Taking a cue from the Elvis Costello catalogue, The Cure have started re-releasing VASTLY improved remastered versions of their recordings with additional cd's of bonus material (which really prompts me to wonder what everybody, including me, was on back then to think that cd's sounded any good at all) in really nice new packaging.
Without turning this too much into an audiophle review, if you were an owner of the original cd version of PORNOGRAPHY, you will most likely be in sheer bliss with how freakin' amazing this thing sounds. From the vocals to the bottom end, there is a huge dynamic increase overall, though the album still sounds as murky and bleak as it was meant to (THAT'S a contradictory statement, but it's true).
The bonus cd is full of rarities that are both plentiful and quite listenable, as opposed to some reissues of late. Many of the studio demos (particularily "The Hanging Garden") sound like completely different tracks, and the live material sounds like you found the person who got right up close at the concert the next day and got to listen to what they recorded. As well, it highlights the often overlooked fact that The Cure was always a really good live band, something that rarely made the magazine reviews in the time of 1980's commercial stadium rock.
For those who are unfamiliar with the history of the band, PORNOGRAPHY is an excellent place to start, with the knowledge that this is The Cure of old, producers of delicious depressing, self-loathing uncommercial music (despite the fact that it did reach the top ten in the UK upon it's initial release), not the quirky pop band they were soon to become. The fact that only a year seperates "The Hanging Garden" from "Love Cats" still amazes.
If you were fortunate, you have yet to purchase PORNOGRAPHY on cd for the first time, because this is a great (well conceptualized and executed) reissue of a great (depressing and defeatist) album. |