"Original Album Series" by MANFRED MANN and PAUL JONES – Four Band Albums and One Solo Studio Album Issued 1964 to 1967 in Mono and Stereo (Mostly Stereo Used For CDs) - Featuring Manfred Mann, Paul Jones, Mike Vickers, Tom McGuinness and Mike Hugg (August 2014 EU-UK Parlophone/Warner Brothers 5CD Capacity Wallet With Mini LP Repro Artwork Card Sleeves with Mostly Stereo and Some Mono Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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This Review And Many More Like It 

Available In my Kindle e-Book (June 2022 Version)

 

LOOKING AFTER NO. 1 

Volume 2 of 2 - M to Z...

 

Your All-Genres Guide To

Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters 
For Music from 1956 to 1986

Over 1,760 E-Pages of In-Depth Information
240 Reviews From The Discs Themselves

No Cut and Paste Crap...

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"...Pretty Flamingo..."

 

There's a lot of really great Sixties British Rhythm and Blues on offer here and much of it remastered in Stereo too. And you can sequence both variants of their fantastic 1964 debut album - "The Five Faces Of..." (UK) and "The Manfred Mann Album" (USA) - by using two of the discs in this 5CD set of Remasters. Unfortunately, there are clunkers too. To the Pretty (and not so pretty) Flamingos...

 

UK/EU released August 2014 - "Original Album Series" by MANFRED MANN and PAUL JONES on Parlophone/Warner Brothers 2564628529 (Barcode 825646285297) is a 5CD Card Capacity Wallet of Stereo and Mono Remasters in Mini LP Repro Artwork Card Sleeves for Albums released between 1964 and 1967. It plays out as follows...

 

CD1 "The Five Faces Of Manfred Mann" (39:18 minutes):

1. Smokestack Lightning [Side 1]

2. Don't Ask Me What I Say

3. Sack O'Woe

4. What You Gonna Do?

5. Hoochie Coochie

6. I'm Your Kingpin

7. Down The Road Apiece

8. I've Got My Mojo Working [Side 2]

9. It's Gonna Work Out Fine

10. Untie Me

11. Mr. Anello

12. Bring It To Jerome

13. Without You

14. You've Got To Take It

Tracks 1 to 14 are their British debut album "The Five Faces Of Manfred Mann" – released 11 September 1964 in the UK on His Masters Voice CLP 1731 (Mono) and CSD 1539 (Stereo). The STEREO MIX Remaster is used.

 

In the USA, their debut LP was called "The Manfred Mann Album" and issued 17 September 1964 (a week after the UK) on Ascot AM 13015 in Mono and ALS 16015 in Stereo. It had different artwork, 12 songs instead of 14 and included the big hit "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" opening Side 1, which was not on the British LP. Using both CD1 and one song from CD3 "Mann Made Hits", you can sequence the "The Manfred Mann Album" 12-song variant by using the following [3/7] = CD3, Track 7, [1/2] = CD1, Track 2 etc

 

Side 1:

1. Do Wah Diddy Diddy [3/7]

2. Don't Ask Me What I Say [1/2]

3. Sack O'Woe [1/3]

4. What You Gonna Do? [1/4]

5. I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man [1/5]

6. Smokestack Lightning [1/1]

Side 2:

1. Got My Mojo Working [1/8]

2. It's Gonna Work Out Fine [1/9]

3. Down The Road Apiece [1/7]

4. Untie Me [1/11]

5. Bring It To Jerome [1/12]

6. Without You [1/13]

 

NOTE: In March 1965, the USA finally saw an LP released called "The Five Faces Of Manfred Mann" on Ascot ALM 13018 (Mono) and Ascot ALS 16018 (Stereo) with unique US artwork – but this is not to be confused with the British debut of the same name. Only two songs from the British 1964 LP remained – "Did You Have To Do That" and "You've Got To Take It" – four others were from the "Mann Made Hits" LP – "Sha-La-La", "Come Tomorrow", "John Hardy" and "Groovin'" – whilst the other six tracks were new and are not covered by any disc in this box set.

