The album got pushed to 2008, more like an April/May release

[lostflower4]

As for the production of the next album, I'm pretty aprehensive about it. I have a feeling this will be the best album in some time, but it's going to be instantly destroyed due to the current trends in music:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war


Every album since Wild Mood Swings has suffered from this badly, so I really hope that the new album is released on vinyl. I'll be more than happy to spend the extra money and go to the trouble of transferring it. Fortunately, vinyl will never suffer from this problem, as the needle will jump off the turntable when the volume is pushed beyond a certain limit. But I'm really not sure how much longer vinyl will be around.

It's really sad that you just can't buy a decent sounding new CD these days. And they say the world is high tech now? Hmmm... I'm not so sure.

[nausearockpig]

I'm pretty sure that given The Cure's track record they'll make this album and any other releases available on the old black disk... Let's hope that they continue to make products out there for us to collect [and to fill their coffers...]

[Steve]

I've just been reading this thread & chuckling at the acidic remarks from Oso Blanco
Sometimes I really feel the same way. Let down & let down again by a band I love (& still do).
I look at it like a relative or friend passing away. You still hold a modicum of respect for them don't you?
I mean just cos they died, dosn't mean they are a complete sh!tbag nowadays?
Oso. There are still enough fans to sell out large venues & I guess many of them herald from the better times, when a Cure record was innovative & unique.
I am willing to bet that you are looking forward to hear the new LP, if only to slag it off. But you're still going to listen to it.
Now, if they have been "off the boil" for the past 15 years, why would you want to listen to the new LP at all?
For myself, I absolutely hated WMS. Bloodflowers had some much more "Cure-y" sounds on it & the last LP was really going in the right direction. Listen to Anniversary for example & tell me it doesn't hold some of the older textures the band used to bring to the party.
I have been a fan for over 26 years & I still listen to at least 1 Cure song every day (even the crap ones to make sure).
If you really are fed up with them, then I think you have made your point.
Some, however are prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt.

[drowning]

to the discusiion about OsoBlanco.
he has been a very big fan of the cure, that is why he react this way.
and he is very hard in his arguments, but i can follow it in some ways.
that cure is one of the most important things in the world for me, and is a big part of my life since 1986. without the music of the cure i don´t know how my life had changed.
but the cure has changed a lot, robert has changed, he is getting older, as we all do.
the cure had been innovative in the 80´ies. every album sounded different, every single was dieffernt, and they changed their style before it was hip.
for me their going down started with wish. wish is for me personally a washed-production. a stadionrockband album. the songs are live 1000times better than on this record. the mixing is horrible for me, but they had good songs (fteotdgs,wendy time, big hand,cut,.) .
on wms they had some great songs like the 13th. and for me i think that is what the cure was. they made things nobody expected and disagreed every marketing profi. releasing the 13th as a single was perfect for me.
but to what have the cure changed? they are not so innovative anymore. they are older. younger bands, who had been inspired by the cure are more innovative than them. maybe the next album prove me that i am wrong, but i don´t think so.
but every new cure album, every new song and output from the band is positive for me, because the cure have a big place in my heart, that no other band can´t take.
and i am no fan of backing tapes, but the dream tour was the best tour for me personally. i loved this time. 2004 there was no real tour, have only seen them on southside and sadly realized there, the cure is a band for the 25+, they had the less young fans on this fesival. but the problems in theband were there. i think a producer can´t turn shit into gold, but he can put gold into shit. and taking ross as a producer started the problems with perry and rodger.

so, i hope the new album is getting out soon, and we get all the news we want to hear.

[japanesebaby]

for me their going down started with wish. wish is for me personally a washed-production. a stadionrockband album. the songs are live 1000times better than on this record. the mixing is horrible for me, but they had good songs (fteotdgs,wendy time, big hand,cut,.) .

actually i agree with this, in certain ways. in some ways, they were already on the brink of being "potentially doomed" after 'disintegration' - at least to me they very clearly reached some sort of axis/crucial point in their career there, with that album (which is not the same as saying that 'disintegration is their greatest album', by the way - i'm talking about their artistic development and not about ranking their albums). so after 'disintegration', what next? everyone(?) knew it was going to be very hard for them to top that. so the way i see it, whatever their next album was going to be, it was actually bound to be a disappointed, in some respect.
then again, with 'wish' they could have fared a lot worse too, of course.

but had they stopped after 'wish', i think they would surely be counted among the truly legendary "past" groups ever today.
and do i really wish they had stopped? part of me says yes, part of me says no... but well, luckily it wasn't/isn't my call.

but i do hope they have the strenght/power to surprise us once more, as they did in the past.

