I'd like you to biggie size my Cure

[u2popmofo]

Tomorrow (April 26) will be the release of deluxe editions of 3 of The Cure's albums (and possibly their 3 most 'gothy' albums at that):

Seventeen Seconds
Faith
Pornography

If the Deluxe edition of Three Imaginary Boys that was released last December can be used as an example, Cure fans are all in for a big treat. These "deluxe" versions include remastered versions of the original albums, and bonus discs including demos, b-sides, live tracks, and previously unreleased songs (including the extremely awesome 30+ minute instrumental, 'Carnage Visors' on the Faith CD), and a booklet. You can see the tracklistings for them all here:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ChainofFlowers/deluxecds.html

I believe my wallet will be making a large withdrawl tomorrow, but my gothiness will be making a large deposit. Oh yeah.

 

[cujo]

Uh oh. Sounds like your local clinics will be receiving a biggie size donation.

 

[u2popmofo]

You're right in so many ways, Cooties-Jo.

That being said, you're still so wrong in so so so so many ways.

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

I read about this today.

Good stuff.

 

[~LadyLemon~]

That fucking rules.

 

[u2popmofo]

FYI, I got them today and they all look freaking awesome. Even I am impressed by the sheer amount of new stuff on these. The Cure knows how to treat their fans right, they dont mess around with these special editions.

 

[alia612]

I'm definitely looking forward to buying these. I bought the 3IB rerelease about two months after it came out and I don't have a whole lot of money at the moment so I probably won't get to buy them straightaway but they look fantastic!

 

[zoney!]

NO, I am not talking about U2popmofo

drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip

 

[u2popmofo]

Re: NO, I am not talking about U2popmofo

drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip

But that's from Three Imaginary Boys!!!

 

[BrownEyedBoy]

Uh oh. Sounds like your local clinics will be receiving a biggie size donation.

I agree. How old does this guy have to get to stop wearing make-up?

 

[bollox]

dang, i had been putting off getting these until the remasters came out. got no excuse now . . .

 

[If you shout...]

I just wish they weren't so motherfucking expensive, you know? I mean, the simple fact is that 90% of the "extras" are either of painfully poor quality or little interest even to die-hard psychopath fans such as myself. It's just not worth the money, even though straight-up, regular remasters with a few GOOD bonus tracks would totally be worth a lower price.

I will get them, because the sound on Three Imaginary Boys was very, very well-done and because (most importantly) the albums are for the most part very good. I mean, it's nothing earth-shattering, but they've certainly got their moments of sheer beauty and perfection.

I dunno'...I'm just broke as a fuckin' joke. That's probably got more than a bit to do with my opposition--especially when I got the new album by The Eels (a double-disc set with 33 songs) for just $13.99....

If you're rich and you want solid and fairly important music from the early-'80s, though, then by all means get these...! All three of these albums are more important than The Cure's debut, and (like I said) they've all got moments of shocking potency.

 

[u2popmofo]

Good post, If you shout... I will now comment on many of your comments, or something.

First, these new ones really do have rarities worth wanting. I agree that the deluxe version of Three Imaginary Boys' rarities were somewhat on the harsh recording side of things. Of couse, that is to be expected considering it was their first album and any rarity from that period would have been recorded on a freaking tape deck. Expect far more studio takes and better live recordings (because that's what's on these). Also, where else are you going to get things like 'Carnage Visors', 2 of the Cult Hero side project songs (and also live versions of said songs), 'Airlock', etc. They're all only going to be better sound quality (and musical quality) as you move further into their work.

As for the prices, I honestly think $19.99 (what I spent for each of them) is by no means too much to ask for for 2 CDs and a booklet that someone would actually want to look at or read. It's worth it to me just to get so many songs that had never been available on CD before. Granted, any 'deluxe edition' serves little purpose to anyone other than fans, collectors. or major audio-obsessive types.

The remastering jobs really are great. You can finally distinguish what's being said on all of those really "quiet" sounding songs on Seventeen Seconds, and I've even heard lots of instrumentation I'd never noticed before.

As for these all being more important than The Cure's debut, I completely agree. Definitely some very imporant music for the time period and respective genres.

 

[If you shout...]

U2popmofo--

Where in the name of Christ did you get these albums for $19.99...? I only ask because when the new packaging of Three Imaginary Boys came out, I wound up paying like $25.00 or more for it. If the prices are lower, then I may well have been reacting to the wrong thing. I am hoping that I was, because I would love for these to be "cheap"--or at least near-affordable--albums.

And, yeah...I know that SOME of the extras are spectacular, particularly "Carnage Visors." And how wonderful will it be to have "Forever" on CD at long last??? That's something I'm very stoked about, even if (as I'm sure is the case, unfortunately) the sound quality is ass. And there are, comparatively, but a few songs sprinkled among these, like, 45, that I actually need. Like 95% of everything "important" is already on Join The Dots.

I mean, I'm a HUGE Cure fan, despite the fact that they've been laughably irrelevant for well over a decade, now. Even with the sub-standard ("Killing An Arab," anyone...? Who did Camus ever hurt, for fuck's sake???) release of Three Imaginary Boys, it was still hella-cool to hear a crazy-early version of "Catch" which was recorded in, like, 1979 or something. That's pretty fucking straight, even if I can't remember what the demo's name was.

So, yeah. I dunno'. Like I said, I'm just a broke-ass son of a bitch. I readily admit that if the CD were ten bucks, I'd still be SEMI-pissed. Even if the liners are cool (and my dumb ass is a sucker for that kinda' shit), I still don't know. The set probably cost like 22 cent to make. Bastards... At least the remastering is, like we agree, quite well-done. U2 should take a cue and start doing the same thing, particularly with Achtung Baby.

 

[JessicaAnn]

 

[DrTeeth]

My wallet just went into a state of shock.