JULY

06th
Mansfield, Great Woods Amphitheatre
A 17-date North American tour debuted and it was a shock for the media as Robert Smith cut his hair just a few days before : "Everyone hates it. I hate it most. It's the most unattractive hair cut. Still, it makes no difference to me and, if it does to other people, well I hope they die." The first night on stage reflected a few problems with the keyboards (no sound on a few songs) and after the concert, Lol was so drunk that he was left unconscious on a baggage trolley at the hotel lobby.

The typical setlist for the tour was the following : Shake Dog Shake, Piggy In The Mirror, Play For Today, A Strange Day, Primary, Kyoto Song, Charlotte Sometimes, In Between Days, The Walk, A Night Like This, Push, One Hundred Years, A Forest, Sinking - Close To Me, Let's Go To Bed - Three Imaginary Boys, Boys Don't Cry - Faith, Give Me It, 10:15 Saturday Night, Killing An Arab.

When the tour reached Dallas, Six Different Ways was added to the set list. The Cure also played Forever twice on this tour. The show in Houston differed from the other ones : The Baby Screams as an opener, The Blood, M... Probably because that was the third night in a row in Texas. The band also made the papers at the end of the tour in LA (July 27th) : a man in the audience tried to commit suicide with a knife before the group entered the stage.


AUGUST

A few dates were set up in Spain and in south of France which turned out to be a huge success again. Why Can't I Be You (a new song still not finished -especially the lyrics !) was also played a few times.

The last show of the year took place in Orange (France) and it was filmed by Tim Pope for a video release, mainly because of the beautiful setting (an old Roman amphitheatre). Some additional video shots were made the following day in the empty arena (mostly close ups that didn't need an audience). The band, between the takes, played Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun (by Pink Floyd) according to the Melody Maker magazine.

After three days of rest in Toulon (where the break mainly consisted in being locked in at the hotel, hiding from the French fans), The Cure stayed in the south of France for the next three months : recording instrumental demos at Jean Costa's studio in Draguignan for two weeks and then recording the Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me album in Miraval. They decided that recording the next record in a secluded place would be ideal. The group only deserted the studio once to go to Paris to appear on French TV in dresses ! Around the same time, les Enfants du Rock, a French TV show presented their new musical theme : a short instrumental given by Robert Smith (to be known later as Just Like Heaven !).


SEPTEMBER

Miraval was a residential studio (lost in the middle of vineyards) and the band became very prolific. Robert would write the lyrics of the songs just before recording the vocals and let Mary and Simon to judge his takes. One track became quite difficult to sing on though : Shiver And Shake. The Cure's singer wasn't in the right mood (pure anger). But one day, an annoying phone call from the record company helped him to sing the song. Very spontaneous.

Somebody gave Robert some books by Baudelaire and Rimbaud (French's poetry of the "damned"). Everybody in France thought he had read them before. But that wasn't the case. Les Yeux des Pauvres, a short story by Baudelaire, was adapted for How Beautiful You Are's lyrics.

Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me was the best collective effort to date. For once, some tunes weren't written by Robert. The recording session included 25 songs when they left the studio (on November 11th), certainly enough material for a double album. On vacation, Robert Smith headed to the north of the country, to stay in Reims (in the Champagne region) for a week.


DECEMBER

Then Robert Smith, Dave Allen (producer) and Chris Parry went to the Bahamas at Compass Point studios, early December, to finish the album : mostly vocal takes (although the saxophone parts on Icing Sugar were recorded there). But Robert didn't enjoy working on his own without the band, so he actually left before the end...


GO TO 1987 PART 1