The Cure Album: “The End of the World [Maxi Single]”

Some of you might not know that The Cure's latest (and self-titled album) includes extra tracks outside of North America; there are 2 extra ones in the UK and 3 extra ones in Japan, while the vinyl has 4 extra tracks. What is so surprising for a single is that these songs are better than a lot of the songs on the album, and there was disagreement between the singer, who picked the scarce 11 song tracklist for North America when pressured by Geffen, and the producer and bandmates who wanted the 14 or 15 track version released. "Fake" and "This Morning" are fantastic and would have made the North American release better; actually "This Morning" is available only on the vinly version. They're not poppy, but more sombre yet passionate without being hard. Poppy and hard are the two sides of the band the album was mostly designed to convey. Yet The Cure's wistful side is, I think, its best. If you like songs like Homesick or Last Dance off of "Disintegration" or Apart from "Wish", you'll like this. This is the only single I've ever heard of that actually is an extension of the album instead of sounding like left-overs. A great buy.

Some copies will have a strange glitch beginning at 1:30 in The End of the World...you will hear nothing but a garbled mess of noise.

I was horrified since I had my system quite loud...but the b-sides that came later quickly made up for it. Like the others, the b-sides on this disc are superior to the songs offered on the Cure album. If their latest album dissapointed you, get this single right away...you will quickly discover that Robert has still got it in him.

I'll keep this brief since it's only a 3 track disc. Basically if you have the "Join The Dots" B-side boxset, you know the Cure make some great B-sides, which in many cases are better than the album tracks. The End of the World is no exception; both bonus tracks would have been great on the Cure's last album. Another reviewer mentioned that a double album would have been appropriate--actually that was Robert Smith's original intention, to have one disc of upbeat tunes and one disc of downers. If you listen to all of the tracks from the last session, you can figure out how the double album might have sounded. Personally I like their down tracks more but the schizophrenic balance of happy & melancholy is what makes the Cure so unique. Anyway, if you are a Cure fan, a real Cure fan, then the two bonus tracks are a bargain at only a few dollars. If you only like their radio pop hits then you might want to stick with Galore or Staring At The Sea, but if that were the case you probably wouldn't be looking at this single in the first place.

Simply put, "This Morning" is one of the most terrifically sad and intense Cure songs EVER. Everything about this track just screams anger, confusion, and sadness. Buy this single, if only for that track... "Fake" is also a great song, sort of about how you can't have cake and eat it too. Robert Smith is a genius.

For me, this is the best single in the 'jason-era'. All songs are well mixed and pleasant to hear.

The end of the world is a good pop song and I recommend you to watch the official video as is probably one of the most interesting Cure videos in the last 15 years.

I like "This Morning" specially for how good the instruments sound.

"Fake" is one of the best b-sides released in the last years, almost reminding me to the ones of the Wish era, with those ambient & percussion background sounds but the drum sound still leaves much to be desired. Fake is the best song and the reason I purchased this CD.

In conclusion, I recommend this single to fans and non-Cure fans.