How much better would _Wild Mood Swings_ have been if "Home" had been on it instead of "Mint Car"?

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Also, imagine "Home" on the greatest hits comp instead... IT'S ALL SO MUCH BETTER

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 18:54 (twenty-two years ago)

You are a deeply wise and thoughtful man.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 19:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Seriously though, it's like one of the best b-sides they've come up with. Hell, it's one of the best SONGS they've come up with. That little gasp at the end of the chorus SLAYS me.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 19:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Mint Car is a song that means something to me. I think it is a keeper. Not moody and broody Cure but still worth a spin and a spot on the album. Surely you can pick on another song?

― Sean Monkman, Wednesday, 9 July 2003 19:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I have no problem with Cure songs that aren't moody and broody (see: "The Lovecats", "Why Can't I Be You???", "High", "Hot Hot Hot!!!", "Jumping Someone Else's Train", "Cut Here", "Just Say Yes", etc etc etc). I do have a problem with Cure songs that are poorly written and arranged and BOY does "Mint Car" fit that description; awkward, muffled drums, uncomfortably brittle guitar, too much yelping as opposed to singing on RS's part, unsatisfying wordplay, bludgeoning, ugly bass... I just think the whole thing's a mess.

And THEN you get to "Return", which is all of that ramped up by a factor of 1,000,000,000. ARGH.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 19:52 (twenty-two years ago)

(Also there's the a-side/b-side link between "Mint Car" and "Home", which is what prompted me to post the topic in the first place.)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 19:53 (twenty-two years ago)

What Dan said. My only sentimental memories of "Mint Car" is that I haven't heard it in a long while.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 19:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Having said all that, I certainly respect that other people can form attachments to songs I dislike; any bile isn't meant towards the song only and not your reaction to/memories associated with it.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 19:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I haven't heard "Home," but damn, I ain't feelin' this "Mint Car" hate. I'd argue "Gone!" is an easier switch for a decent b-side (assuming the Cure diehards are right about this song).

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 21:29 (twenty-two years ago)

But I like "Gone!" (Also it doesn't have real b-sides; the single has a bunch of remixes of various _WMS_ tracks on it. I could be persuaded very easily to switch the album version of "Gone!" for the Ultraliving remix, though.)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 21:34 (twenty-two years ago)

i don't even remember what "home" or "mint car' sound like.

so many of the b-sides are superior, no?

― kephm, Wednesday, 9 July 2003 21:49 (twenty-two years ago)

'a chain of flowers' or 'breathe' should of made it onto kiss me

― kephm, Wednesday, 9 July 2003 21:50 (twenty-two years ago)

At 17, I would have heartily agreed. At 30, I'm starting to remember that some of those a-sides really are painfully fantastic (see, for example, "Inbetween Days", "Close To Me", "Lovesong", "Lullaby", "Hot Hot Hot!!!", "Just Like Heaven", "Let's Got To Bed", "The Lovecats", "The Hanging Garden", "Never Enough", "High", etc etc etc). Really, the only Cure singles that don't work for me at all are "A Letter To Elise" (good song, poor single especially up against its monster bs), "Mint Car" (see this thread) and "Strange Attraction" (and even that one can get me if I'm in the right mood).

I think you're right about "A Chain Of Flowers" at least, but I wouldn't bump any of the _KM^3_ singles for it.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 21:55 (twenty-two years ago)

oh i wouldn't bump any of the singles. i guess i didnt really answer your question. its the robots. they take over my brain whenever i hear 'Cure'

― kephm, Wednesday, 9 July 2003 21:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Those are some fuckin' excellent robots.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 22:02 (twenty-two years ago)

mint car was a great live song=time to go get more beer

― kephm, Wednesday, 9 July 2003 22:03 (twenty-two years ago)

HAHA That does more to redeem the song in my eyes than any other argument I've read!

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 22:05 (twenty-two years ago)

i have been informed that wbcn (yuck) is interviewing robert , 5pm? friday. i guess nick is going to ask him what is up with the blink-182 connection. (is it true that the new album is gonna use the same producer?)

― kephm, Wednesday, 9 July 2003 22:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Ross Robinson is producing the album, he signed the Cure to his new little vanity label thing. As Robinson has spent the last two years offering up 'mea culpas' for new metal and talking about what a fan of bands like early Verve and Doves he is, I'll be intrigued to see if he actually lives up to that.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 22:16 (twenty-two years ago)

("cut here" is so so great)

― maura (maura), Thursday, 10 July 2003 00:34 (twenty-two years ago)

(the only thing about bad about "cut here" is that it makes you want to buy an otherwise redundant hits collection)

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 10 July 2003 00:36 (twenty-two years ago)

(ha true! it's like an ad for pay-per-song structures -- i mean it's not like that duet with the republica chick is worth the rest of the $16 or whatever)

― maura (maura), Thursday, 10 July 2003 00:37 (twenty-two years ago)

(oh god, I forgot about that republica duet. yick! point well taken.)

