The Cure Album: “Concert: The Cure Live”

For years this CD was near-impossible to find (I listened to my old vinyl version way longer than I should have). BUt now that it is available, get it! The thing that blows me away about this album is how, despite the fact that the Cure had already started down the long, dull road of studio overproduction, synthesizers, horns, mood music, and all of the strange sounds that to me make their 1990s material so flat and dull and whiny, even as late as 1984 on stage they were able to transform the songs into brilliant stripped-down performances with just guitar, bass, drums, and maybe an occasional synthesizer on stage. "The Top" was not exactly one of Cure's better albums, and yet even the tracks from that album are transformed on stage.

The Cure started off as a British late 1970s rock band and as late as 1984 on stage at least they still preserved that sound. My personal favorite is "The Forest." the studio version of that track will forever strike you as flat, shallow, and uninspiring once you here the incredible 7 minute performance Smith et. al. give here. This is one of the greatest Cure records of all. Anyone who likes the early Cure should buy this before buying any other Cure records. This is the one.

For those of us who never got to see the Cure in the early years (in fandom, pre-'86), this is a pretty decent consolation prize. The songs chosen for this live compilation are wonderful, and the performance is incredible. This album is a true, and often-forgotten, Cure classic. In fact, it's a must-own for any fan of early Cure.

I ignore to what degree "Concert" is really a live recording or a mixing deck product but it certainly sets the kind of dark, echoed atmosphere that plenty of bands have looked for and never quite achieved from Bauhaus to Nine Inch Nails. As one of the above reviewers mentioned not only "A Forest" but all of the songs here reach depths that could not be reached in their original albums. If you are curious enough to find this record I am sure that you have heard all the songs already. My personal favorites are the opener "Shake dog shake" because it gets you immediately in the mood. "The Hanging garden" and "100 years" achieve the impossible by sounding even darker than the Pornography originals. "The walk" is a less poppy stronger rendition and of course "A Forest" and "10:15" are given a new flesh and both sound fantastic in this more robust version. In a perverse way the Cure were a great live band. One could stare for hours at those pale figures making all those beautiful noises. Then they became stars and things changed a lot for them but Concert captured them at their darkest most beautiful moment of their careers.

THIS IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAN FOR ME, AT 16 IN 1984, WHEN THIS WAS RELEASED. I WAS SEARCHING FOR NEW MUSIC, STUMBLED UPON THE CASSETTE VERSION ( MORE ABOUT THAT LATER ) OF "CONCERT" AND PLAYED IT TIL THE TAPE LITERALLY HISSED. COMPARING THE VERSIONS OF THE SONGS ON THIS CD TO THE STUDIO VERSIONS IS OFTEN LIKE NIGHT AND DAY. WHAT IS OFTEN MECHANICAL AND HEAVY SOUNDING ON RECORD, IS HERE ROLLICKING, AND YES, GROOVY, AT TIMES. TAKE FOR INSTANCE "CHARLOTTE SOMETIMES". THE ORIGINAL VERSION WAS SLOWER, PLODDING, FULL OF ANGST AND JUST A LITTLE TOO SERIOUS. THE LIVE VERSION HERE MAKES THE SONG AN ALMOST JOYOUS POP OCCASION. AND NO, THAT ISN'T AN ENTIRELY BAD THING. THE BAND HERE IS TOP NOTCH, AND STRIP THE SONGS DOWN TO THEIR BASICS. THE CURE HAD FINALLY GOTTEN A COMPETANT DRUMMER (POOR LOL JUST DIDN'T HAVE ONSTAGE "CHOPS" ) IN ANDY AnDERSON, AND HE IS LIKE THUNDER BEHIND THE KIT. ALL THE SONGS ( ESPECIALLY THE ONES THAT HAD USED WHAT SOUNDS LIKE A DRUM MACHINE ON RECORDS ) BENIFIT GREATLY FROM HIS SKILLS. MY ONE AND ONLY COMPLAINT ABOUT THIS CD IS THAT THEY SHOULD HAVE MADE IT LONGER, BY THE INCLUSION OF THE ORIGINAL CASSETTE B-SDE CALLED "CURIOUSITY". FOR THE UNINITIATED, IT IS A COLLECTION OF THE CURE'S VERY EARLY, SOMETIMES MORE ESOTERIC MATERIAL, ALL OF IT LIVE, TAKEN FROM ROBERT SMITH'S PERSONAL TAPE COLLECTION. OVER THE YEARS, I HAVE BEEN FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO FIND MOST OF IT ON THE INTERNET. BUT AN OFFICIAL RELEASE ON CD WOULD MAKE THIS "CONCERT" WHOLE, AT LEAST FOR ME.