 

CD2 "Mann Made" (39:59 minutes):

1. Since I Don't Have You [Side 1]

2. You're For Me 

3. Look Away 

4. The Abominable Snowmann

5. Watch Your Step 

6. Stormy Monday Blues 

7. I Really Do Believe

8. Hi Lili, Hi Lo [Side 2]

9. The Way You Do The Things You Do 

10. Bare Hugg 

11. You Don't Know Me

12. L.S.D. 

13. I'll Make It Up To You 

Tracks 1 to 13 are second studio album "Mann Made" – released October 1965 in the UK on HMV Records CLP 1911 (Mono) and CSD 1628 (Stereo) – Ascot ALM 13024 (Mono) and ALS 16204 (Stereo) in the USA with the same tracks - the STEREO MIX is used for this CD.

 

CD3 "Mann Made Hits" (38:09 minutes):

1. Pretty Flamingo [Side 1]

2. The One In The Middle 

3. Oh No, Not My Baby 

4. John Hardy 

5. Spirit Feel 

6. Come Tomorrow 

7. Do Wah Diddy Diddy 

8. There's No Living Without Your Loving [Side 2]

9. With God On Our Side 

10. Groovin' 

11. I'm Your Kingpin 

12. Sha La La 

13. 5,4,3,2, 1 

14. If You Gotta Go, Go Now

Tracks 1 to 14 are their first compilation album "Mann Made Hits" (credited to Manfred Mann and Paul Jones) – released September 1966 in the UK on HMV Records CLP 3559 (Mono) and CSD 1539 (Stereo) – no US equivalent - a mixture of both MONO and STEREO MIXES are used for this CD.

 

CD4 "Soul Of Mann (Instrumentals)" (39:02 minutes):

1. The Abominable Snowmann [Side 1]

2. I Got You Babe 

3. Bare Hugg 

4. Spirit Feel 

5. Why Should We Not 

6. L.S.D. 

7. (I Can't get No) Satisfaction 

8. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemenn [Side 2]

9. My Generation 

10. Mr. Anello 

11. Still I'm Sad 

12. Tengo, Tango

13. Brother Jack 

14. Sack O'Woe

Tracks 1 to 14 are their fifth compilation album "Soul Of Mann" (all Instrumentals) – released January 1967 in the UK on HMV Records CLP 3594 (Mono) and CSD 3594 (Stereo) – the MONO MIX is used for this CD

 

CD5 "My Way" (33:45 minutes):

1. My Way [Side 1]

2. Lady Godiva

3. It Is Coming Closer

4. I Can't Hold On Much Longer

5. Baby Tomorrow

6. You've Got Too Much Going For You, Girl

7. Very, Very Funny [Side 2]

8. High Time

9. She Needs Company

10. When My Little Girl Is Smiling

11. Wait 'Til Morning Comes

12. I Can't Break The News To Myself

Tracks 1 to 12 are the PAUL JONES debut solo album "My Way" – released December 1966 in the UK on HMV Records CLP 3586 (Mono) and CSD 3586 (Stereo) – no US version - the STEREO MIX is used for this CD.

These capacity wallets all look the same - in this case five Mini LP card sleeves approximating the original artwork of the British LPs - four in STEREO with "Soul Of Mann" being the odd-one-out for being in MONO. There is no annotation but they are very clear Remasters stretching back to 1997 when they were done at Abbey Road. But fans of the band will quickly work out that this run is not their very best - the Paul Jones' dreadful saccarhine "My Way" LP in particular letting proceedings down a lot. To the music...

 

In British or American form, the Mann's debut LP "The Five Faces Of Manfred Mann" is a wee corker of a 60ts album that stamps their R&B credentials firmly on your lugholes. You can feel their young enthusiasm and even awe as they hammer through Howlin' Wolf's "Smokestack Lightning" (Jones trying to ape that famous growl). The Willie Dixon-penned Muddy Waters Chess Blues masterpiece "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" (here shortened to "Hoochie Coochie" but given the full spelling on the American Ascot Records copies) gets a go-around as does Morgan McKinleyfield's "I've Got My Mojo Working" over on Side 2 - a frantic-paced dancer liable to wake up any wake. We should also state that the second "Smokestack Lightning" comes sailing out of your speakers in GLORIOUS STEREO - the Audio is fantastic - muscular and amplifying the musical chops of these rivals to the authenticity of The Rolling Stones. 

