The Cure – ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ (Polydor)

The Cure – ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ (Polydor)

SONGS OF A LOST WORLD’ is the 14th studio release and their first in 16 years recorded in God’s own Country is this it? Finito, Uno Mas, Sayonara, goodbye dear friends. The album opens with the dreamy drifting ‘Alone’ with a smokey drifting swaying intro its a few minutes in before Smith sings the line, “This is the end of every song that we sing” Goths everywhere will be holding their collective breath wondering if this is really the swan song from the Bohemoths of a genre and how will they go out – in a triumphant chest beating death kneel or a whimper. Only you the listener can decide that my friends, but let’s paint our nails black one last time and take flight like a bat in the night ‘Alone’ is a grande opened, a reflective wheeze rather than a charge into battle.

‘SONGS OF A LOST WORLD’ was written and arranged by Smith, produced and mixed by Smith & Paul Corkett and performed by The Cure – who these days are of course Robert Smith: Voice/guitar / 6string bass/keyboard, Simon Gallup: Bass, Jason Cooper: Drums/percussion, Roger O’Donnell: Keyboard, Reeves Gabrels: Guitar. Smith created the sleeve concept, alongside Andy Vella, a long-time Cure collaborator, who handled the album’s art and design. The cover art features ‘Bagatelle’, a 1975 sculpture by Janez Pirnat. Its classic gothic imagery and the music begins in a soothing fashion, probably built for a dry ice-infested stage in some field for the band to play in its entirety as something of a deathbed goodbye. Surrounded by loved ones saying goodbye to their favourite band one last time to a beautiful Dolby Atmos surround sound soundtrack.

With only eight songs on offer (a deluxe CD featuring instrumental versions and Dolby do dahs with bells and whistles as an optional extra). Its ‘A Fragile Thing’ before Gallups bass really sits up front in the mix with another busy soundscape to accompany a gorgeous melody from Smith.

‘War Song’ closes out side one with a bruising post-battle reflective song. I feel exhausted and it’s only the end of side one. Side two begins with ‘Drone No Drone’ and an electric storm of cascading guitar solos courtesy of Gabrels sparring with Jason Coopers drums. I get the impression that this is more of a band record than Smith breast beating oh look at me it’s a bigger broader sound happening.

It’s the sound of a reflective band with a lot of gentler songs that are recorded exceptionally well it has to be said. A lot of what’s on offer are quite lengthy intros where the sound is massive there’s a sound of reflection and anxiety about the sands of time ebbing away in Smiths’ lyrics it’s reflective but never suggests any regret but tastefully done.

The penultimate track is ‘All I Ever Am’ and with its thumping percussion, it is probably the most “Cure” sounding track on the album as Smith speaks the lyrics with a melody raising the chorus to soar above the music. It’s what they’ve done for years and has crafted a fine niche for themselves but it’s by no means Cure by numbers in fact it’s one of the best songs on the whole album.

As we reach the end ‘End Song’ has something of a battlefield beat to it and as the song plays out its chest out boys and march on to a triumphant victory for The Cure have survived their detractors stuck true to their beliefs and plowed an often lonely furrow steadfast in everything they do. Not without a sense of humour but this album sounds serious and grown up and the finale is a massive wall of sound that marches on with the song growing more intense with every beat of the snare and swirl of the keyboards no doubt this record will be scrutinised over and over and ever breath from Smiths lips directed but the real test will be its longevity and in several years we’ll look back and declare it a masterpiece of songwriting and one of the finest goodbyes ever for a guitar band of this genre.

It might not reach out to a new audience but it will have the already sizable one salivating at the new songs and the package it comes in. If it is the last hurrah then they go out in some style, sombre, Gothic and sounding utterly huge and every dark shadowy corner is filled with sound. There will be tears shed over the closing lyrics. Now a lie down in a darkened room I think. What a stunning record. Goths assemble, The Cure have birthed a beast and the end game is here…maybe. Buy It!

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The Cure, The Twilight Sad – Cardiff International Arena – 8/12/2022

The Cure, The Twilight Sad – Cardiff International Arena – 8/12/2022

Being truthful this isn’t a gig that I expected to be reviewing, but with a poorly Johnny Hayward asking me to step in what could you say? Now that isn’t to say I’m not a fan of the Cure, especially early doors stuff, point of interest is the first CD I ever bought was ‘Japanese Whispers’, so the surprise is that I didn’t actually buy a ticket, probably because of hate (purely personal) for these large venue gigs, sounds always poor and you’re usually watching the band from a distance losing the personality that small gigs and venues generate.

