Keyboards on Japanese Whispers

[firecrasher]

Hi, I'm wondering... what are the musician credits on Japanese Whispers? I don't have a physical copy and I'm curious who played what... mainly did Lol do any of the keyboard work; it doesn't really sound like him.

Also, if you're interested in learning La Ment (which is how I got to thinking up this question), there's a pretty good Power Tab on Ultimate Guitar. Their whole Cure collection is pretty nice.

[japanesebaby]

there are no detailed credits in the album sleeve, about who played what exactly.
who played what? on 'ten imaginary years' lol says:

it didn't matter in the beginning of the cure who played what and, when i started [to play keyboards] i couldn't play. i just found my own style.
...
we wanted to do more complicated things but i was neither ready nor prepared to practice for years to get there.


lol had just given up drumming shortly before this and only started to take some keyboard lessons around that time. did he play the keyboards on the album? maybe it's stated somewhere, i don't know.

for 'let's go to bed' they did have a session drummer (steve goulding) in the studio so at least lol didn't play drums. did golding play on all drum tracks on 'japanese whispers'?
i do remember reading somewhere that robert basically did everything in the studio music wise, and lol was more like hanging around, keeping him company. although now i can't be sure whether this was something said in a nasty tone (years later, when bashing lol became a sad pastime for them) or whether it was just the truth at that time.

[mahood]

for 'let's go to bed' they did have a session drummer (steve goulding) in the studio so at least lol didn't play drums. did golding play on all drum tracks on 'japanese whispers'?

andy anderson on the lovecats session ! the most underrated cure drummer.
steve nye also had an important role, i think (credited as producer for the upstairs room EP, and producer of japan, among others) : i remember an interview where RS spoke of him as the one introducing them to drum programming & keyboards, i. e., more than they knew already. no specific references though, i won't be 100% sure.
the walk, la ment (upstairs room version) or the dream, for example, are such a departure from what had happened before, that i guess it's where steve nye's signature is.
for the best 
but i also think it's safe to say that it was the beginning of RS real solo career, to be ended shortly with the top (which could also be heard as a duo album with andy anderson, yes, him again).

by the way, there have been lots of mentions of lol's implication during his drumming period, but i cannot remember any about his keyboards times. is there some song or any other process he is known to have taken part to ? i would be curious to know (mainly because i think he was so important until 1982).

[mahood]

Hi, I'm wondering... what are the musician credits on Japanese Whispers?

i realize i didn't even answer your proper question!
you won't be disappointed. there is no typo or any other kind of mistake in what follows :
let's go to bed : produced by chris parry (smith/tolhurst credited as authors on the labels) ; this has to do probably with the fact that RS didn't want let's go to bed to be released as the next single (under the name "the cure", at least). i can't imagine he wasn't involved in the production of just one kiss. anyway, no other musicians credited.
steve goulding is mentioned on japanese whsipers only.
the upstairs room : RS voice & instruments LT other instruments steve nye producer peter williams engineer. the dream & la ment are credited to smith, the walk & the upstairs room to smith / tolhurst.
the lovecats : RS voice guitar piano LT vibes phil thornally double bass andy anderson drums produced by phil thornally chris parry the cure. the lovecats is credited to smith, the 2 others being smith / tolhurst.

information the cure po box 2al london w1a 2al
yes, i just wanted to write this down.

[MeltingMan]

Regarding the subject,I would say they (Laurence/Robert) used instruments from Oberheim,
Roland and a Drumcomputer/Sequencer,but,happily,not on all tracks.The character of the album
would be otherwise too one-sided,though it sounds quite good.Just my opinion.

[Ulrich]

The character of the album would be otherwise too one-sided,though it sounds quite good.

Gotta say I never viewed this as an "album", as basically it's just a compilation of the three different singles The Cure released between Nov. 1982 and Nov. 1983 (as it says on the cover, btw). Thus never intended as a "Cure album" like e.g. "The Top".
Hence the different producers, players etc. Result is no coherent album in my opinion.

[MeltingMan]

The character of the album would be otherwise too one-sided,though it sounds quite good.

Gotta say I never viewed this as an "album", as basically it's just a compilation of the three different singles The Cure released between Nov. 1982 and Nov. 1983 (as it says on the cover, btw). Thus never intended as a "Cure album" like e.g. "The Top".
Hence the different producers, players etc. Result is no coherent album in my opinion.

Right.It is not a proper album,just a compilation.