They tackle Nat Adderley's "Sack O'Woe" instrumental with aplomb - kick-ass Saxophone, Harmonica, Piano and Vibes doing battle against a ferocious rhythm section back-beat. Train-kept-a-rollin' boogie comes piano dancing into your man-cave for "Down The Road Apiece" - a rib-removing hipshaker originally penned by Don Raye. For the first time on the LP, the Manfred's get mellow over on Side 2 with their take on Ike & Tina Turner's "It's Gonna Work Out Fine". They also do a shockingly Soulful take on Joe South's "Untie Me" - gorgeous Stereo again. But genius choice has to be "Bring It To Jerome" - a Bo Diddley cover that first appeared on his 1958 "Bo Diddley" debut LP on Chess Records. Written by American Percussionist Jerome Green, he would have a long and fruitful songwriting relationship with the Bo Diddley Daddy himself - Elias McDaniel. 

 

Not to be totally outdone by American Blues and Rhythm 'n' Blues giants -  Paul Jones throws in some super cool boppin' R&B with his hand-clapping whistle-blowing dancer "Don't Ask Me What I Say" - a track I suspect fills Mann lovers with aging pride. Great menace too in "What You Gonna Do?" - a co-write for Paul Jones with Manfred Mann and again that lethal combo of his Harmonica with that so-60ts organ sound. Tail-ending a perfect 60ts R&B Side 1 is "I'm Your Kingpin" - another Jones-Mann co-write with gorgeous Stereo - Vibes plinging, Saxophone wailing, Jones great phrasing and vocals. 

 

All five are listed as writers in the let's-have-a-party "Mr. Anello" - a great instrumental that was left off their American Debut LP "The Manfred Mann Album". And although it might court controversy among Jethro Tull fans, but that Flute Solo in the Paul Jones-penned "Without You" could easily be the starting point for their whole sound - a precursor to "This Was" in 1968 only four years earlier? And how you wish a rocking track like "You've Got To Take It" (shades of Prog even in its soundscape) was on his reaching-for-Tom-Jones "My Way" album of 1966. 

 

To sum up "The Five Faces Of Manfred Mann" is a fantastic debut album for 1964, but for me what lifts it into the sexy sonic stratosphere is the STEREO MIX that's on offer here. 

 

Their second album "Mann Made" had been a year on from the debut (September 1964 to October 1965) and as Tom McGuinness prodded on the rear-sleeve liner notes "...we hope we've progressed..." Well, their rather sappy cover of The Skyliners' "Since I Don't Have You" sounds like a step back to be truthful from the sheer R&B joy of "The Five Faces..." debut album. Better is the jazzy-saxophone Georgie Fame mod anthem feel to "You For Me" - a Mike Vickers original. Under the umbrella of twin pseudonyms - Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns penned "Look Away" - another neither-here-nor-there Pop tune that somehow feels dangerously in-between progress and regression. 

 

Things improve with the Ray Charles slink of "The Abominable Snowmann" - another Mick Vickers original instrumental with a deliberately two-nn'd snowman in its title. Speaking of Ray Charles, his "What I'd Say" haunts the funky keyboard driven "Watch Your Step" - the Manfred's covering Little Bobby Parker's from 1961 (originally on V-Tone Records 223). Very cool Bluesy take then on Billy Eckstine's fabulous "Stormy Monday Blues" - Jones giving it some "I'm gonna pray a little..." before he goes into a great Harmonica solo. They end Side 1 on Jones' own "I Really Do Believe" - a yes-I-do-believe-it bopper that sees them still R&B-ing the shit out of everything. 

Side 2 opens with a bird singing in a tree on "Hi Lili, Hi Lo" - a dreadful running on empty ditty that's best forgotten. Things improve only marginally with Smokey Robinson's "The Way You Do The Things You Do", but not for the first time, it feels like they are already going through the motions. Mike Hugg gives it some Flute and Vibes slink on "Bare Hugg" - a Jazzy Lounge Lizard instrumental that might have turned up on some "Goldfinger" James Bond pastiche album. Things dip into the woeful again with "You Don't Know Me" - Jones killing this famous ballad with a vocal that just doesn't work (gorgeous audio though). Tom McGuinness plunders some Chess Records R&B groove for his supposedly self-penned "L.S.D." - a clever set of lyrics talking about money and loving you much too well. A patchy album ends on a ballad "I'll Make It Up To You" - gorgeous audio and a cool Harmonica solo just about saving its sorry ass.