Again, being honest myself and Mrs. H, arrived towards the end of the Twilight Sad’s set catching the last three tracks and you can fully see why they’re one of the headliners for the Tomorrow’s ghosts Festival in Whitby next year. Reading some background after the gig, they’ve released five LP’s, a number of singles and live recordings, described as both post punk and indie I could add Goth into the mix, which came over quite strongly, but again Bauhaus, The Cure and Killing Joke have all been described as Post Punk and all hinted at elements of Goth at some point in their careers, Post Punk is such a huge genre and timeframe, I mean, come on when you look at when punk kicked in its almost 40 years in the past so there’s a huge post-punk timeframe, I wish we could lose the labels and just say The Twilight Sad are a critically acclaimed band, with great musicians who gave everything and their passion in the music showed through.

As with all big venues everything runs like clockwork, but the big surprise for me when The Cure hit the stage was how fantastic the sound was, definitely the best I’ve ever heard in The C.I.A. But when you think about it, this is a small gig for the band, and I get the sneaky feeling that their own sound guys would be in control, if not Kudos to the C.I.A but please can you do the same for every event? Again a huge bonus is having Reeves Gabrels in the band one of my all-time fave guitarists.

Opening with ‘Alone’ a newbie from the soon-to-be-released ‘Songs of a lost World’ LP what strikes you straight away is the Reeves Gabrels influence giving that lift he gave latter-day Bowie recordings before we had my favourite Cure track very early on ‘Pictures of You’ from the superb ‘Disintegration’ LP, I’m not going to go into every track played tonight there were 27 in all with two encores totaling 11 tracks more than some bands main sets alongside a 16 track main set, but time flew by, the visual accompaniment was superb giving a real feeling to each of the songs almost a vignette of a time and place, attaching a memory to each and every song, these representations stood out powerfully, especially within And ‘Nothing is Forever’, ‘The last days of Summer’, ‘a Fragile thing’ and ‘Lullaby’. Even as he stated with a voice that was struggling as Rob said in his own words “Because some bastard sneezed on me” you couldn’t fault the vocal performance, the struggle only really showed towards the end, but what you did get was a subtle change in delivery from the band to allow him space to rest, a sign of great musicianship that you’d barely notice.

When you backtrack through the Cure’s history every LP was represented you had everything you could have wanted, I’d say this set was two tracks from perfection (’17 Seconds’ and ‘Charlotte Sometimes’) but if you think the second encore contained all the biggies starting with ‘Lullaby’, through ‘The Walk’, into ‘Friday I’m in Love’, drifting through ‘Close to me’, ‘In Between days’ and ‘Just like Heaven’ before finishing up with ‘Boys don’t cry’  that’s a very personal thought. One thing though after listening to the new tracks, I wish I didn’t have to wait for the release of the new LP, and when we get a final release date, early next year I can guarantee it’s going to sit on any number of LP of the year lists it’s going to be a bit special.

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Author: Nev Brooks

THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS UK TOUR 2021

THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS UK TOUR 2021
LONDON / NOTTINGHAM / BRISTOL / GLASGOW / LIVERPOOL / MANCHESTER / CAMBRIDGE

To celebrate the release of The Psychedelic Furs critically acclaimed new album Made Of Rain, released through Cooking Vinyl this Friday (31st July), the band have announced seven UK shows for April and May 2021 and a special intimate Q&A for Banquet Records in Kingston. Tickets for the Albert Hall show are available now, an exclusive presale for the UK tour will be available from this Wednesday for fans who preorder the new album from the band’s Official Store.  Tickets will be on general sale on Friday 31st July.

 

The full dates are:
APRIL 2021
27th     London     Royal Albert Hall *
28th     Nottingham Rock City **
29th     Bristol               O2 Academy **
MAY 2021
1st       Glasgow           Barrowland **
2nd      Liverpool          Academy **
3rd       Manchester      Academy 2 **
5th       Cambridge       Junction **
Supports:
* Jah Wobble & The Invaders of the Heart
** Pauline Murray & The Invisible Girls
The Psychedelic Furs also share a video for their song Come All Ye Faithful, the fourth song to be released from Made Of Rain, alongside No-One, Don’t Believe and You’ll Be Mine. The video, the band’s first Official Music Video in nearly 30 years is shot entirely in black and white and directed by Imogen Harrison. Richard Butler says “‘Come All Ye Faithful’ is a bit about looking for redemption in faith and riches, questioning if either are of any true value and whether redemption is ultimately necessary at all.”

