Robert Smith has come out and set the record straight about some comments he made to XFM over the weekend about the forthcoming Cure album, 4:13 Scream. [During the original interview, which you can listen to here, Smith disclosed that the album was "a bit of a sore point" and that he had re-written parts of the album over the last year and a half.] Due to the overwhelmingly negative spin that most music sites put on the comments Smith made to XFM, he decided to explain himself in a posting on the Cure's official site. The post is pretty lengthy and in all caps, so here's a short summary of what he said:
The Cure recorded material (33 songs) for a double album in 2007. Smith eventually lost interest in the project and compiled 13 of the songs for the album 4:13 Dream which was released in 2008. After some time off and lineup changes (Porl Thompson left, Roger O'Donnell and Reeves Gabrels rejoined) the Cure played some live shows which inspired Smith to revisit the abandoned project. He reworked some of the songs (added vocals to instrumental tracks, changed lyrics on others) and completed the album, though he was interested (and still is) in recording brand new material with The Cure's current lineup. Even though he's more excited about moving forward, the Cure will release the original material from the 4:13 Dream sessions as well as some of the reworked material. Two limited edition releases are planned:
4:26 Dream is a limited edition release compiling 26 songs from the original 4:13 Dream sessions concept album. Ten or more of the songs included will be previously unreleased.
4:14 Scream is a limited edition single album compiling 14 previously unreleased songs. Some of the songs may be on the 4:26 Dream double album, but the versions on this release will be the reworked versions, and will include lyrics and vocals.
Smith admits the releases might seem confusing (4:13 Dream, 4:13 Scream, 4:26 Dream, 4:14 Scream) but he says it'll make more sense when he posts the song titles, tracklistings, etc. No EXACT release date has been set other than Smith saying it's likely to be released "in the next month or three" though he admits he's bad at planning.
Smith didn't broach the topic of live shows or tour plans in his post, but according to what he said in his XFM interview, the Cure will be doing more shows later this year, but it sounds as if the Reflections/trilogy tour won't happen this year. So far the only U.S. tour date is a one-off show at BottleRock 2014 in Napa Valley on May 30th.
UPDATE: Robert Smith also spent a little time on Facebook, addressing the Guardian's negative review of the Cure's March 30th show at Royal Albert Hall. Read his comments here and here. FYI, reviewer Caroline Sullivan's comments are in quotes, and Smith's comments are in ALL CAPS.
Published on April 1st, 2014 @ 7:30 PM