigone

    vertigone Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    Carnage Visors - LOVE IT! 5/5

    Wish they did more long hypnotic instrumentals
     
  21. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Carnage Visors:

    I had the cassette with this on it back in the eighties, and I honestly thought it was just part of the albumfor a long time and that somehow my copy with the sticker boasting "two albums on one cassette!" was wrong. Eventually I worked out -- probably by reading the actual cassette -- what was going on.

    I have always liked it. I've probably only listened to it all the way through a half dozen times back in the day, but it worked for me. And maybe once today and once about ten years ago (I have a digital copy on the ole' hard drive.)

    Of course it is relentlessly dark and you kind of need 28 spare minutes to listen to it -- it's not necessarily the best background music nor does it make for upbeat accompaniment on your morning commute to work, but it is a gloriously psychedelic gloomfest. I wish I still owned it, but I'm afraid to invest in Faith Deluxe just for this, because I would hardly ever listen to it and, as we've seen the demos are not all that...and people keep complaining about the live tracks, so I reckon those aren't worth it either.

    It's certainly much more musical and enjoyable than a certain other soundtrack by The Cure which shall remain nameless but rhymes with Eyre-lock.

    3.5/5.
     
  22. smokeverbs

    smokeverbs Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit, MI, USA
    Carnage Visors.
    It's alright. 3/5.
     
  23. ARL

    ARL Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    Carnage Visors

    I never listened to this at all until a couple of years ago, when for some reason I found it and started playing it. I was enjoying it, but whether for time restrictions or something else I didn't get through it.

    Played it in full two nights ago. It's mesmerising. The bass is incredible, and I love the way it's constantly shifting and morphing but never straying too far from the original riff. It develops in the way that the Faith tracks don't. You can't say that if you've heard the first minute you've heard it all, or even the first 15 minutes.

    It's a pity that my CD of Faith doesn't have this. I really need to seek out a copy as this is amazing and hypnotic like nothing else.

    And I think we can say that post-rock was invented here. 5/5.
     
  24. CaptainFeedback1

    CaptainFeedback1 It's nothing personal.

    Location:
    Oxfordshire, UK
    Carnage Visors - 5/5

    ARL describes it perfectly - the way it constantly changes without ever getting too far away from where it began. It's a fantastic piece and it's better than just about everything on Faith. It's hard to believe that the same people who put Doubt on the album could come up with something as perfect as Carnage Visors. Where some of the album songs start to drag monotonously, Carnage Visors is like shifting sands and holds my attention for its duration. It probably also helps that it's an instrumental at a time when RS was at his most whiny. Best of all, it sounds absolutley timeless.

    My first 5/5 of the thread, by the way.
     
  25. the no guy

    the no guy Cat on the moon

    Location:
    Lisboa
    Another double cassette veteran here. Must have bought it a few years after it came out, probably at Woolworths. Have always loved Carnage Visors, although I recognise its limitations.

    4/5
     
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