The Cure - Wish (30th Anniversary Edition) (1992/2022) (CD-Rip)

Whether you're a fan of the Cure or not, when a 30th-anniversary reissue of Wish was announced, along with a bunch of unreleased material, it made even the coldest of hearts tremble. Even though it may not be a go-to Cure album (and who can be surprised as it follows the immense Pornography in 1982 and Disintegration in 1989), this 9th album in their gold-plated discography still didn't receive the critical success it deserved upon its release. Despite success in the charts and reaching number one in the UK in only its first week of release on 21st April 1992, Wish received mixed reviews. However, after more than ten years at the top, the press became more inclined to appreciate the violent electric freshness of grunge as well as more melancholic shoegaze.

The Cure spent six months recording in the English countryside at Manor Studio in Shipton-on-Cherwell, near Oxford, England. The band wanted to return to the 90s; to go back to the guitars and put the keyboards on the back burner. "I thought straight away we should make an album that’s different to Disintegration. In fact, we started to want to focus on guitars again when we worked on the remix project of our classics with Mixed Up", explained Robert Smith. Whilst the three singles ‘High’, ‘Letter to Elise’ and, of course, ‘Friday, I'm in Love’ are lighter and more pop-centric, the languorous ‘Trust’ with its long intro and ‘To Wish Impossible Things’ with its haunting violin gently exude the melancholic and emotional power of The Cure. Ultimately, nothing in Wish really strays from the essence of the band. Not even ‘Friday, I'm in Love’.

To celebrate their 30th anniversary, the English band have pulled out all the stops. The first CD features the whole of Wish remastered by Robert Smith himself—something he’s been wanting to do since its release. He’s helped by Miles Showell at the famous Abbey Road studios. The second contains 24 unreleased tracks, including instrumental demos, sung demos and nine previously unreleased tracks, whilst the third offers four rarities found on Lost Wishes, a cassette that was only sold by mail order at the time. In short, this is more than enough to get you through the winter. © Charlotte Saintoin

Tracklist
Disc: 1
1 Open (Remastered 2022)
2 High (Remastered 2022)
3 Apart (Remastered 2022)
4 From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea (Remastered 2022)
5 Wendy Time (Remastered 2022)
6 Doing The Unstuck (Remastered 2022)
7 Friday I'm In Love (Remastered 2022)
8 Trust (Remastered 2022)
9 A Letter To Elise (Remastered 2022)
10 Cut (Remastered 2022)
11 To Wish Impossible Things (Remastered 2022)
12 End (Remastered 2022)

Disc: 2
1 The Big Hand (1990 Demo)
2 Cut (1990 Demo)
3 A Letter To Elise (1990 Demo)
4 Wendy Time (1990 Demo)
5 This Twilight Garden (Instrumental Demo)
6 Scared As You (Instrumental Demo)
7 To Wish Impossible Things (Instrumental Demo)
8 Apart (Instrumental Demo)
9 T7 (Instrumental Demo)
10 Now Is The Time (Instrumental Demo)
11 Miss Van Gogh (Instrumental Demo)
12 T6 (Instrumental Demo)
13 Play (Instrumental Demo)
14 A Foolish Arrangement (Instrumental Demo)
15 Halo (Instrumental Demo)
16 Trust (Instrumental Demo)
17 Abetabw (Instrumental Demo)
18 T8 (Instrumental Demo)
19 Heart Attack (Instrumental Demo)
20 Swing Change (Instrumental Demo)
21 Frogfish (Instrumental Demo)

Disc: 3
1 Uyea Sound (Dim-D Mix)
2 Cloudberry (Dim-D Mix)
3 Off To Sleep… (Dim-D Mix)
4 The Three Sisters (Dim-D Mix)
5 A Wendy Band (Instrumental)
6 From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea (Partscheckruf Mix)
7 Open (Fix Mix)
8 High (Higher Mix)
9 Doing The Unstuck (Extended 12" Mix)
10 Friday I'm In Love (Strangelove Mix)
11 A Letter To Elise (Blue Mix)
12 End (Live In Paris / 1992)