[bluewater]

It's the fanbase that keeps the band alive and releasing records. You could live a double life hating
and loving the band at the same time, sometimes i do that too. I do sometimes compare in oso blanco
way that "that artist is so much more interesting than the cure at the moment" but it doesn't have
anything to do with being a cure fan. So i don't think in terms of fanhood that they "should have stopped after
disintegration/wish", the bad records from artists that i like are also interesting to me. About
"bad liveshows" i can't say anything, have never seem them live, have nothing to compare them
against and have been a curefan only since the 2000's.
I think almost anyliveshow would have been and would still be interesting to see. I don't think
the band intentionally try to alienate their fans by releasing bad records.

[Janko]

HERE'S MY FEW RANDOM THOUGHTS:


2004 ALBUM WAS NOT A COMPLETE MESS (THERE ARE 2-3 LOUSY SONGS, BUT OVER ALL ITS A DECENT SET OF SONGS)

ROSS WAS A BAD CHOICE (IT WAS A FINE EXAMPLE OF THE TERM - BLUNDER)

CRITISIZING THE BAND IS OK, IF YOU LOVE THE BAND UNCONDITIONALLY -ITS RATHER SHALLOW LOVE

THE POINT WHEN YOU LOVE THE CURE FOR THE THINGS THEY'VE DONE, INSTEAD FOR THE THINGS THEY'RE YET TO DO  - IS THE PRETTY GOOD SIGNAL TO FIND ANOTHER BAND TO LOVE...

IF THE BAND DISBANDED AFTER PORNOGRAPHY, THEY'D BE AS BIG AS JOY DIVISION, BUT WHO CARES FOR THE CULT STATUS IF THE BAND IS DEAD?!

THE BAND SHOULD GO ON IN ARTISTIC DIRECTION AND COMPLETELY DISREGARD THE OPINION OF THE FANBASE (ONE NEW FAN IS FAR BETTER THAN TEN OLD ONES...). TRUE FANBASE WILL ALWAYS BE THERE!

I DONT THINK BRIAN ENO CARES MUCH ABOUT THE CURE, HE'D DO IT FOR MONEY BUT THATS AN DIFFERENT ISSUE...

[scatcat]

HERE'S MY FEW RANDOM THOUGHTS:
2004 ALBUM WAS NOT A COMPLETE MESS (THERE ARE 2-3 LOUSY SONGS, BUT OVER ALL ITS A DECENT SET OF SONGS)
ROSS WAS A BAD CHOICE (IT WAS A FINE EXAMPLE OF THE TERM - BLUNDER)

CRITISIZING THE BAND IS OK, IF YOU LOVE THE BAND UNCONDITIONALLY -ITS RATHER SHALLOW LOVE

THE POINT WHEN YOU LOVE THE CURE FOR THE THINGS THEY'VE DONE, INSTEAD FOR THE THINGS THEY'RE YET TO DO  - IS THE PRETTY GOOD SIGNAL TO FIND ANOTHER BAND TO LOVE...

always very interseted in what u have to say Janko..

I agree that the 2004 album was not a complete failure.. there are quite a few songs that I love, especially since hearing them live..

As to critisizing the band.. ok, and to love a band UNCONDITIONALLY.. well.. that is obsession ( which can be blind, just like LOVE)

I love the band for what they have done, and not what they are YET to do.. no-one can see the future.. ( i have already expressed what I feel about the 3 new songs played sofar..)

THE BAND SHOULD GO ON IN ARTISTIC DIRECTION AND COMPLETELY DISREGARD THE OPINION OF THE FANBASE (ONE NEW FAN IS FAR BETTER THAN TEN OLD ONES...). TRUE FANBASE WILL ALWAYS BE THERE!

Fans ( like myself) are truly wanting the band to head in a new direction.. they have progressed in so many ways over these last *ahem* 25+ years.. I mean.. who does want to hear another disintegration, of pornography, or wish, etc... they might as well stop now. 
p.s... if I was to give up ... i would have after WMS !! 

BUT THEY are performimg such great concerts.. at least what we witnessed here in OZ.. They just leave u wanting more. I do hope that the 13th album WILL have Robert's artistic influence.. and then we can judge for ourselves, or at least.. he will be able to decide the future from there.. 

[bluewater]

I DONT THINK BRIAN ENO CARES MUCH ABOUT THE CURE, HE'D DO IT FOR MONEY BUT THATS AN DIFFERENT ISSUE...

Brian eno produced U2 because he wasn't a U2 fan and the band didn't want anyone who is a fan to
produce their albums. Perhaps this would work with cure, someone who is not a fan producing..

And no dividing line where the bands artistic vision ends and where the producer's input begins, all going seamlessly together.

[CureCrusader]

To everyone who wants to follow The Cure till the bitter end: Just ask yourself if you would have ever become a Cure fan if you hadn't ever heard anything pre Bloodflowers. Would you have become a fan if you only had known "Bloodflowers" and "The Cure"? I guess most of us became fans much earlier, and only hang on to the band for nostalgic reasons.

