Acoustic Sounds

The Cure

Songs of a Lost World

Music

Sound

The Cure Songs of A Lost World

Label: Polydor

Produced By: Paul Corkett, Robert Smith

Engineered By: Paul Corkett

Mixed By: Robert Smith

Mastered By: Brian Lucey, Bernie Grundman

Lacquers Cut By: Bernie Grundman

By: JoE Silva

November 4th, 2024

Genre:

Rock Post-Punk

Format:

Vinyl

The Brothers Grim

The Cure (finally) release album number 14

What with having to stare down pension plans and reduced bone density, it’d be reasonable to think that the release of a new Cure album might not have flicked across the radar of their original fan base. But anyone who caught one of the sold out gigs on their last live go around knows that’s fairly unlikely. Especially since the band did their part by opening all of those shows with the lead cut from the record everyone knew for some time would be called Songs of a Lost World.

Album number 14 follows 16 years on from 2008’s 4:13 Dream—a record that was criticized in some quarters for not delivering at least one clear classic to add to the pile of dark gems The Cure had stockpiled since their debut 30 years earlier. The new record, which according to singer/guitarist Robert Smith is the first of three final releases, took root just as the world ran headlong into the pandemic. 

“If I have one regret is that I said anything at all about it in 2019.” Smith said recently via their YouTube channel. “Because we’d only just started creating it.”

 But once the black cat was out of the bag, an artificially uncomfortable wait was set in motion. After all, it had already been more than a decade since the last one - a period which saw guitarist Pearl Thompson traipse through the exit (again…) while Roger O’Donnell returned to his post as the band’s principal keyboard player.

The eight tracks that the current version of The Cure settled on for this collection were sourced from a set of demos that Smith wrote entirely by his lonesome. His rationale for purposely side-stepping a more collaborative process was a fear that the final disc might have resulted in something less cohesive. It was most certainly a “vision” thing. But since at least 75% of this material had been thoroughly road-tested before it reached mastering, the band were allowed to go back and add a fair number of instrumental tweaks to what had already been laid to tape.  

What we get then is a what you might expect from an outfit closing in on fifty years of output – a superbly produced suite that underlines the band’s nature as opposed to planting an exclamation point after most of what you might hear. The lyrics may present to the general public as being clinically overcast, but Smith sounds more given to being bewildered here than anything else. How is this so hard to figure out? How are we still angry with another? How did I get so old?

And as often as the text is straightforward, the music is anything but. There are long expositions, unexpected contrivances (…is that a harmonium at the beginning of “Warsong”?), and twisty guitar lines that are baked in heavy swaths of reverb and distortion. From the start “Alone” sets the template of the record, which is less of a containment field for the dour and more of a celebration of the grim majesty that Smith finds himself marinating in. It’s a classic and one of at least three tracks that are sure to be recycled on future “hits” packages - the others being the piano appended “And Nothing Is Forever,” with the other being the mournful “I Can Never Say Goodbye,” which Smith wrote as a paean to his late brother. The buzzy “All I Ever Am” comes close as well, as does ten minutes plus of “Endsong” with its cavernous, tribal drums.

Smith mixed the record at home and claims that the 180gm black vinyl mix we took out for a spin is “slightly different” to the digital and CD versions that are out there as well. The hype sticker on this U.S. copy proclaims that the mastering was undertaken by “Brian Lucey & Bernie Grundman," with the inner sleeve clarifying that the actual cut was done at Bernie Grundman Mastering. The worldwide release however advertises itself to be mastered and cut by Abbey Road’s Miles Showell. Why the two versions is for the moment, unclear. But both editions and the versions pressed in Marble Stone and white color variants are done on bioplastic (which is only two years or so into the toddler phase of its existence).

The disc itself is impeccably quiet, but unfortunately we weren’t able to get our hands on the double LP half speed master copy that (oddly enough…) is being offered at Capitol’s online store for not much more than single album variant. Atmos mixes that Smith supervised himself as well as instrumental only version of the album are on the associated Blu-ray. Amidst all that, what we heard was bass rich and not at all muddled even at the music’s busiest points. The guitars crackle appropriately and the highs that are detailed in the subtle, odd effects on “I Can Never Say Goodbye,” pop far more than they do in the generic streams that are out there.

Given the many options, this review feels like something of a cheat - particularly here and especially with an album so lovingly etched with intention into The Cure’s history. It’s a milestone release by the very nature of where it falls on the band’s timeline, but whether or not it would occupy some fictional spot in a Nick Hornby-like list of “Top 5 Cure albums to fret to” is another thing. What we can say is that it’s probably just what the darker end of Post-Punk should have gloriously blossomed into this many years on.

Music Specifications

Catalog No: 00602468089216

Pressing Plant: Vantiva, Guadalajara, Mexico

Speed/RPM: 33 1/3

Weight: 180 grams

Size: 12"

Channels: Stereo

Presentation: Single LP

Comments

  • 2024-11-05 03:31:03 AM

    Preetam wrote:

    I tried the Qobuz digital version and I can’t say I enjoyed the sound. Hoping the vinyl version to be the real deal!

    • 2024-11-11 07:49:17 AM

      Come on wrote:

      Same here. Meanwhile I tend to deduct 2 points from any current sound quality rating. People seem to get used to average sound. The common practice of using only 20 % of the available rating scale also contributes to this. No real hope that the vinyl of such digital recordings is that much better sounding, especially as cut at Abbey Road/Showell.

  • 2024-11-08 10:19:05 PM

    Jeff 'Glotz' Glotzer wrote:

    It's great music after one listen... Need more!

    • 2024-11-09 06:44:44 PM

      Jeff 'Glotz' Glotzer wrote:

      2nd listen is far more rewarding. Sound is solid enough across the board. Some thick textures overlaid with distortion are a bit off putting, but it's basically ultra-mono and sounds pleasing to me in a very The Cure way. Now that I have some time to listen unabated by life, it's engaging and the lyrics are touching, imo. I dig it. To wish for something like yesteryears is a bit silly. I don't see any way to attain that any longer and I'm not sure it's desirable. Robert Smith and the band definitely sound like themselves but older and with different perspective. The politics of the day across the world affect his lyrical position as well as personal politics obv. But I think the world would suck way more without this album!

      • 2024-11-09 06:51:43 PM

        Jeff 'Glotz' Glotzer wrote:

        Well written review btw, JoE.

  • 2024-11-09 12:07:31 AM

    DaveNM wrote:

    The jury is still out on this new album for me, but I can name many albums that didn’t speak to me at first listen. One thing is for certain though, they still rock. I saw them live for the Shows of a Lost World Tour and they totally brought it!

  • 2024-11-15 07:12:20 PM

    Scott W wrote:

    In my experience it's often music which doesn't fully reveal itself initially that holds a longer shelf life. After a few listens I'm connecting to this album in a way I haven't with the recent (if 16 years is recent, lol) Cure albums, outside of Bloodflowers.

    Great art often poses poignant questions rather than providing fully formed answers. Robert Smith clearly understands how to do the latter when appropriate, but this record is more of the slow burn Rorschach test that allows you to explore some cavernous spaces to meditate on life's heavier features. Robert takes on the subject matter as only he can, it's heavy and unflinching but with a twinge of beauty to humanize the lingering dread he (we) are wading through.

    Sound quality is pretty good, though to me it would breathe much easier with less compression. I’ve only listened to streaming versions though and Robert did indicate vinyl specific mastering though so I’ll hold out some hope for when I can pick up a copy. Check out Dave Denyer’s video on YouTube for a thorough review of a couple different pressings.