"three imaginary boys" vs. "boy's don't cry"

I don't think World War is on either of those releases.

It comes down to whether you think BDC (the song), Jumping Someone Else's Train, World War (it was on the UK vinyl release, but not the US) and Plastic Passion are better than Foxy Lady, Meathook, So What, Object and It's Not You. It's close, but Foxy Lady and Meathook are pretty dismal IMO, so BDC wins.

When BDC (the album) came out, I already had BDC (the song), Jumping Someone Else's Train and Plastic Passion on singles (as well as 3IB as an album); so for me it came down to whether it was worth forking out import prices for an album, just to get World War.

It wasn't.

And I really rather resented them not making that available to their UK fans in any other form - surely they could have put it as an extra track on the 'B' side of a 12" or something?

Also of course, I'm just far too used to hearing 3IB as it was originally sequenced to be able to make any sort of unbiased comparison.

Digitally Remasterd Albums - The Cure will be releasing remastered versions of their studio albums, starting with Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography. Each will be a 2-cd set, with the 2nd disc containing demos, remixes, and unreleased material. The first 4 were scheduled for release in the US on Aug. 17th, 2004, but have been pushed back again. Look for them before the end of the year.

Keep in mind they were supposed to come out originally in April or something.

"Probably the most bizzare night of The Cure's career, definately the most bizzare 'concert' I have ever attended...but ultimately, it was enjoyable!
Arrived at the venue after some (too) heavy drinking at about 8.45pm, weather was awful it was raining hard but some nice Curefans leant me their umbrella, reinforcing my belief that Curefans are the kindest people on the planet We were let in quite late, felt like we were standing there waiting for almost an hour, but I would imagine it was about 9.30pm by the time we got in. The MTV people were very nice to us, on more than one occasion I was told 'hope you have a good night, enjoy it'. Although many felt they were messed about to get tickets I must say I was impressed by the MTV guys in general so I thank them. After more drinks and a couple of photos in the auditorium we made our way over into where the concert was to take place. As we were on the guestlist we got our hand stamped which meant we were allowed into the very front standing area. Stage set was very gothic, dark, a couple of fake trees all lit up, a swing, black planks of wood which gave the effect of disused buildings or sheds...all infront of a backdrop of 3
larges arches. There was a big screen just to the right of the stage. Really nice set up, and I was in the middle about 3 rows back to enjoy it.

Then the bizarre- The Cure were introduced by Marilyn Manson and came walking down some stairs to big cheers....then they sat down to the left
of the stage (behind the standing area of fans actually) they all looked rather dumfounded, hard to fathom wether Robert was enjoying it haha. It was too dark really to see all their facial expressions. Blink 182 came on first, murdering A Letter To Elise, played like a fast rock song...still we were jumping to it though! Robert was then introduced on stage where he did his duet 'All of This', it was really good to hear it , Robert put alot of emotion into it, eyes closed most of the song. I can't remember too much about the other supposting bands, the effects of the alcohol were still pretty strong, I remember a truly awful Boys Don't Cry by Razorlight and a really excellent powerful If Only Tonight We Could Sleep by Deftones. Just Like Heaven by AFI was ok. Inbetween the bands there were various Cure videos being shown on the screen, we would all be cheering them as they were shown. There were also various interviews but I could not hear anything, the sound wasn't too hot. During these bits I often turned round to try and see what the band were making of it all sat in their chairs, like I say it was just all so bizzare...I'd love to know what Robert was thinking of it all! At one point Marilyn Manson walked over to where Robert was sitting, mumbled something through the mic and got down on one knee and put his arms around Robert! Robert put his arms reluctantly around Marilyn and gave a smile...not sure what was being said but maybe it will be shown on MTV! Weirdest thing i've ever seen lol. Oh and another thing was that when Ross Robinson came on the big screen he was booed by quite a few people, I didn't know what to make of that I have mixed feelings about him.

So now it was main event time and after about 15 mins to get their equipment all set up, The Cure come on to a rapturous reception. The cameras were rolling as they played their new single Taking Off, arms in the air for the 'bit a for it push' line 10:15 was great then there was a slight delay (maybe a commercial break?!) and the Cure were introduced AGAIN before they went into Shake Dog Shake (complete with Shaking Dogs on the big screen, more bizarreness!) Anyway I think this was the proper start to the gig! The best bits of the set were 'End of the world' a great live song, which I never tire of, Jupiter Crash, which was great because it gave us a moment to recover from all the jumping (man it was almost as hot as the Barfly in there) Before Three (a beautiful golden sea shown on the big screens), the one pop moment of the brilliant Bloodflowers, Maybe Someday went down really well. FTEOTDGS really got the crowd going and there were many 'hands in the sky', alt.end was my personal highlight of the night cause it was sung so well by Robert and the rest of the crowd really seemed to love it. One Hundred Years was AWESOME, nothing like hearing this song in a small club type venue. The encore, as I suspected was pure pop, Robert was dancing through Clost to Me and Why Can't I be You? hope this is shown on tv! The Lovecats got the biggest cheer of the night cause even the MTV guys knew this one hehe.
So yeah overall a very very strange event indeed, from Mansons compering to the elaborate gothic stage set to the crappy covers (and better ones
too) - it was almost surreal...Must thank the band for making it memorable and playing that extra hour, made it all worthwhile and it was nice to see them all looking reasonably happy Also thanks alot MTV, everyone was so nice to us, can't wait to watch this madness on tv next month!"

Did the reissue solve all this mess by combining the tracks of both in one package? I've owned the bulk of their catalog on CD for years, and I just can't see myself upgrading for sporadic bonus tracks and such. Same thing with the damn Fall. Argh.

Plz kill yrself.

no killing an arab but otherwise, yes, I think.

Never tried to listen to 3IB until just now. Think I will just stick with BDC at this point.

Boys Don’t Cry is way better!

I remember liking the Boys Don't Cry compilation at the time but am now more interested in the Three Imaginary Boys debut album

Growing up when/where I did, I was able to find Boys Don't Cry a lot easier but I always listened to it as not a "real" album. It's a great representation of their best songs from that early era. But yeah . . . it's a compilation. It's okay to prefer compilations.

To follow up on Blecchs' comment— the first copy of Faith I had was a used cassette version with the album on one side and "Carnage Visors" on the other. That's always how I knew the album Faith. When I finally got a used vinyl copy, it sounded "wrong" to me because of how it ended! So I get preferring the version you grew to love, even if it's not the proper one. Nothing wrong with that, imo.