 

On 26th April, the day before the Royal Albert Hall Show, The Psychedelic Furs will be hosting an intimate Q&A session in association with Banquet Records, at St John’s Church, Kingston KT1 2SU. The Q&A will give fans a personal insight into the making of Made Of Rain. Get tickets here:https://psychfurs.lnk.to/banquetQA  Kingston upon Thames has a special resonance to Richard and Tim Butler as they were both born in the local area.

 

From its exhilarating opening bars, Made Of Rain is classic Psychedelic Furs in both its sound and execution. It’s a joy to hear again, fresher than ever. The album was produced by Richard Fortus with The Psychedelic Furs, whilst mixing duties were handled by Tim Palmer (David Bowie, U2, Robert Plant). Made Of Rain is available on CD, Double Gatefold vinyl and digitally as well as exclusive formats and autographed options via the Official Store.

The Psychedelic Furs released seven critically acclaimed studio albums – ‘The Psychedelic Furs” (1980), ‘Talk Talk Talk’ (1981),  ‘Forever Now’ (1982), ‘Mirror Moves’ (1984), Midnight To Midnight’ (1987), ‘Book Of Days’ (1989) and ‘World Outside’ (1991). They released many classic singles throughout the ’80’s and into the 90’s, including: ‘Sister Europe,’ ‘Love My Way,’ ‘The Ghost In You,’ ’ Pretty In Pink,’ ‘Heaven,’ ‘Heartbreak Beat,’ ’All That Money Wants’ and ‘Until She Comes.’

 

In recent years, the band has toured, completing a tour of North America in 2019 and also played acclaimed shows at The Hollywood Bowl, All Points East, Hyde Park, Benicàssim and a celebrated run of UK shows including headlining the prestigious Meltdown at the Royal Festival Hall at Robert Smith of The Cure’s request. Most recently, the band performed a sold-out tour of the UK and Europe which culminated in a triumphant show at the Roundhouse in London.

 

The last few years have seen the band’s legend growing, highlighted by the fact they have scored over 150 million streams of their songs worldwide. Their influence since arriving on the post-punk landscape four decades ago has reverberated and resonated with many bands that have followed. Additionally, artists from The Strokes to The Killers to REM to Foo Fighters to Bob Dylan has have sung their praises.

 

In addition to lead singer Richard Butler, the six-piece line-up features co-founder Tim Butler (Richard’s brother) on bass, Mars Williams on saxophone, Rich Good on guitar, Amanda Kramer on keyboards and Paul Garisto on drums.

REMINDERS RELEASE NEW SINGLE ‘CAROUSEL’ ON BURGER RECORDS  

REMINDERS RELEASE NEW SINGLE ‘CAROUSEL’ ON BURGER RECORDS  

Photo: Charlie Jones

 

 NEW SINGLE ‘CAROUSEL’ ON BURGER RECORDS

 

Stream here: https://soundcloud.com/ukreminders/carousel1/s-pfQL7

 

Island trio, Reminders have announced new single ‘Carousel’ via Burger Records today after signing with the US label back in 2019.

 

Since forming in 2017 on the Isle of Wight, the three teenagers Leo Dyke (vox/guitar), Theo Afsarian (bass), and Harry Spencer (drums) have been taking their suburban teenage boredom out on their instruments fuelled by both 90s East Bay and 70s East Coast Punk scenes, Green Day, Ramones and The Cure. Their ‘beach punk’ sound was cultivated on the pebbles because literally everything happens on the Isle of Wight at the beach.

New single Carousel took direct influence from this with songwriter, Leo Dyke’s experience operating rides aged 16 at a children’s funfair called Peter Pans:

“I would literally sit and watch the wheels go round, having mundane and dull thoughts while getting sunburnt and watching other people enjoy their summer,” explains Dyke. “Everyone’s on a different carousel, it’s a metaphor asking if the routine you’re stuck in that’s going round and round will ever break, or if you just sit there and let it continue to happen.”

The most generic modern punk cliché is ‘suburban teenager hates hometown with nowhere to go’ and being from the IOW means that Reminders pretty much are that cliché incarnate as a band. The whole place is one big suburb leading to nowhere that you can never afford to leave, but that abandoned seaside holiday town that hasn’t been touched for decades will always be home.

Following their previous independent releases, Water Sports and Major Cities, their new home of Burger Records will be channelling the trio’s next three singles starting with Carousel.