The artwork to "Mann Made Hits" (their first compilation LP) clearly states Mono/Stereo without telling you which track is which. Opening with a Mono "Pretty Flamingo" (such a lovely song) - that is quickly followed by the crude Stereo separation of "The One In The Middle" – Jones going all Doors debut as he slags off his own boyish good looks in a tune that name-checks members of the band. They then take a shot at the Maxine Brown classic "Oh No, Not My Baby" with half-successful results – the just-wrong faster tempo and his R&B-suited voice not nearly soulful enough for a very soulful song.

"John Hardy" doesn't impress much either and their already Prog-Rock leanings are evident in the sexy stereo of "Spirit Feel" – a blatant Jazz soloing instrumental that wouldn't be out of place on a Blue Note album of the period (cool tune though). "Come Tomorrow" is forgettable ballad cack, Side 1 ending on something altogether better – their catchy-as-a-cold "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" number 1.

Side 2 of "Mann Made Hits" opens with the melodrama of "There's No Living Without Your Loving" – girly backing vocals making you feel you could quite easily live without this period naff. They try to sound like they have relevance by doing spokesperson Dylan on "With God On My Side" – a good Stereo stab and a different vibe for the band. A frantic-paced "Groovin'" tries hard, but the older "I'm Your Kingpin" sounds much more in keeping. They rush into 1964 Pop with two Mono boppers - "Sha La La" and "5, 4, 3, 2, 1" - finally ending with a Stereo Dylan ballad in "If You Gotta Go, Go Now" – by far the best cover version on the album. To sum up, "Mann Made Hits" is good without ever being great and the mixture of dead Mono against the alive Stereo doesn't help much either, but there's still much to enjoy. 

You wouldn't think an entire album of instrumentals would make for a cool Manfred Mann listening experience - but "Soul Of Mann..." surprises - even if the audio is compromised to my ears being in MONO. You can just hear the coolsville of "The Abominable Snowmann" featuring in some Mad Men episode where Don Draper shimmies across an off-Broadway showgirl's NYC crash pad. Their cover of Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe" is good too, but not as schmooze as the Lounge Lizard that is "Bare Hugg". Not for the first time does a manic Georgie Fame Jazz Band vibe creep into the album - "Spirit Feel" letting all the solos shine. 

New comes in the Saxophone and Shaker rhythms of "Why Should We Not" - a Manfred Mann original that adds in Organ and echoed Harmonica passages as it Running Bear's its way around your speakers. What's this - vocals on the supposed instrumental version of "L.S.D." - someone not quite paying attention to the LP's raison detre. Fuzz-Guitar freaks will dig the hey-hey-hey take of The Rolling Stones "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" - a version I'm torn between seeing as genius and travesty. 

Bizarre-o follows with the seriously naff Good King Wencer of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemenn" - a Vibes version of a Christmas classic old Rudolph has put a cease and desist order on. And again - as with "...Satisfaction" - the Manfred's version of The Who's anthemic "My Generation" as a Jazz Vibes dance-along will probably both appal and enthral in equal measure.  . And on it goes. And the less said about the reaching for Tom Jones solo album "My Way" by Paul Jones the better - a really bad bid for Pop Pretty Boy stardom. 

So "Original Album Series" isn't wall-to-wall genius for sure, but there are enough goodies to Mann by Manfred musical turrets any day of the week...

"Speak And Spell" by DEPECHE MODE – October 1981 UK Debut Album on Mute Records featuring Dave Gahan, Vince Clarke, Andy Fletcher and Martin Gore (March 2009 UK Mute 'CD + DVD Collectors Edition' Reissue with Kevin Van Bergen and Simon Heyworth Remasters and 5.1 Remixes) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

This Review Along With 240 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

LOOKING AFTER NO. 1

Debut Albums 1956 to 1986

Volume 1 of 2 

Artists from A to L...

 

Your All-Genres Guide To

Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters  

A Huge 1,760+ E-Pages 

All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs 

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

Just Click Below To Purchase

 

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"...Just Can't Get Enough..."

 

I worked for about a year in a huge Mail Order Company called Quickstep (named after a Thompson Twins track) who used to run up to 10 whole pages of line-by-line adverts in the old style Record Collector magazine. This would have been around 1990 and 1991 and they had HUGE artists with legions of collectors for them. Quickstep was your first stop for a multiple formats fix.

 

There was the Pet Shop Boys of course, Madonna, New Kids On The Block and even Bros where every seven-inch, twelve-inch, picture-disc, remix and foreign artwork picture sleeve (that was different) was devoured. But the Big Daddy of all collectable bands at that time - especially in the Electronica and Synth Rock fields - was Basildon's DEPECHE MODE.

