The Cure – Disintegration (Re-Imagined)

This weekend was Record Store Day.  The greatest single event created for music fans everywhere.  And for all the haters, they’re just bitter because they didn’t think of it first.  Seriously.  Without Record Store Day, independent record stores would be out of business, not increasing in numbers.  So for any flaws it might have, the positives outweigh the negatives in extremes, as stores are great places to shop from and sometimes they have great lighting thanks to resources from https://commerciallightingcompany.co.uk/

This year, for Record Store Day, there were a few “alternate” versions of popular albums.  The Flaming Lips’ alternate version of “Clouds Taste Metallic” and Fleetwood Mac’s alternate “Tuck” are a couple that come to mind.  This got me thinking.  How can we re-imagine famous albums in a new way? Not necessarily a better way…but a new way.  Like visiting a best friend in a new house or a director’s cut of a great movie.  Are there other ways to enjoy something we already love?

My favorite album of all time is the Cure’s “Disintegration.”  It might be the perfect album.  To me.  It got me thinking…is there a new way to enjoy this album?  Even by merely re-ordering the songs…  Is there a new way to experience it?  I took the 12 songs from the original release.  I included the 4 B-sides and used the extended remixes of the singles in lieu of the current album versions.  With these 16 songs, I ventured out to create a new album.

Immediately, I noticed one very important thing…the order of the songs is as important as the songs themselves.  Here’s something to consider.  If I try to make a 12 song album, using these 16 songs, the possibilities of different albums number in the…get ready for this…billions.  Yes, billions.  There are over 800 billion different ways to order these 16 songs. Eight hundred billion.  This is true. It’s called math.  Permutations, precisely.  Google it.

So, of the 800 billion possible combinations, are there other combinations that work?  The answer is…yes.  Over the course of re-evaluating this album, I discovered two very different paths, creating two polarizing different albums: a dark album…and a light album.  So I have included them for you here.  Disintegration:  The Light and Disintegration: The Dark.  Listen to them both below…and enjoy a new journey into The Cure.  Even songs used in both alternate versions, come across with totally different feels in their new homes. A unique experience that can surely open the door into the listening of other favorite albums.

Trying to stay on par with the original, I have capped the running length under 70 minutes.  Let me know your thoughts…and your own versions.

The Cure Disintegration: The Dark

 

 

The Cure Disintegration:  The Light

 

 

The 11 Best Songs By EMA

This weekend and last weekend, Coachella will reign/reigned supreme.  It’s the yearly sabbatical to spend three days in the hot sweltering dessert with overpriced water, lots of dirt, while networking with people you wouldn’t normally sit next to in a Starbucks.  The only reason anyone deals with it is for the over-inflated line-up of everyone’s favorite band of the moment.  I mean, does anyone listen to music from last year’s line-up?  Phoenix?  Vampire Weekend?  They are so…last year.  I have never been to Coachella.  I would like to go once in my life.  I’m waiting for the Smiths to reunite for the show…or at least Jellyfish before I make the $400 plunge.  I grew on the original Lollapalooza.  I’ve had my fair share of summers days spent around mountains of dirt just so I could get close to Layne Staley or Les Claypool (ask your parents).  But Coachella has done something bold that Lollapalooza has never done.  It’s something so daring, it makes we want to go to the show out of appreciation for their generosity.  They stream the entire show…online…live…and for free.  No other organization out there would think of streaming the concert…and if they did it…they’d never do it live…and absolutely never for free.  But Coachella has created a new standard and dared every other festival concert to do better.  I spent the whole weekend watching some of the best live performances I’ve seen in a long time.  Empire of the Sun, Foster The People, MGMT, Pharrell, Nas, The Pixies and Skrillex all gave me a private show in the comfort of my own home.  Thanks Coachella!  And if you have to go vegan to get Morrissey to play…I’m good with that.  I’ll pack my hamburger to go.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By EMA:

  1. Grey Ship (Past Life Martyred Saints)
  2. Angelo (Marked)
  3. Red Star (Past Life Martyred Saints)
  4. Soul On Fire (Soul On Fire)
  5. Breakfast (Past Life Martyred Saints)
  6. Kind Heart (The Grey Ship)
  7. Take One Two (Take One Two)
  8. Anteroom (Past Life Martyred Saints)
  9. Marked (Past Life Martyred Saints)
  10. Cowboy (Little Sketches On Tape)
  11. California (Past Life Martyred Saints)

Buy EMA’s new album, The Future’s Void…now!!!

The 11 Best Bands Who Have Never Played Coachella

There’s something sadly thrilling about getting to sit in front of my computer and watch Coachells unfold before me without paying hundreds of dollars, enduring crazy temperatures, dust, dirt, and douche bags.  Right now I’m flipping back and forth between New Order and Phoenix.  I couldn’t do that at the festival…I would have to choose…currently, I’m winning.  Because at home, I get both.

While enjoying Coachella from the comfort of my home, I started to realize how many bands have never played the festival…some that I’m actually shocked.  Some I thought for sure had played only to find out they had never made the journey to Indio. (Journey being one of them)  Below is a list of the best bands that have never played Coachella.  I have only chosen bands that are still together.  Reunions…well, that’s really for another list…so, check in tomorrow for that list.

Here are the 11 Best Bands Who Have Never Played Coachella & Should (that are still together):

  1. U2
  2. Pearl Jam
  3. Ryan Adams
  4. Fiona Apple
  5. Tori Amos
  6. Royksopp
  7. Iron & Wine
  8. Burial
  9. Morcheeba
  10. Sufjan Stevens
  11. Garbage