The early days of "gothic rock" Cure, from the 1980 "Seventeen Seconds" LP (still a favorite of mine). The whole album was recorded for something like 3000 GBP and the band worked 16-17 hours a day to finish it on budget.
One of the first times I can remember hearing flanger and phase applied to guitar (all of the guitarists I knew, me included, went out and bought these pedals immediately).
I just saw them in Mountain View on the last tour, what a magical night: https://magnetmagazine.com/2023/06/01/live-review-the-cure-mountain-view-ca-may-29-2023/
Apr 21, 2024
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Acoustic guitars! What?!? I’m pretty sure that very early teenage me thought this intro was amazing. So when the Electric Guitar and Drums enter, they do so with Aplomb. To put it mildly. The guitar is HUGE. The riff is HUGE. All Of This And Nothing - the band’s most ambitious piece, at that juncture. 6 minutes 23 seconds.
A phonebook full of accidents
A girl to drive your car
A suit to wear on Mondays
And a coat a magazine
A heavy rain a holiday
A painting of the wall
A knife, a fork and memories
A light to see it all
You didn't leave me anything
That I can understand
It’s pretty great, really great, and then, well, it doesn’t *quite* deliver the money shot.
Hey, I never meant that stuff
I want to turn you round
But then the final, excellent conclusion
Now I'm left with all of this
A room full of your trash
Maybe a touch too much sax, but lovely.
The band that refuses to be a rock pop band makes an almost perfect rock pop album.
I'm pretty sure my first band started almost right after this. I couldn't play for shit, but then, I didn't NEED to.
1d ago
A Problem With The Cure is that the production on albums like "Disintegration" can feel overbearingly reverb'd/synth'd-out to many contemporary ears, obscuring Robert Smith's pure pop-songwriting genius. Therefore their most accessible (and IMO best) album is this compilation of mostly-acoustic versions of their tunes, recorded in 2001 in London, originally included as the 2nd CD in the Japanese version of their Greatest Hits album but later reissued for (I think) Record Store Day in 2017. It's still hard to find in the streaming-verse so here are some youtube links:
The Cure - Complete A Side [ Acoustic Hits Picture LP ] (youtube.com)
The Cure - Complete B Side [ Acoustic Hits Picture LP ] (youtube.com)
The Cure - Complete C Side [ Acoustic Hits Picture LP ] (youtube.com)
The Cure - Complete D Side [ Acoustic Hits Picture LP ] (youtube.com)
Apr 21, 2024
Way back on this day in 1977, a new CBGB-created template for guitar heroism was born.
Think you 🙏🏻 to the late Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd for showing us that not all guitar gods wear capes or “I’m working hard over here” faces.
Cool art is possible without bullshit macho posturing.
This song and album is ground zero for me.
Six-string midnight mass. 🕯️
“I remember how the darkness doubled.”
About as New York City an album as I can conjure.
Feb 9, 2024
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May 22, 2025
Hey tyler hopefully this doesn’t violate some PI.FYI golden rule
But after nearly two years of writing, editing and arguing, my book about the EP is coming out in May and can be preordered here:
https://hozacrecords.com/product/aifl/
The book is about the origins, history and cultural impact of the EP since these little objects first started coming out in the 50s.
Over 50 of my music biz friends then helped me shape the list and review the top 200 ever released, according to us (ha).
For those of you who are into this kind of geekery/snobbery, I can’t wait to hear what you think. A labor of love, as all books are! ❤️
Mar 27, 2024
“Songs Of a Lost World” coming to a goth listening station near you Nov 1 🖤
The fr FW Me Friday the 13th the world was looking for
Sep 14, 2024