Stream or download Carousel online at Spotify and see them play live at the following UK shows:

 

March 6, The Fulford Arms, York

March 8,  Northern Guitars, Leeds

April 3, The Pipeline, Brighton

April 11, Heartbreakers, Southampton

 

Reminders are:

 

Leo Dyke – vox/guitar

Theo Afsarian – bass

Harry Spencer – drums

 

Find Reminders online at: Facebook / Instagram / Burger Records

I Am Lono – Hunt Us Down Like The Dogs We Are (Louder City Records)

I Am Lono – Hunt Us Down Like The Dogs We Are (Louder City Records)

Already picking up admirers such as BBC Radio 6  and BBC introducing I Am Lono sound like the real deal with a cold as steel exterior yet it just covers a boiling hot center borrowing from masters of the dark post-punk synth rockers like The Cure and The Mission there is also a healthy amount of pop via the likes of Japan and Bauhaus.

You have the heaving thump of the bass guitar on the sparse ‘Lovers’ with its mechanical drum thud and bass throb it has the echoey vocals and synth layering the song until after the chorus when it soars as the guitar takes over.  Huge sounding record and to be fair a really impressive track too.

Let’s not jump the gun here and rewind to the opener ‘America’. There is a real familiarity to this one – sounds like a dark Visage (if I might be so bold).  I love the bands I’ve mentioned in my introduction and there are shades of all of them in this for sure and ‘America’ reminds me of the post 90’s period Bowie.  Call it art rock or post-punk synth pop I couldn’t care less its captured superbly and the moody ‘Abigail’ sounds huge and should rightfully turn heads as people will sit up and take notice. The production and songwriting is excellent with the songs being really well arranged and none of them outstay their welcome with just the right amount of Guitars and Synth and great vocals throughout. In fact, Mr. Hussey could do a lot worse than check these out and maybe take them on tour with him, his audience would love this.

Available on 10″ vinyl maybe its time to embrace your dark side and get a headful of I Am Lono you might be very pleasantly surprised.

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Beauty In Chaos – ‘Finding Beauty In Chaos’ (33.3 Music Collective)

Beauty In Chaos – ‘Finding Beauty In Chaos’ (33.3 Music Collective)

The brainchild of Human Drama/Gene Loves Jezebel guitarist Michael Ciravolo, Beauty In Chaos is a goth-tastic supergroup project that brings together legendary names from the likes of The Mission, The Cure, Gene Loves Jezebel, Cheap Trick and Ministry to contribute on their debut album ‘Finding Beauty In Chaos’.

Influenced by the like of My Bloody Valentine, The Cocteau Twins and Lush, the LA-based guitar slinger hooked up his delay and reverb pedals joined forces with Ministry producer Michael Rozon and set about creating soundscapes rich in gothic goodness. Then enlisted the help of various musical acquaintances, such as Michael Aston, Wayne Hussey and Al Jourgensen, to add their own unique talents.

 

Opener ‘Road To Rosario’ sets the scene. With Michael Aston taking lead vocals, it unsurprisingly comes on like a lost Gene loves Jezebel cut as haunting, effect-ridden guitars weave in and out between a pounding bass line and lush distinctive vocals. A crisp production job ensures no sound goes unnoticed as guitars and vocals build in unison to create a killer opener.

Up next, ‘The Storm’ is the first of a trio of tracks to feature The Awakening main man Ashton Nyte on vocals. Atmospheric and emotive old school Goth, just the way we like it, baby! Later on, he opens his dark soul on the nomadic, Eastern tinged ‘Bloodless & Fragile’ and the moody closing title track. These tracks would not sound out of place on The Crow soundtrack.

Al Jourgensen lends his dulcet tones to an industrial tinged take on T Rex’s ‘20th Century Boy’ and pulls it off with ease, while the unmistakable vocals of The Mission main man Wayne Hussey are perfect for ‘The Long Goodbye’ and the simply enthralling ‘Man Of Faith’ (also featuring the talents of The Cure bassist Simon Gallup), possibly the stand out tune of the day for me.

Human Drama vocalist Johnny Indovina adds ethereal Bowie textures to ‘Memory Of Love’ and Ville Valo romanticism to ‘Beauty Lies Within’.

There’s a couple of unexpected diamonds in amongst the black ashes that permeate this collection of dark, gothic goodness. Namely, the power pop of ‘Drifting Away’, featuring an on form Robin Zander and top backing vocals courtesy of a certain Michael Anthony amongst others. Then Dug Pinnick and Ice T pump up the volume to industrial levels for ‘Un-Natural Disaster’, a song that retains the de-tuned, grungy feel of King’s X, while the spoken word rap of Ice T takes things down a darker street.

 

Collaborative musical projects run the risk of losing direction and focus, but Ciravolo takes the signature sound of each vocalist and adds his own textures to create an outstanding work of art that is both dark and cinematic and flows as a complete album.

‘Finding Beauty In Chaos’ is an album that celebrates the alternative late 80’s and puts a modern, edgy twist on a genre that has a place in the dark hearts of rockers, ravers and lovers the world over.

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