Cannot fucking wait. I feel like these are the 3 albums of theirs that need it the most and it's probably the most mysterious, cult-like era of their career. The outtakes should be a treat and their demos are always worth a listen. I think when I hear that bass on "Play For Today" remastered for the first time, I'm probably gonna break down in a pitiful mess. What a great week for new releases!

Oh and just in case you've forgotten or never knew in the first place, here's what's up...


RHINO PRESCRIBES DOUBLE DOSES OF THE CURE!
2-CD Deluxe Reissues Of SEVENTEEN SECONDS, FAITH, And PORNOGRAPHY Arrive April 26

LOS ANGELES - Two decades after The Cure helped launch the alternative rock movement with SEVENTEEN SECONDS, FAITH and PORNOGRAPHY, Rhino Records revisits the band's textured mix of dark atmospheric pop with a deluxe, two-disc edition of each album loaded with previously unreleased tracks. SEVENTEEN SECONDS, FAITH and PORNOGRAPHY will each be available April 26 at regular physical and digital retail outlets and at www.rhino.com for a suggested retail price of $24.98.

These albums continue Rhino Records' revitalization of The Cure catalog that began in December with the release of the band's 1979 debut, Three Imaginary Boys. Each title will be remastered and released as a deluxe double-disc set featuring the original album on one CD and numerous rarities on the other. Each release will come with a lavish booklet filled with lyrics as well as photos from the personal archives of vocalist Robert Smith, and track-by-track commentary and notes by U.K. music scribe Johnny Black.

A year after their debut, The Cure returned in 1980 with a more experimental sound on SEVENTEEN SECONDS, which includes the band's first U.K. hit single, "A Forest." The 15-song bonus disc features music available on CD for the first time including previously unreleased studio and home demo versions, live performances from 1979-1980 as well as "I'm a Cult Hero" and "I Dig You," originally released by The Cure under the pseudonym Cult Hero.

The minimalism of SEVENTEEN SECONDS gave way to lush arrangements on 1981's FAITH, which features the U.K. hit "Primary" as well as "The Holy Hour" and "All Cats Are Grey." The Rhino reissue offers the original, eight-song album on the first disc, along with "Carnage Visors," originally the B-side for the cassette version of Faith, on CD for the first time. The 15-song bonus disc includes four previously unreleased songs, studio and home demo versions, as well as live performances from 1980-1981.

The Cure's third album in as many years, PORNOGRAPHY, was the band's darkest work to date. It became a Top 10 hit in the U.K. and went on to become an essential album in the Goth rock canon thanks to songs like "One Hundred Years" and "The Hanging Garden." The 14-song bonus disc features music available on CD for the first time including five previously unreleased songs, previously unreleased studio and home demo versions as well as live performances from 1981-1982.

It's been almost three decades since a 17-year-old Smith formed The Cure in Crawley, England. The band has forged an ongoing career highlighted by an astonishing run of artistic and commercial successes, including chart-topping hit singles, gold and platinum records, countless awards, critical acclaim, and an international fan base that follows the band with religious fervor. They have secured their place in music history by shaping modern rock as we know it today.

SEVENTEEN SECONDS

DISC ONE
1. A REFLECTION
2. PLAY FOR TODAY
3. SECRETS
4. IN YOUR HOUSE
5. THREE
6. THE FINAL SOUND
7. A FOREST
8. M
9. AT NIGHT
10. SEVENTEEN SECONDS

DISC TWO-"Rarities 1979-1980"
1. I'M A CULT HERO (vinyl single A-side by Cult Hero 12/79)
2. I DIG YOU (vinyl single B-side by Cult Hero 12/79)
3. ANOTHER JOURNEY BY TRAIN (group home instrumental demo 1/80) *
4. SECRETS (group home instrumental demo 1/80) *
5. SEVENTEEN SECONDS (live in Amsterdam 1/80) **
6. IN YOUR HOUSE (live in Amsterdam 1/80)
7. THREE (SEVENTEEN SECONDS alternate studio mix 2/80) **
8. I DIG YOU (Cult Hero live, Marquee Club, London 3/80) **
9. I'M A CULT HERO (Cult Hero live, Marquee Club, London 3/80) **
10. M (live in Arnhem 5/80) **
11. THE FINAL SOUND (live in France 6/80) **
12. A REFLECTION (live in France 6/80) **
13. PLAY FOR TODAY (live in France 6/80) **
14. AT NIGHT (live in France 6/80)
15. A FOREST (live in France 6/80) **