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 10 July 2003 00:42 (twenty-two years ago)

But you also get the acoustic renditions of the songs and they're tres spiff.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 10 July 2003 00:48 (twenty-two years ago)

evidently Ned isn't reduced to tears by the "acoustic" keyboard stylings of Roger O'Donnell. GOD KNOWS I WAS!

the only worthwhile moment I remember on the acoustic disc was when Smith improvs the horns on "Close To Me."

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 10 July 2003 00:52 (twenty-two years ago)

That's your worry and not mine. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 10 July 2003 00:57 (twenty-two years ago)

evidently Ned's buying front row tickets to Outdoor Restaurant Cure.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 10 July 2003 01:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Uh, yeah. The hell?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 10 July 2003 01:09 (twenty-two years ago)

The thing about "Just Say Yes" is that it's really, really easy to ignore Republica chick and bask in the amazing glory that is that groove. And yes, "Cut Here" is completely fantastic. (If you bought the single, you got an enhanced CD with the video on it.)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 10 July 2003 12:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Come on. Cut Here is the Cure by numbers song if ever there was one. Wild Mood Swings was a pretty dire album too (especially in comparision to its predecessor). Treasure is lovely though.

― flowersdie (flowersdie), Friday, 11 July 2003 11:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, the number of Crue-by-numbers songs built on jungle loops is staggering.

I was listening to _WMS_ last weekend and came to the conclusion that about 40% of that album's problem is poor mixing.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 11 July 2003 12:32 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm pretty sure Ropert Smith would be surprised to learn that Cut Here was built on jungle loops.

Was the other 60% of the album's "problem" to do with him not really trying, d'you think?

― flowersdie (flowersdie), Friday, 11 July 2003 12:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Probably that and spending too much time trying to recreate a certain sound rather than just writing new songs ("Mint Car" = the new "Friday I'm In Love", "Club America" = the new "Open") although sometimes it works ("Trap" = The Cure's take on Big Black's "Glass Houses", "Want" = the other new "Open" meets "End").

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 11 July 2003 13:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Crue-by-numbers

Shout at the devil, Dan.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 11 July 2003 13:55 (twenty-two years ago)

No, I will not.

flowersdie, have you listened to "Cut Here" recently? It's built off the "Amen" break.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 11 July 2003 13:58 (twenty-two years ago)

(Dan yr endless enthusiasm for this band has made me reconsider selling my Cure Lps, in fact I really like Kiss Me now, thanks to Ned also... say more about how great they are, if you like. Especially tell me what I should like about Smith's voice please cos that's the only sticking point, really, that an "In Between Days" sounding like the most brilliant New Order pastiche ever (that and Wire's 'Ahead', anyway) and actually that's a GOOD THING, isn't it?)

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Friday, 11 July 2003 14:04 (twenty-two years ago)

The New Order pastiche is most certainly the best thing about "Inbetween Days" (that and the random socks attacking Robert in the video).

One thing in the favor of the later albums is that Robert sings in more comfortable register for most of the songs (the side-effect of making it easier for me to sing along is also a factor). One thing I like about his voice is its passion; he invests everything he sings with whatever the appropriate emotion is, whether it's euphoria, fear, weariness, paranoia, anger, tenderness, etc etc etc. It's rare that you find a singer who emotes like that (this is also a big plus for Siouxsie).

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 11 July 2003 14:11 (twenty-two years ago)

I do like the way he sounds so horny and eager (and still somewhat tender) on 'Close to Me' already, so i'll bear that in mind... btw I have Kiss Me, Head on the Door and Seventeen Seconds, and I'm thinking this isn't too poor a selection for showing what the Cure can do. Am I wrong? SS was sounding quite lovely this morning, something it hasn't done for me before.

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Friday, 11 July 2003 14:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh man this is my worst thread derailing EVER, I'll stop. Sorry.