I am only 13.. my first ever concert was last year . The Cure.. I have seen a few other bands live, and nothing will ever take away the memory of what I saw at the melbourne gig.!! 

Although I was introduced to The Cure  earlier... ( thanks to my mum) and had my favourites from 'the pre-2000 Cure era'... I will never forget the awesome band that i saw!!  I started to learn guitar right after this concert!!

Although I DO love the early stuff, I have to say that Blooodflowers is one of my fav's.. also 2004-The Cure..  :!:

I think they are possibly one of the best bands in the world. 

[Steve]

@CureCrusader

At last. Someone that likes The Cure lp.

& you are fully right. Live, the Cure are worth every penny.
How many other bands can claim to play for 3 hours these days?

I have never been disappointed when I've seen them, even if WMS was a big pile of pooh.
The WMS songs they played at Melbourne were realy good (& that hurts me to admit a WMS song sounded good)

[drowning]

everyone(?) knew it was going to be very hard for them to top that. so the way i see it, whatever their next album was going to be, it was actually bound to be a disappointed, in some respect.
then again, with 'wish' they could have fared a lot worse too, of course.

but had they stopped after 'wish', i think they would surely be counted among the truly legendary "past" groups ever today.
and do i really wish they had stopped? part of me says yes, part of me says no... but well, luckily it wasn't/isn't my call.

but i do hope they have the strenght/power to surprise us once more, as they did in the past.

but after kmx3 everyone thought how could they top it ?
every cure album sold more than trhe album before at this time.  (wish was the last record ) i like the songs, but i hate the mixing of wish.

i don´t think that they will surprise me so much. they are older now, not 20. have other ponts of view, other problems. not that teenage "nobody loves me" gloomy style anymore.
but i love to hear new cure songs. and a 5% cure song is much better than stuff on the radio. i am a cure fan, and will be a cure fan forever.
robert can do what he wants. he will always be an icon for me.

[splitmilk34]

I completely agree with wanting the band to go "in another direction."  I firmly believe, as I've said before, that they have a great opportunity to go completely against the grain and create something unexpected.

As for the production on recent albums - it really bums me out to hear how LOUD every CD is.  It just kills any dynamics the song initially had.  Quiet bits are supposed to be quiet, and loud bits should be loud.  But now, all we have is one flat wave of sound.  It's disheartening for those few of us who truly enjoy listening, intently, to music.

That being said - I've always enjoyed the production on Cure albums (except WMS and The Cure).  I believe Disintegration, KMKMKM and, yes, Wish have some amazing sounds, mixing and production.  This is why I have a love/hate relationship with the remasters.  There are somethings in the mix which I never heard on the original pressings, but it also seems that Rhino got a little carried away with sound compression.  I hope, with all my heart, that this doesn't happen on the new record.  Bands like Wilco have been using production to their favor for sometime, and are proof that your record can still sound alive, and not just flat.

My fingers are crossed...

Oh, and to Oso Blanco - I truly, deeply apologize for not being a 40+ year old cynic for whom the Cure is sliding out of favor.  Good for you for "being there" during the good times and congratulations for giving up after you had your fill.  I am very sorry I (and other Curefans) were not born a little earlier in the world to have shared the moments when the band meant something.  Silly us, for liking them now. 
If you don't like them - terrific.  But shut your mouth about it.  Do you honestly have nothing better to do than spread your slanderous filth on how Smith & Co are washed up while you blow Morrissey.  f*ck that.  Piss off.

[Janko]

I DONT LIKE THE DIRECTION OF THIS DISCUSSION...

[nausearockpig]

Oh, and to Oso Blanco - I truly, deeply apologize for not being a 40+ year old cynic for whom the Cure is sliding out of favor.  Good for you for "being there" during the good times and congratulations for giving up after you had your fill.  I am very sorry I (and other Curefans) were not born a little earlier in the world to have shared the moments when the band meant something.  Silly us, for liking them now. 
If you don't like them - terrific.  But shut your mouth about it.  Do you honestly have nothing better to do than spread your slanderous filth on how Smith & Co are washed up while you blow Morrissey.  f*ck that.  Piss off.

LOL Spiltmilk, you're clearly not a "true fan".... LOL... I'm pretty sure that in the past somewhere I've ranted and raved on against the notion of these "true fans"... I'm with you, if you [not you SM] don't like some aspect of what the band's doing, then fine comment and critisize, but if you now "hate them" or think that all their work is shit, then why bother to post here? I could go to a Metallica site and post how much I hate their music, but to what end?

PS, can't wait for the new album - just pissed off that they toured here without a)releasing the record first and / or b) playing any new songs in Brisbane...

J