4:13 Dream...

So I got my copy of 4:13 Dream in the mail yesterday and I listened to it on repeat for a few hours. I must say, after hearing the singles, and then this, the recorded versions are better. I didn't really like the "Mix 13" version of Freakshow, and I was on the edge of "so-so" for the other ones. I do like them better on the studio version. I'm finding lots of their songs to be really great after a few listens, and they catch on quickly. I heard the whole Rome show and found the song order a bit odd. It's partly the sandwich of The Reasons Why, Freakshow, and then Sirensong. But I got over it. I just think the production quality could have been a little better as far as not trying to make everything above-the-red-needle loud! Plus, Porl's guitar work was so fuzzed out and wah-flangey, it was hard to tell what he was playing over the almost-too-intricate drum beats and constant symbol crashes. Other than that though, I think Robert's vocals were pretty good as far as not sounding like yelling into the microphone like I've heard people say about "The Cure" (I don't own that one yet).

On the other hand, there are some quite good songs on the album. I think Underneath the Stars is the best opener since Plainsong. I also really like The Reasons Why, Sirensong, The Hungry Ghost...and well, I actually fancy quite a few of them! The lyrics were kinda o.k. for me, they were just really long winded, not the simple stuff. Lots of almost 'image creating' lyrics that told somewhat of a story, kind of like on Wish with songs like Open. I definitely see a lot of similarities between Wish and 4:13 Dream.

Overall it was quite good. I'm not disappointed or anything, I'm sure I'll like it even more after a week of constant ear-flooding with it, so all is well in the Cure world. Just the way I like it to be! Bravo Robert, Simon, Porl, and Jason!

Too confusing...

What is it that makes people so two faced? How can you pretend to be perfectly honest to someone, and then turn around and promise the exact opposite to somebody else? Which face are you supposed to believe? The one that looks at you like always in their honest way, or the one with their back turned to you that you know is saying the exact opposite? This stuff is too confusing, and it may ruin a friendship.

This puzzles me...

So I talk to my friends sometimes about what I've been doing with my "band mates" in terms of playing and whatnot, and I have told them about how I'm entering the talent show for my guitar playing, but they still don't really register that I actually play. I don't know if they just assume that when I say "play" I mean "Own an acoustic guitar and sing mediocre songs from the radio" or what, but today in school I showed one of my friends an mp3 of the cover we are working on, and she said "Is that really you guys playing?" and there was another track where I did all the instruments except vocals, and she again, asked "Is that really you?". It's pretty much like "Well, duh, its me, what have I been talking about all along?" I want to go to music school, but nobody takes it serious when you tell them you are actually good at something. Even my mom was really suprised when she heard me playing on the mp3. It's like, Come ON! I've only been playing guitar in my room with the amp too loud for five years now, and you finally catch on because I'm playing a well known song that really isn't hard in the first place? I just don't get it. I'm doing the talent show, not for recognition or anything, but because the PRINCIPAL (yes, principal of the school) signed us up for it because she heard our project where we recorded some crappy ramones and black sabbath covers with some historical lyrics. So now I'm gonna be playing "Paranoid" for all to hear. Whoopee, and first prize is a 75 dollar Wal Mart gift card, yay, it's what I always wanted. *cough*sarcasm*cough*cough*

More than a Short Term Effect

So I was 13 when I first heard The Cure, and I knew I was onto something after the first drum fill of the classic "Just Like Heaven". I searched for a few months for a Cure CD of any kind, and I couldn't find any (I don't live near any malls). Eventually I found 1 Cure Greatest Hits cd at Walmart, so of course I bought it. I listened to it all the way through, and I really loved it, especially songs like A Forest. I did a bit more research on The Cure, and I figured that with so many albums, I might as well start from their first. So I went out on iTunes (ugg) and downloaded Boys Don't Cry. Then I got Seventeen Seconds, Faith, and so on.

Some of the "big" albums that are really important to me are, well really all of them, but more specifically Pornography, Faith, and Disintegration. Robert Smith is the best lyricist ever IMO, and the words that are seemingly random and scattered at a first glance end up making perfect sense in some subconcious way. He says what I feel better than I ever could. There is something unexplainable that happens when you get engulfed in a song and you just want to float away forever, soaking up every second of it. This may sound odd, but if I had to chose between dying happy, or dying absolutely miserable but being engulfed in a Cure song, I would chose the latter. The Cure has made a pretty big impact on me, they resparked my love of music, and gave me something to hold onto when everything else is falling apart. I can't stand mainstream crap that gets regurgitated every couple weeks by a different artist, and the Cure is something that has already stood the test of time. Simon Gallup actually inspired me to play the bass guitar (I had already been playing regular guitar). They have been so involved in my life, I honestly don't know where I would be without them.

I've been working on getting all of their albums, but my lack-of-money restricts my cd buying, especially since I had been saving for a new guitar (which I bought). As of right now, I have:

• Boys Don't Cry (I downloaded tracks from Three Imaginary Boys that weren't on BDC)
• Seventeen Seconds
• Faith
• Pornography
  
• The Top
• The Head on the Door
• Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
• Disintegration
• Wish
• Join the Dots: B-Sides and Rarities

I just picked up the Join The Dots box set, since I was in need of some "rare" gems like Lament, The Exploding Boy, and everything else. It was definitely worth the 50 some dollars. I recently found a genious way that doesn't require any downloading in order to get songs you can play online, so I've been getting some tracks from Bloodflowers until I go out and buy the album soon.

I also have the Festival 2005 DVD, Trilogy DVD, The Cure in Orange VHS, and the Staring at the Sea: The Images VHS.

The Cure to me is more than just a Short Term Effect, which is pretty much what the mainstream music world is to the rest of the people who have to let corporations think for them and what they like.

Well now...

My first blog. Yay!...or Yay? Who knows. Maybe this will be something that I check every day, unlike my LiveJournal, or Yahoo 360 crap. Who knows really. This is just for my random thoughts, music posts (I do covers) and just babbling of all sorts. I hope this isn't the crappiest blog you've ever read. I certainly hope that it isn't the best. I'm not trying to be "worthy". So, yeah.