 

Like Island Records' U2, Mute's DM were and still are to a large degree the very definition of cult and the band's devotees beyond the pale of looneytunes. I have never met a genuine DM fan that didn't actually froth at the mouth with excitement at the mere mention of their name or a flash of Dave Gahan's pearly whites (his underpants came later).

 

Right from the get go and in accordance with the Satanic Manuel of Debaucherous Allegiance (you can order a copy at a library near you) - Depeche Mode Fans had to have everything their pimple-faced heroes did and Hammersmith's Mute Records knew it. "Just Can't Get Enough" wasn't just a No. 8 Top-Ten Indie hit in September 1981 - it was actually a statement of intent as far as disciples of Depeche Mode were concerned. 

 

Which brings us to the start of all that mania, the pre excess-all-areas years. Their October 1981 debut album "Speak And Spell" is eons away from what DM became with "Violator" (1990), "Songs Of Faith And Devotion" (1993) and "Ultra" (1997) - the last two hitting the number one spot with ease whilst "Violator" and its notorious aftermath tour was a mere number two. Re-hearing this Eighties Synth and Electronica LP reminds me of Top Of The Pops and how Depeche were always thrown in with the New Romantics - essentially any Rock Band with a man standing behind a Synth (a term Daniel Miller flatly denies in his superb liner notes, he calls them futurists). For God's sake, 1981 hit its 40th Anniversary last year, 2021. Can it really have been that far back, and how young were we then? And where did all that hairspray go? And I wish I hadn't ripped down all those posters from the walls – they'd be worth dosh now...

 

But more importantly, let's call "Speak And Spell" what it is – a cracking Pop start chockers with chunes as hooky as carpet nail tacks - even if it does sounds a tad naïve now in the cold light of 2022. Time to plot out this multi-format reissue...

 

UK released 16 March 2009 - "Speak And Spell" by DEPECHE MODE on Mute DMCDX1 (Barcode 5099969432521) is a CD + DVD Collectors Edition Reissue and Remaster with Documentary Material and 5.1 Surround Sound Remixes (DVD) that plays out as follows:

 

CD (43:45 minutes):

1. New Life [Side 1]

2. I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead 

3. Puppets

4. Boyssaygo!

5. Nodisco

6. What's Your Name?

7. Photographic [Side 2]

8. Tora! Tora! Tora!

9. Big Muff 

10. Any Second Now (Voices)

11. Just Can't Get Enough 

12. Dreaming Of Me 

Tracks 1 to 11 are their debut album "Speak And Spell" - released 5 October 1981 in the UK on Mute Records STUMM 5.

CD NOTES: The American LP on Sire Records SRK 3642 (same release date) replaced "I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead" (Track 3) with "Dreaming Of Me" - hence its inclusion here as Track 12 (the Single Mix at 4:01 minutes that doesn't fade out). Also, most US copies of the LP carried the Schizo Mix of "Just Can't Get Enough" at 6:44 minutes compared to the UK LP version of 3:44 minutes without the packaging saying this. So the Schizo Mix is included also, but only on the DVD-Audio Disc.

 

DVD 

A SHORT FILM 

1. Depeche Mode: 1980-1981 (Do We Really Have To Give Up Our Day Jobs?)

28:24 minute film Directed by Phillip Michael Lane and Ross Hallard  

 

SPEAK AND SPELL ALBUM in 5.1 and STEREO 

Tracks 2 to 13 are per line-up of the CD

 

ADDITIONAL TRACKS 

14. Ice Machine (released March 1981, Non-LP B-side of their debut UK 45-single "Dreaming Of Me" on Mute 013)

15. Shout (released June 1981, Non-LP B-side of their second UK 45-single "New Life" on Mute 014)

16. Any Second Now (released September 1981, Non-LP B-side of their third UK 45-single "Just Can't Get Enough" on Mute 016) 

17. Just Can't Get Enough (Schizo Mix) - on US LPs (see Notes above)

DVD NOTES: 

A Short Film in PCM Stereo
Speak And Spell in 5.1 and Stereo: DTS 5.1 (24bit/96k) / Dolby Digital 5.1 (24bit/48k) / PCM Stereo
Additional Tracks: DTS 5.1 (24bit/96k) / Dolby Digital 5.1 (24bit/48k) / PCM Stereo

The foldout card digipak is pretty without being a whole lot more, but at least Mute Records label found DANIEL MILLER does a properly thorough job of describing those years of 1980 and 1981 when he first saw the band live and took them on without lawyers and contracts. The black and white photos of the young band in shirts and ties and on boats and in parks with wooden crosses are a hoot and its cool to see the lyrics too.