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Friday, 11 July 2003 14:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Quite spot on, that assessment -- even if (like me) you're not always noticing the words, though I have to say he's one of the few singers who makes his own words really worth the hearing, but not in a declamatory fashion. More sort of that perfect assessment of mood -- if you'd like a comparison between two similar but still different songs, consider Faith's "The Drowning Man" and Kiss Me's "If Only Tonight We Could Sleep." Both play around with metaphors of sinking into water (the first the more so), but it is interesting how not only in lyrical terms but singing and musically both songs are quite distinct. "The Drowning Man" is focused and extremely downcast, a portrait of a collapse that is monomaniacally represented in everything from the slow-but-staccato lyrics and the feeling of endless descent in the song, whereas "If Only Tonight We Could Sleep" is more of a strange, hazy dream, Robert's singing less one of sheer intensity as it is a flowing portrait of enveloping obsession. And we could extend the comparison in similarity/difference with Disintegration's "The Same Deep Water as You"...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 11 July 2003 14:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Er? Don't apologize, Andrew!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 11 July 2003 14:19 (twenty-two years ago)

That's a decent cross-section, although you're missing their synth-pop phase (_Japanese Whispers_). The newer albums tend to be _KM^3_ with richer production for the most part (even _Bloodflowers_).

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 11 July 2003 14:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Are those the alternate lyrics to "Treasure"?

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 11 July 2003 14:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Well if you and Dan keep going in this vein I'll feel no need to, this is quite fascinating. Yr description of "If Only Tonight We could Sleep" catches what I was loving about Kiss Me a few hours ago pretty exactly. If it isn't obvious already I'm keeping the records, but please feel free to convince me more if you like...

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Friday, 11 July 2003 14:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Ah, no worries -- okay, so you want to get everything ever and start searching for all the rarities and B-sides and...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 11 July 2003 14:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, goody

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Friday, 11 July 2003 14:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Top b-sides to look out for:

"New Day"
"A Man Inside My Mouth"
"Stop Dead"
"A Few Hours After This"
"This Twilight Garden"
"A Chain Of Flowers"
"Play"
"Ocean"
"Home"
"2 Late"
"Throw Your Foot"
"A Japanese Dream"

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 11 July 2003 14:35 (twenty-two years ago)

You could also do worse by getting "Carnage Visors" on the one hand and "Ariel" on the other...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 11 July 2003 14:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Top album tracks (that I think are often overlooked):

"Another Day"
"Siamese Twins"
"Bananafishbones"
"The Top"
"Six Different Ways"
"Homesick"
"To Wish Impossible Things"
"Apart"
"Trap"
"The Loudest Sound"

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 11 July 2003 14:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Ned I'm not into them to the point of wanting tattoos

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Friday, 11 July 2003 14:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 112 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I want them to do an all b-side concert. Start with "I'm Cold" and end with "Signal To Noise".

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 14 July 2003 18:04 (twenty-two years ago)

With Halrold and Joe as an encore, please.

― flowersdie (flowersdie), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 12:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Dude, have you heard the live "Harold and Joe" from British TV (I think it might have been Later with Jools but I'm not sure)? IT ROCKS.

The encore should be all of the Easy Cure demos.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 13:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Jonathan Ross, I think.

The encore should include a cover of Fool's Dance's The Don Diddy Song!

― flowersdie (flowersdie), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 13:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Stop putting down the Furs.

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 15 July 2003 13:42 (twenty-two years ago)

No one's putting down the Furs!

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 13:43 (twenty-two years ago)

+the live "Harold and Joe" from British TV

is that the one where the band is all wearing dresses, except you cant really see them cause the cameras are all waist up (for the most part)?

― kephm, Tuesday, 15 July 2003 16:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I think that was Boys Don't Cry from the French Version of TOTP.

― flowersdie (flowersdie), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 07:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Back to initial topic - I think 'A Pink Dream' would have been a much better choice than the slightly corny 'Home'

― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 08:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I do see the corniness in "Home", but the way the chorus creeps up that scale is just BRILLIANT. It's also the one of the few songs from those recording sessions that sounds to me like it was mixed properly.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 11:44 (twenty-two years ago)

(I have to say that when I started this thread, I had no idea it would get this many responses! Granted, about half of them are me refusing to let the thread die, but STILL...)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 12:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm getting rid of all my Cure albums except Standing On A Beach and then I'm buying Galore. There's just no point to owning all this non-singles crap.

Just wanted to say!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 21:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I might keep Boys Don't Cry

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 22:07 (twenty-two years ago)

It's funny because I remember reading interviews before WMS came out where RS was saying that he considered 'Home' to be the best song they'd ever done... and eventually releasing it as a B-Side?!
'It used to be me' could also have been a fine epic centrepiece, the lack thereof being another of WMS flaws when you compare it to the Cure's last albums

― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Thursday, 17 July 2003 06:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, that was the odd thing about _WMS_; I'd had experiences in the past where I liked the b-sides more than the album tracks in the past, but the difference between the _WMS_ b-sides and a good 50% of the tracks that made it to the album is just startling.

