Three Imaginary Boys

by

The Cure

Edit

There's something about the primitive innocence of early Cure that makes me want to listen to it again and again. As a dyed-n-the-wool Cure fan, I like or at least appreciate nearly everything they do, but this early stuff is really melodic and could potentially appeal to a much bigger crowd than, say, their PORNOGRAPHY album ever could. Sure, one could say the American release of THREE IMAGINARY BOYS (renamed BOYS DON'T CRY) is superior, but Disk 1 presents the album in its original form - that's history, baby! Yes, "Killing An Arab" belongs here, but that song's pretty easy to come by anyway so no biggie. "Plastic Passion" is also missing, but you can get that one on the JOIN THE DOTS B-side collection which is worth getting for the first disk alone (and, of course, there's always downloading..). Obviously, this expanded package is aimed at the die-hard fans, but some of the unreleased tracks on Disk 2 are actually superior to many of the TIB tracks (IMHO). There's a lot of really cool music on Disk 2 that's worth discovering even if you're not a big fan. In addition there's a few well-known singles and some demos that are mostly of interest to the diehards.

The following is a song by song commentary of Disk 2 from an old-school Cure fan (since '85). I've never been dedicated or savvy enough to collect a lot of bootlegs, so for me most of Disk 2 was a thrilling discovery. ---------------------------------------------------->

"I Want To Be Old" (studio demo) - this appropriately cynical song totally rips. Very punk. Robert Smith has said his main influences starting out were The Sex Pistols, The Clash and the Buzzcocks, and that influence is very evident on several Disk 2 tracks including this one. Great sound. *****

"I'm Cold" (studio demo) - many Cure fans are familiar with a slowed-down, wiggy version of this song which served as an early B-side. This is a straight-up version, upbeat and rocking. The lyrics are perfectly clear without the wicked reversed echo heard on the B-side and they're so cool - cold, actually. Guitar wizard Porl Thompson appears on several of these early tracks including this cut. After a falling out with Robert Smith, he later rejoined the band. Great sound on this one. *****

"Heroin Face" (live) - a harsh blast of punked-up energy. Fairly decent but certainly not great sound (I believe it's an audience recording). Those fortunate enough to have a copy of the rare CURIOSITY cassette released back in the day have heard this track. ***1/2

"I Just Need Myself" (studio demo) - Robert Smith quite obviously cops Sex Pistol singer Johnny Rotten's on this cut (as he does on the TIB track "So What"). He even sounds a bit like a sneering Rotten but whinier. Pretty basic rock n' roll with Porl wailing on guitar. I love it. ****

"10:15 Saturday Night" (home demo) - I am so thrilled to have this version. Just a young Robert Smith, home alone on Hammond organ, guitar and drum machine. This version captures the bare essence of the song. Robert sounds so anguished! *****

"The Cocktail Party" (home demo) - an amusing lark with Hawaiian-sounding guitar, poorly recorded but fun. ***1/2

"Grinding Halt" (home demo) - early document, mostly of interest to those who study the band. Not much different from the final studio version, has bad sound. ***

"Boys Don't Cry" (studio demo) - pretty good, straight-up version. A very good pop song (but far from my personal Cure fav). ****

"It's Not You" (studio demo) - cool song, very good version, some different lyrics. ****

"10:15 Saturday Night" (studio demo) - great version, not too different but way cool. *****

"Fire In Cairo" (studio demo) - cool version, slightly grittier sound on the guitars. *****

"Winter" (studio out-take) - this is a great lost track. So soft and dreamy, I can understand why it wasn't included on the debut. A harbinger of more mellow and emotional songs to come from the Cure. *****

"Faded Smiles" aka "I Don't Know" (studio out-take) - another great lost track, this one rocks. ****1/2

"Play With Me" (studio out-take) - wow! yet another great unreleased song, this one has a prickly old-school guitar groove that just works. ****1/2

"World War" (rare album track) - Robert Smith hates this cut and was appalled when label head Chris Perry added it to the original album line-up. If memory serves, this song was on my old BOYS DON'T CRY tape and I've always found its primitive, almost bone-headed approach strangely appealing. It's got a sort of sinister post-apocalyptic feel to it. ****

"Boys Don't Cry" (extra album track) - the (should've been) hit single. Undeniably catchy..and truly great (but again, not my favorite Cure song). ****1/2

"Jumping Someone Else's Train" (extra album track) - This frantic, runaway-train track is one of their best singles. A biting commentary on poseurs. *****

"Subway Song" (live) - previously available on the CURIOSITY tape. An otherworldly sounding, very cool bootleg. ****1/2

"Accuracy" (live) - To my amazement, Smith has claimed this to be one of his favorite Cure songs (although it was back in the 80s when he mentioned this in some interview). I don't share his opinion. "Accuracy" is too "sing-songy" for my tastes. This early bootleg does nothing to change my opinion of it. **1/2

"10:15 Saturday Night" (live) - a totally punked-out, hyper-kinetic blast through "10:15." Quite a vast difference between this one and Robert's home demo, but both of them are absolutely fantastic in their own way. This live version gets into some totally groove-worthy rhythms near the end and reaches a head-spinning climax. A must for Cure fans! *****

UPDATE:

Just for the fun of it, I made my own "alternate reality Cure album" composed of the "new" songs on this disk along with some early B-sides from the JOIN THE DOTS collection. I think it's great and I've been listening to it a lot lately. As someone mentioned elsewhere, "See The Children" is another great early track that should've been included here. Robert Smith probably left it off because it's a song sung from the point of view of a child molester! LOL, I think he had enough headaches from the "Killing An Arab" debacle. But you can hear it on [...] (that popular sight that plays videos).

"SICKNESS"

I Want To Be Old

I'm Cold

I Just Need Myself

Do The Hansa

The Coctail Party

Heroin Face

World War

Plastic Passion

Pillbox Tales

Faded Smiles

Winter

Play With Me

Why can't record labels get it right? We fans have no problem shelling out cash for reissues, but it sure would be nice for them to be worth the money. What's positive? It's great to have all the bonus material, especially to have World War on CD, finally. I no longer have my TIB vinyl, but I believe all the original cover art is reproduced. Now for the bad news:

1. The sound is good, but other than being louder, it's not much of an improvement over my original Three Imaginary Boys or Boys Don't Cry CDs. I'm no golden-eared audiophile, but I've got plenty of other remasters that are noticeably better than the versions they replaced.

2. No Killing an Arab. This is just ridiculous.

3. The cover art colors look horrible. I know it's not a great cover, but heck, they could have at least reproduced the original colors properly.

4. No plastic slipcase like other "Deluxe Edition" reissues. The slipcase is cardboard and will start wearing. Mine came slightly dented because of this.

5. World War is finally on CD... but it's either a different mix from the Boys Don't Cry LP, or there's just absolutely no high end on the tape they used - it's so muddy you can hardly hear the cymbals compared to the vinyl.

6. The faint talking bit from the beginning of "The Weedy Burton" is missing (my player's time seems to skip about 15 seconds between the last two tracks, so this could be a CD indexing problem).

7. The liner notes are a bit skimpy and some are hard to read over the background.

Are these picky issues? You bet they are, but if record companies are constantly going to pump out reissued product, make it worth it for the fans.