 

Miller is quite rightly proud of his judgement back in the day. The buzz around Depeche Mode was rewarded right from the horse's gates and everything they've done ever since has been gold for Mute (Miller sold to EMI in 2002). Mute have had Yazoo, Erasure, New Order, Goldfrapp, Nick Cave and many more, but the label will forever be the spiritual home of Depeche Mode (Vince Clarke would form another synth-based group Yazoo with the superlative singer Alison Moyet shortly after leaving DM and go on to have huge success with them and the short-lived group The Assembly). 

KEVIN VAN BERGEN and SIMON HEYWORTH did the Remasters and 5.1 Remixes for the DVD-A from original tapes - clean, ballsy and bright like a new bulb. I'm kind of amazed though that this Collectors Edition Reissue only puts the B-sides on the DVD disc? Everyone whose anyone who lived through the 90s promo-only 12" single craze knows there are remixes of remixes of Mute tracks and yet not one has shown up as a genuine collector's bonus on the CD? To be milked at a later date fans will no doubt fear? 

Still a cool reminder and I'm damned if I didn't bop around my living room re-hearing "New Life" - what a hoot...

"Three Imaginary Boys" by THE CURE - May 1979 UK Debut Album on Fiction Records featuring Robert Smith, Michael Dempsey and Lol Tolhurst (September 2005 UK Polydor/Fiction 1CD Reissue - First Issued November 2004 as a 2CD Deluxe Edition - This Is The Single Disc Reissue Without Any Bonuses and A Lesser Booklet - Chris Blair Remaster at Abbey Road) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

This Review Along With 240 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

LOOKING AFTER NO. 1

Debut Albums 1956 to 1986

Volume 1 of 2

Artists from A to L...

 

Your All-Genres Guide To

Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters  

A Huge 1,750+ E-Pages 

All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs 

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

Just Click Below To Purchase

 

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"...10:15 Saturday Night..." 

 

I'd honestly forgotten just how overtly Punk and even Rock 'n' Roll snotty "Three Imaginary Boys" was/is - The Cure's May 1979 debut album in Blighty. I'm reminded too of Joe Jackson's "Look Sharp!" debut sound-and-anger-wise and the economy of The Police's starter "Outlandos De Amour" - in - out - do the flick-guitar business - and then leave. And the Remaster on this bad boy only emphasizes this so much. 

What you have here is the single-disc CD reissue/remastered version of September 2005 - in other words CD1 of the November 2004 Deluxe Edition 2CD Set minus any bonuses and a lesser booklet (8-pages). Real fans will have to have the double, but for those of us who just want a kick-ass version without seeking funding from pyramid schemes - this is the sucker - a really great Chris Blair Remaster done at Abbey Road Studios overseen by Cure main-man Robert Smith. Once more unto those Crawley Saturday Nights and suspect haircuts...

EU/UK released 5 September 2005 - "Three Imaginary Boys" by THE CURE on Polydor/Fiction 982182-9 (Barcode 602498218297) is a straightforward CD Reissue and Remaster (no Bonuses) that plays out as follows (35:46 minutes):

1. 10:15 Saturday Night [Side 1]

2. Accuracy 

3. Grinding Halt 

4. Another Day 

5. Object 

6. Subway Song 

7. Foxy Lady [Side 2]

8. Meathook 

9. So What 

10. Fire In Camp 

11. It's Not You 

12. Three Imaginary Boys 

13. The Weedy Burton 

Tracks 1 to 13 are their debut album "Three Imaginary Boys" - released May 1979 in the UK on Fiction Records FIX 1. Ending Side 2, "The Weedy Button" is a 53-second ramshackle instrumental that wasn't credited on the original artwork, but is given a mention on the 2CD Deluxe Edition. Here it is spaced in the track list above, identifying it as separate from the LP. Produced by CHRIS PARRY - it peaked on the UK LP charts at No. 44. THE CURE was: Robert Smith - Lead Vocals and Guitar, Robert Dempsey - Bass Guitar and Lead Vocals on "Foxy Lady" only with Lol Tolhurst on Drums. 