I mean, an album with "Adonais", "Ocean", "It Used To Be Me", "Home", and "A Pink Dream" on it couldn't help but be great. Who needs mediocre stuff like "Club America" or "Strange Attraction", or truly dire things like "Mint Car" and "Return"?

Anthony, tell me which Cure albums you're getting rid of and I'll tell you the depths of your folly. (Good call on keeping _Boys Don't Cry_, though, as that's the only placce you can find "World War".)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 17 July 2003 12:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Isn't "World War" just "Shake Dog Shake" in a babygro? Very good tho...

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Thursday, 17 July 2003 17:49 (twenty-two years ago)

I can see that. The different lyrics/chorus make it a keeper for me. ("No one's a winner/No one's a loser/Just a dead friend" SWOON)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 17 July 2003 17:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't recall a track on Boys Don't Cry called "World War." You sure that isn't on Three Imaginary Boys?

Cure albums I'm getting rid of in order of certainty
Wild Mood Swings (taping "Want")
Kiss Me, Kiss Me (taping "How Beautiful You Are," "Perfect Girl", one or two more)
Disintegration (not sure what I'd tape)
Wish (I'm either selling this OR Show, cuz the album tracks I like are on both)
Show

Keeping:
Standing On A Beach (or Staring At The Sea, whichever is the CD title)
"Cut Here" (which I have on a blank tape)

Buying:
Galore

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 17 July 2003 19:47 (twenty-two years ago)

If you don't tape "Jupiter Crash", "Trap", "Bare", "Treasure" and "Gone!" off of _WMS_, I will look at you funny.

If you don't tape "The Snakepit", "Catch", "The Kiss", "Like Cockatoos", "All I Want", "Hot Hot Hot!!!", "One More Time", "If Only Tonight We Could Sleep" and "Just Like Heaven" off of _KM^3_, you might be a mentalist.

If you don't tape everything except "Closedown" off of _Disintegration_, you are definitely a mentalist.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 17 July 2003 20:13 (twenty-two years ago)

dude, Gone!, Hot Hot Hot and Just Like Heaven are all on Galore. As are the best stuff on Disintegration.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 17 July 2003 20:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Best stuff on _Disintegration_ = "Prayers For Rain" through "Untitled".

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 17 July 2003 20:42 (twenty-two years ago)

dude, what about Lovesong? It's not that I'm a mentalist. It's that I'm a Pop Nazi (in the fun sense of the word).

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 17 July 2003 20:58 (twenty-two years ago)

"Lovesong" is a fantastic song but I am all about the second half of that album (particularly "Prayers For Rain" and "The Same Deep Water As You").

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 17 July 2003 20:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I will give it a heavy listening JUST FOR YOU when I decide whether or not I'm getting rid of it (which probably won't be for over a year).

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 17 July 2003 21:00 (twenty-two years ago)

YAY

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 17 July 2003 21:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Anthony has heeded Dan's wisdom and avoided sadness.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 17 July 2003 21:46 (twenty-two years ago)

So B-Sides box set in October, I hear + re-issue of entire catalog with extra discs (a la Sonic Youth) next year.. I can't wait for the 'Top' outtakes disc!

― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Friday, 18 July 2003 06:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Anthony, World War was only on the Vinyl version of Boys Dont Cry, which is why you may not have heard it. It was replaced by So What on the cd version as Robert Smith hates World War.

― flowersdie (flowersdie), Friday, 18 July 2003 07:46 (twenty-two years ago)

it's also on the tape version

― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Friday, 18 July 2003 07:52 (twenty-two years ago)

It's also FANTASTIC; RS is a mentalist.

I will probably buy the b-side box set despite owning them all already, as well as all of the reissued discs. (Fabrice, do you have that bootleg of _The Top_ demos? It's FANTASTIC if a little murky and impenetrable.)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 18 July 2003 09:39 (twenty-two years ago)

I heard it a long time ago and sounded indeed pretty great. Given the experimental approach that the Top was based on, the outtakes of these sessions could reveal some interesting gems..
I'm with you on the box set. I won them all but I guess I could justify the purchase by having all the 1978-1985 B-Sides on official CDs, plus maybe some nice liner notes.
The re-issues on the other hand could be fantastic.

― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Friday, 18 July 2003 11:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Are they planning on remastering? I'd love to hear a remastered _Wild Mood Swings_ and see if my opinions on any of the songs changed (for example, there's a lot going on in "Numb" that I like but something in the final product just wears on me).

