What
differentiate a solo album by Robert Smith from a Cure album ? Apparently,
songs that wouldn't fit with other Cure songs... if such thing is possible.
One of the oldest reference to that mythical solo album dates back 1987. It seems that Robert Smith wanted to get rid of certain songs that were put aside (starting in 1982) by recording and releasing them under his own name. The question eventually turned into some kind of malicious joke with the press eager to know what this was all about. And almost 20 years later, everybody is still wondering...
According to him, it was recorded at home in Spring 1988 (before starting to work on Disintegration), and it would only get released in case he'd die (!). It's supposed to be mostly acoustic and minimal, most songs just featuring piano, bass, guitar or cello. Only two of them including a drum beat and it was labeled the "moodiest stuff since Faith".
In another interview, Robert compared this to Leonard Cohen and confessed the songs were about him growing old and feeling miserable basically. It was just used as an opportunity to get away from the "Cure" system (after an intense and busy year in 1987).
In 1989, Ariel was mentioned being part of the album. That song had been recorded under the Cure's name for Kid Jensen radio session in late 1982 -with different musical arrangements probably. Other unreleased songs from this era (summer / autumn '82) are the Four Of Us, Despair, In France, Melancholia, The Night... all these titles were revealed during interviews.
Worth noting are the unknown and enigmatic verses that appear on the Pornography deluxe remaster (in the inlay) :
(...) In Siam // Together / We sat by water / And talked about / The four of us / In the heat of the night / I understood every word We met again / In France in the rain / But everything had changed
Recently, another solo album including secret guests (from other bands) was talked about. The project wasn't completed as some people weren't available on time. Could it be "new" songs this time ? It's hard to imagine the 12 songs from the 1988 recording would be part of this again. If this story is valid, of course...
(thanks to A Man That Slips Away -pointing to the Pornography deluxe)
One of the oldest reference to that mythical solo album dates back 1987. It seems that Robert Smith wanted to get rid of certain songs that were put aside (starting in 1982) by recording and releasing them under his own name. The question eventually turned into some kind of malicious joke with the press eager to know what this was all about. And almost 20 years later, everybody is still wondering...
According to him, it was recorded at home in Spring 1988 (before starting to work on Disintegration), and it would only get released in case he'd die (!). It's supposed to be mostly acoustic and minimal, most songs just featuring piano, bass, guitar or cello. Only two of them including a drum beat and it was labeled the "moodiest stuff since Faith".
In another interview, Robert compared this to Leonard Cohen and confessed the songs were about him growing old and feeling miserable basically. It was just used as an opportunity to get away from the "Cure" system (after an intense and busy year in 1987).
In 1989, Ariel was mentioned being part of the album. That song had been recorded under the Cure's name for Kid Jensen radio session in late 1982 -with different musical arrangements probably. Other unreleased songs from this era (summer / autumn '82) are the Four Of Us, Despair, In France, Melancholia, The Night... all these titles were revealed during interviews.
Worth noting are the unknown and enigmatic verses that appear on the Pornography deluxe remaster (in the inlay) :
(...) In Siam // Together / We sat by water / And talked about / The four of us / In the heat of the night / I understood every word We met again / In France in the rain / But everything had changed
Recently, another solo album including secret guests (from other bands) was talked about. The project wasn't completed as some people weren't available on time. Could it be "new" songs this time ? It's hard to imagine the 12 songs from the 1988 recording would be part of this again. If this story is valid, of course...
(thanks to A Man That Slips Away -pointing to the Pornography deluxe)