 

AMERICA Debut Album:

The 13-Track British configuration Of "Three Imaginary Boys" wasn't issued in the USA on LP, but instead they got something similar called "Boys Don't Cry" in February 1980. Fans and databases consider this to be a different album because the changes were so profound. The American "Boys Don't Cry" LP (complete with different artwork) retained eight of the UK LP songs, dropped four and "The Weedy Burton" hidden cut. They were replaced with "Jumping Someone Else's Train", "Boys Don't Try", "Plastic Passion" and "Killing An Arab". It won't take a genius to work out that with a wee bit of effort, this single CD could have upped the booklet with the US artwork included and had those four cuts tagged on here as genuine Bonuses so fans could sequence both variants - but alas. Let's deal with what we do have...

The 8-page booklet gives you two pages of credits - the original 1979 album that launched Fiction Records and the 2005 CD Reissue - itself based on the 2004 Deluxe Edition that had preceded it. The following pages print the lyrics amidst period photos of the trio (looking so young) and the images on the rear sleeve including a small shot of the Pyramid/Oasis painting that was used for the American "Boys Don't Cry" front cover artwork. There are no new liners which given its importance (and greatness for that matter) instantly feels like a mistake and letdown. What is not a bummer however is the super-crisp CHRIS BLAIR Remaster done from Original Master Tapes at the famous Abbey Road Studios. What a broadside - and it's rare that I say this, but maybe even a tad too clean in places.

Right from the clarity of "10:15 Saturday Night" and on to "Accuracy" - the sparse Post Punk vibe is startling. No food, no people, no clocks - everything coming to a grinding halt - "Grinding Halt" just makes you want to pogo around the room and dress-up in age-inappropriate outfits that made you Mum blush. As just as you're settling in nicely to the mullet melancholy, up spits "Object" - an echoed rocker that snarls contemptuous at her sophisticated smile (love those guitar chords just before the 1:45 mark).

 

And you just have to love the sheer melodiousness of "Another Day" - Drums, Bass and Jangling Guitar - the sun rising slowly, the eastern sky growing cold, shades of grey as something holds our Bob hypnotized. And who would have thought that The Cure could make a Hendrix cover version sound like one of their better songs - but that's precisely what they do to Hendrix's "Foxy Lady". Dempsey takes the lead vocals (the only one on the album in which he does) and its preceded by some vocal messing about in the studio - but it rocks and still sounds so fresh even in 2022. 

They go Police bop-hit with the Andy Summers guitar of "Meathook", punchy Bass

too aiding Robert Smith as he repeats those echoed words. The British Punk and New Wave attitude continues with the very Clash does Reggae sounding "So What" - a gnarly brute that still impresses. "Fire In Cairo" softens things a little - mirrors with heads in faded light - love that cool guitar flick and her solar lips (take me in your arms and let's burn). "It's Not You" could have been the 45 - a snotty and cool little rebel pumping out of your speakers - questions you never wanted to hear. Brilliant wee tune, could have given The Damned a run for their "New Rose" money in my books. It comes to an end with RS staring at nothing, waiting for a tomorrow that never comes, our Bobby hearing his heartbeat echoing around his head in the LP's official finisher "Three Imaginary Boys". The less said about the 53-seconds of nonsense that is "The Weedy Button" the better. 

The Cure would issue "Boy's Don't Cry" b/w "Plastic Passion" in May 1979 as a stand-alone British 45 and follow that with the equally cool combo of "Jumping Someone Else's Train" b/w I'm Cold in October 1979 (FICS 002 and FICS 005 respectively). But it would take the one after the next one - "A Forest" in May 1980 on Fiction FICS 10 - to finally kick start their staggering singles chart run career. 

 

But "Three Imaginary Boys" is the unadorned Cure, the less self-conscious Fiction starter, an accessible British New Wave album bristling with tunes and dare we even say it - hope and glory. 

 

Like I said at the beginning, I'd forgotten about TIB and I'm so glad I made its re-acquaintance on this clean he-man sounding Remaster (and its cheap too). A great debut album then, only let down here on this 1CD reissue by the what-we-can-get-away-with basic packaging approach, when you can't help feel that an album this good deserved a better digital show-and-tell...