FAITH

DISC ONE
1. THE HOLY HOUR
2. PRIMARY
3. OTHER VOICES
4. ALL CATS ARE GREY
5. THE FUNERAL PARTY
6. DOUBT
7. THE DROWNING MAN
8. FAITH
BONUS -
9. CARNAGE VISORS: THE SOUNDTRACK

DISC TWO-"Rarities 1980-1981"
1. FAITH (RS home instrumental demo 8/80) *
2. DOUBT (RS home instrumental demo 8/80) *
3. DROWNING (group home instrumental demo 9/80) *
4. THE HOLY HOUR (group home demo 9/80) **
5. PRIMARY (Morgan Studio outtake 9/80) **
6. GOING HOME TIME (Morgan Studio guide vocal outtake 9/80) *
7. THE VIOLIN SONG (FAITH studio guide vocal outtake 2/81) *
8. A NORMAL STORY (FAITH studio guide vocal outtake 2/81) *
9. ALL CATS ARE GREY (live, summer/81) **
10. THE FUNERAL PARTY (live, summer/81)
11. OTHER VOICES (live somewhere summer/81)
12. THE DROWNING MAN (live Australasia 8/81)
13. FAITH (live at the Sydney Capitol Theatre 8/81, mix by Keith Walker,
extra B-side of "Charlotte Sometimes" 12-inch 10/81)
14. FOREVER (live, summer/81) **
15. CHARLOTTE SOMETIMES (single 10/81)

PORNOGRAPHY

DISC ONE
1. ONE HUNDRED YEARS
2. A SHORT TERM EFFECT
3. THE HANGING GARDEN
4. SIAMESE TWINS
5. THE FIGUREHEAD
6. A STRANGE DAY
7. COLD
8. PORNOGRAPHY

DISC TWO-"Rarities 1981-1982"
1. BREAK (group home instrumental demo 11/81) *
2. DEMISE (Rhino Studio instrumental demo 12/81) *
3. TEMPTATION (Rhino Studio instrumental demo 12/81) *
4. THE FIGUREHEAD (Rhino Studio demo 12/81) **
5. THE HANGING GARDEN (Rhino Studio demo 12/81) **
6. ONE HUNDRED YEARS (Rhino Studio demo 12/81) **
7. AIRLOCK: THE SOUNDTRACK (3/82) *
8. COLD (live at the Hammersmith Odeon 5/82) *
9. A STRANGE DAY (live at the Hammersmith Odeon 5/82) **
10. PORNOGRAPHY (live at the Hammersmith Odeon 5/82) **
11. ALL MINE (live at the Hammersmith Odeon 5/82)
12. A SHORT TERM EFFECT (live in Brussels 6/82) **
13. SIAMESE TWINS (live in Brussels 6/82) **
14. TEMPTATION TWO (a.k.a. LGBT) (RS studio demo 7/82) *

* Previously Unreleased Song / Instrumental
** Previously Unreleased Version

i'll be getting all 3 , 1 at a time cos u appreciate them better 1 at a time !!! instead of buying all 3 n' getting bogged down !

i will at the very least be getting the 'pornography' reissue this week...i'm feeling a little cured-out lately cuz i feel like there's been more of their archival stuff released over the past year than i have time to listen to...hell, i'm still trying to absorb "trilogy"! - but i love the 'pornography' album, and you know i wanna own 'em all cuz that's just the kind of geek i am. i'll have to take a good look at the track lists you posted and go from there, i guess...

I like the old vinyl versions of those albums. remastering albums is just a scam to get us to buy the same album again. but i am interested in the extra tracks though.

ahhh... another late Monday night for me. I will be at Tower Records to buy all 3 at midnight. Then i will put them all onto the ipod before i go to bed, so i can listen at work all day on Tuesday. I. CAN'T. WAIT!!!!!


I'm so excited to hear "Cold", in particular, remastered. And "The Drowning Man". Those are 2 of my faves. And all the bonus material!!!!!


The Cure are doing this RIGHT.

I've been waiting for the Seventeen Seconds remaster for a long time.

I'll be buying at least 7 discs of music on Tuesday.

Anxiety said:

Are you calling me a geek!

j/k

I know for a lot of people, remasters and such can be overload/overkill. But for artists I love, it's like breathing new life into old work. Hearing it loud, clean and clear like something released in the modern era does wonders. And for me, The Cure are right up there with Bowie and Prince in terms of absolute collection-ey, completist fanaticism. So I don't mind shelling over the money, even though I'm broke.