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 18 July 2003 11:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah I think the plan is to remaster the whole catalog.
I am not sure this will actually make much difference on the 90s releases. But it should do wonders for 'Disintegration' where the sound quality just seems a bit thin given the material (*starts anticipating cranking up the remastered "Prayers for Rain" intro...*)

― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Friday, 18 July 2003 11:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Yus on remastering -- the recent DVD mentioned that everything would be rereleased and remastered (or rather implied it).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 18 July 2003 12:21 (twenty-two years ago)

That was in the interview? I was cleaning while that was on and didn't really pay attention.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 18 July 2003 12:24 (twenty-two years ago)

No no -- check the liner notes! It's printed right there.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 18 July 2003 12:27 (twenty-two years ago)

It was written in the credits. Next to the tracklistings I think, said that all these three albums would be remastered. From what RS's been saying since it seems the whole catalogue will get the treatment

― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Friday, 18 July 2003 12:27 (twenty-two years ago)

"I AM SO FUCKING JEALOUS OF YOU. '82?????"

Ummmm. Is this a good time for my Cure story?

I used to co-produce a fanzine which we called "Grinding Halt" after first hearing the song on John Peel some time in mid 1979 after Killing An Arab / 10:15 but before the first album came out.

We rang (Small Wonder? Fiction?) to try to arrange an interview with the band and eventually were given a 'phone number to ring which was answered by a charming lady who turned out to be Robert Smith's mummy (he was still living at home at the time) who told us that he was still asleep and could we ring back later, which of course we did.

When we met Robert he told us that after we'd rung, his mum had come upstairs to wake him up and tell him we'd rung, and he was so excited that someone had named a fanzine after one of his songs that he spent the next two hours sitting by the 'phone shivering in his jim-jams waiting for us to 'phone back.

Awwww!

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Friday, 18 July 2003 12:47 (twenty-two years ago)

I've got a Gary Numan story too if anyone wants to hear it?

WARNING: Gary Numan fans will NOT want hear it!

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Friday, 18 July 2003 12:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Go on..

― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Friday, 18 July 2003 12:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Heheheh I only needed to be asked once.

This happened very late '77 / early '78.

I was vaguely familiar with Mr Gardiner because he'd appeared at our local (Reading) punk club, Bones, a couple of times playing in a band called Mean Street.

Then one evening he turned up at the local punks pub, The Star (Dr. C and Mark S may remember The infamous Star?), with his hair beautifully bleached and spiky and wearing a lovely shiny black PVC outfit with lots of shiny silver zips on it and announced that his name was "Valeriun" and his new band Tubeway Army were playing at The Roxy a couple of days later which they were expecting some A&R men to attend and he'd organised a coach and free tickets for anyone who wanted to come along....

One of the larger and more deranged local lads, Steve Kinks, looked up from his pint, started at the hapless Numan and growled:
"Your name's WHAT?"
"Errrrr..... Valeriun" squeaked Numan nervously.
"Nah mate" Kinksy reassured him, "your name is Twat. 'Ere everyone, 'ave you met Twat? Twat's in some sort of band! What's the name of your band again Twat?"

A certain amount of hilarity ensued which culminated with "Twat" being carried out of the pub at shoulder height and thrown lightly off of Duke Street bridge into the canal below.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Friday, 18 July 2003 13:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Incidentally Steve Kinks later died of a heroin overdose whereas "Twat" is still maikng records today. Where's the justice in that, eh?

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Friday, 18 July 2003 13:16 (twenty-two years ago)

His last name's Webb, actually, Gardiner was the last name of his bassist. ;-) Good stories both!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 18 July 2003 13:56 (twenty-two years ago)

You're right of course Ned - wasn't Paul Gardiner his Uncle or somthing?

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Friday, 18 July 2003 14:04 (twenty-two years ago)

No you're thinking of his sometime drummer in the earliest days (who was indeed his uncle), can't recall his name. Pity about Paul Gardiner, he too OD'ed on heroin...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 18 July 2003 14:17 (twenty-two years ago)

jess lidyard

― Tad (llamasfur), Friday, 25 July 2003 04:25 (twenty-two years ago)

five months pass...

It wouldn't have been better at all. "Mint Car" is the best track on the album and one of the best things Robert Smith has ever written.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 27 December 2003 14:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Eh, no.

one of the best things Robert Smith has ever written.

That's "Push."

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Saturday, 27 December 2003 15:57 (twenty-one years ago)

The best ever Cure tracks:

1. Let's Go To Bed
2. Friday I'm In Love
3. A Night Like This
4. Just Like Heaven
5. Mint Car

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 28 December 2003 10:57 (twenty-one years ago)

errr...

― Baaderist (Fabfunk), Sunday, 28 December 2003 12:00 (twenty-one years ago)

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