JonSnow said:

Absolutely. I've said it before and I'll say it again: there has never been a better time to be a Cure fan. He's treating us very well.

GangstaFam said:

No I didn't know! Thanks for posting this (I'm thinking you've probably posted about this before, and I just didn't notice! )

CandaceS said:

Anxiety did way back when the tracklists were first announced. But now that the time's almost here, I thought I'd get the party started.
[Edited 4/24/05 21:32pm]

Some reviews of the remasters from AMG:

Seventeen Seconds

Approximately five months after Rhino released the two-disc reissue of Three Imaginary Boys, the label gives Cure albums two through four — 1980's Seventeen Seconds, 1981's Faith, 1982's Pornography — similar treatment, with scads of photos, biographical liner notes, and archive ransackings all part of the design. The initial bare-bones CD issues of these albums had been sounding increasingly thin and quiet across a decade (when compared to other artists' upgraded catalogs), so the improved sound is reason enough to be pleased. Since all the B-sides were put together for the Join the Dots box, the second disc for each reissue is reserved for other rarities, outtakes, demos, and live material. This gives voracious fans a convenient if costly feast, free of overlap, assuming they have enthusiasm for everything the Cure recorded throughout two-and-a-half decades. Many fans who lean toward a particular phase of the group — boiling it down to whether they prefer their gloom to be delivered in shadowy streaks or thick torrents (plus the occasional oddball pop song, of course) — would've preferred to have the B-sides bound to the respective albums. Faith, part of the phase involving shadowy streaks of gloom, is joined here by nearly an hour's worth of extras — most of which are throwaways. The two bouncy, humorous songs off the single from the Cult Hero side project are contained, along with rowdier live versions. "M" (from a 1980 Arnhem gig), along with five more songs off the album (from a French appearance a month later), also come in live form; unless you're a crazed admirer in some sense, they're inconsequential after the first pass. The same goes for a pair of demos, and an alternate mix of "Three" is of some interest (but not much). Seventeen Seconds itself has held up tremendously well and is, naturally, the best reason to get hold of the set.

Faith

Part two of an unofficial trilogy that begins with 1980's Seventeen Seconds and ends with 1982's Pornography — acknowledged as such by Rhino, who unloaded deluxe reissues of all three on the same day — Faith now comes with the expected second disc of demos, outtakes, scarcities, and so-so-sounding performance material. The most noteworthy addition to Faith's original running order is "Carnage Visors," a sprawling funeral march that gradually fades in and then out after half-an-hour, as if it's only a segment from a piece that's being generated until the end of time. Its actual purpose: as a score to a film, made by Simon Gallup's brother, which preceded the band during some tour dates. Previously available only on the cassette version of Faith, it appears at the end of disc one, giving the album proper the feel of a double LP. (So, instead of the traditional, frenzied freak-out that you'd get at the end of some psychedelics-addled albums in the late '60s, you now have a mope-out that kicks the morbid tone of the earlier songs further downward.) The second disc opens with four barren demos trailed by an equal number of relatively clean-sounding studio outtakes. An alternate take of "Primary" puts the album version in front of a fun house mirror; the other three scraps are also for manic obsessives and few others. Distant-sounding live tracks, taken from several performances, will interest as many listeners, though the presence of a nine-minute "Forever" is worthy of a little more excitement (a studio version has surfaced on bootlegs, making it one of those much-talked-about rarities). The black licorice gumball at the bottom is "Charlotte Sometimes," a non-album A-side released in the Autumn of 1981. As hoped, Faith itself sounds better than ever, whether it acts as a trip down memory lane or a minor revelation for moody teenagers.

Well, it appears I'm not gonna encourage any extra sales with these reviews, but here they are nonetheless.

Pornography & 1/2

"First time available on CD" is often a way of putting a spin on words like "scraps" or "rubbish." This is the case with the second disc of Rhino's Pornography reissue. Like all the deluxe editions of the Cure's back catalog, the album is packaged with a spectacular layout containing plenty of photos and biographical liner notes, but the decision to compile the band's B-sides on the quadruple-disc Join the Dots — allowing room for an abundance of lesser material for each album reissue's second disc — means that a lot of fans will feel short-changed. Many of them only want a few B-sides from a specific era, rather than a box set spanning 24-years and a pile of mere curiosities attached to the new edition of each album. (Doing it the other way around, with the B-sides on the album reissues and the other stuff slapped together for a box set, would've made too much sense; granted, it wouldn't have been the wisest business move.) The second disc here contains half the album in bootleg-quality live form, pulled from a pair of 1982 gigs. Again, only the most rabid followers will want to hear any of these tracks more than once, save for "All Mine," which might be remembered from the cassette-only Curiosity. "Airlock" (a short-film score/extended mood piece, not a patch on Carnage Visors) and a handful of demos are in the same territory, though the demos do highlight the change that came when production help shifted from Michael Hedges to Phil Thornalley. When stacked against their final-version counterparts, the demos are far more gentle and not nearly as sharp. This also indicates why Pornography was in need of remastering for so long; the battering drums and acidic guitars didn't translate so well on the initial CD edition. In fact, a few seconds of "Hanging Garden" ought to make the second-disc bores forgettable, if not forgivable.

Can't Prince hook up with Rhino--damn

origmnd said:

That's what I've been wanting for years. And I've got it all planned out for him already. Call me Prince!

As usual lately, AMG gets it ass backwards.

Seventeen Seconds is the best of the three!

Moonbeam said:

I agree in terms of the actual album. But if they're basing it on the full package, Seventeen Seconds looks to be the weakest offering.

I can only afford to get these one at a time...now I've just got to decide which order to buy them in...

Count me in for all three. Hopefully I can get at least $1 for each of the original CDs on ebay, now that I no longer need them.

sextonseven said:

Sell 'em today at your local wrecka stow and you might get 3 or 4 bucks for each.

endorphin74 said:

Faith looks the yummiest in terms of the bonus material, but I'd go chrono if you're only gonna get one for now.

My Partner will be picking them up tomorrow.

I'm waiting for Japanese Whispers, Kiss Me and Disintegration (we'll have to get 2). I'll be getting Wish too as he is not fond of it.

Interesting releases will be: The Top, COncert, Mixed Up, and Show.

superspaceboy said:

For some reason, I kinda doubt any of those will be released other than The Top.

GangstaFam said:

I'm definitely selling this CD the minute the reissue gets announced. The U.S. edition on Sire records is a little hard to find.

sextonseven said:

Yeah, I think I bought that CD for almost $30. Same with Japanese Whispers. I'm kinda wondering whether they'll do that album too since most of the tracks are already on Join the Dots, and the demo for "Let's Go To Bed" is already on the Pornography reissue. I don't know how much they could scrape together to make that an interesting package.

But in related news...

The Glove's 'Blue Sunshine' to be the next Cure deluxe cd?

From the Steve Severin Forum (April 14th 2005) :

"Biggest and best news of the week is that after many, many years I have started talking to Robert Smith about the GLOVE re-mastering. We had a
lovely, long catch-up chat on the phone on Saturday and I'm overjoyed to say that Robert is going to be totally involved in getting the best possible release together. I have suggested that BLUE SUNSHINE falls into the CURE's timeline of reissues as opposed to the BANSHEES and Robert is really happy about that plan. In plain terms as FAITH/17 SECONDS/PORNOGRAPHY are due out at the end of this month - BLUE SUNSHINE
is next!!!!! In the Banshees timeline it would be probably a year away so I'm very excited that we will have the album out in the next 6 months. Robert is currently ploughing through his tapes and between us we think we have enough interesting stuff to make BLUE SUNSHINE a double disc deluxe edition. Universal are up for it too.

We plan to meet up soon over a flagon of cider and go through everything including all the bits of memorabilia that I have kept that will be nice to incorporate into the new artwork. It's going to be a blast! Can't wait....."

GangstaFam said:

you are probably correct on that. Though
COncert would be good as they originally released it differently on Cassette and Album.
Mixed up had a bunch of B-Side remixes that didn't get on B-sides.
Show would be good to to get it all in one place.

GangstaFam said:

That is nice to hear. I wish he got along as well with the rest of the Banshees.

superspaceboy said:

What do you mean?

superspaceboy said:

Perhaps they'll include Concert with The Top since they have been including lots of live material.

With Mixed Up, all that's missing from that CD is "Let's Go To Bed (Milk Mix)", Primary (Red Mix)", "Why Can't I Be You?" from the cassette and the "Just Like Heaven" on is on Join the Dots. But they could include things like the "Boys Don't Cry" '86 version and "The Lovecats" extended. Don't know much about any remixes that didn't make the project.

And Show would be a great 2 disc set with Paris and Sideshow included. Good idea.