Three Imaginary Boys - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com
Though this 1979 debut album by The Cure would scarcely dent the Top 50 in the UK and entirely forego an official American release (though a handful of tracks would appear on the US-only compilation Boys Don't Cry), it remains equal parts touchstone and curiosity for Cure faithful. It's easy to see why mainstay Robert Smith has long had mixed feelings about it: The spare, angular performances and New Wave-y production cliches often seem more akin to Devo or the B-52's. Smith himself hadn't quite perfected the moody wail that would make him a pioneering goth icon, though there are hints of dark things to come on the title track and "10:15 Saturday Night." The real attraction here is the set's 20-song bonus disc, a treasure trove of primal Cure that includes key A-sides ("Boys Don't Cry," "Jumping Someone Else's Train"), early outtakes and demos (including the Ziggy-esque "I Want to Be Old" from '77, more emblematic tracks from the following year and a haunting Smith home-recording of "10:15" that shows how focused the singer's instincts were when left to his own devices) and some energetic, if sonically flawed live tracks. It's a must for Cure fans, an intriguing, warts-'n'-all portrait of a seminal rock band finding its true voice. --Jerry McCulley

Album Description
Originally a postpunk outfit with gothic leanings, The Cure evolved into one of the most visionary, creatively satisfying and influential groups to come of age in the 1980's. From dreamy pop to moody expressionism, their signature sound is adventurous, hypnotic, and rich with texture. Formed in 1976 by Robert Smith and schoolmates Michael Dempsey (bass) and Laurence Tolhurst (drums), The Cure's stunning debut album on U.K.-based Fiction Records launched an extraordinary career and enduring worldwide popularity.

Album Description
UK pressing features the same content as the Rhino/US version, though packaged in a slightly different slipcase. The Cure's debut album from 1979 elevated too the deluxe edition series. Compiled by Robert Smith and digitally remastered by Chris Blair at Abbey Road, this 2-CD set is a must for all Cure Fans. Contains 6 previously unreleased songs and 17 tracks on CD for the very first time! The 16-page booklet contains sleevenotes by Johnny Black plus rare and previously unseen photographs from Robert Smith's personal archive. 2004. Universal/Fiction.

Album Details
This Edition Comes as a Double Fold-out Digipak Housed in a Clear Plastic "o" Card Different from the USA Packaging.digitally Remastered Deluxe Double Disc Edtion of the Cure's Debut Album from 1979 was One of the Most Highly Anticipated Remasterings of the Punk Generation. This Special Set was Compiled by Robert Smith and Remastered by Chris Blair at Abbey Road Studios. Includes Six Previously Unreleased Songs and 17 Tracks of Rarities, Demos, Single B-sides, Etc Making their CD Debut. The 16-page Booklet features Sleevenotes by Johnny Black plus Rare and Previously Unseen Photographs from Robert Smith's Personal Archive.

Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...

3 out of 5 stars

...and One Imaginary Debut Single, apparently December 14, 2004
9 out of 13 found this review helpful

Regarding "Killing an Arab": Before anyone posts about how the band's classic debut single wasn't supposed to be on this album in the first place, please give us some credit. We know this.

What this compilation attempts to be is a definitive document of the Cure's history from 1977-79. It collects the remastered debut album (never officially released in the U.S. in this form prior to this) on Disc 1, and a generous handful of rarities and bonus tracks on Disc 2. As such, every track officially released on prior versions of this album and its contemporaneous singles is present and remastered, minus a pair of B-sides ("Plastic Passion," "I'm Cold") that appropriately appeared on this year's earlier B-sides box, Join the Dots... Every track is present, that is, except for "Killing an Arab."

The reason why some of us are up in arms over this? Do the math. The band's 2nd and 3rd singles ("Boys Don't Cry" and "Jumping Someone Else's Train") are here, and the bonus disc has 14 minutes of available space left on it. "Killing an Arab" was not on the remastered Greatest Hits collection from 2001, and if the record execs were "saving" this historical cornerstone for some sort of remastered Staring at the Sea, why wouldn't they "save" the other singles as well?

Simply put, the song has been discarded. It looks as if, in the current political climate, the song, which has no racist overtones to its content whatsoever, was deliberately omitted as an act of cowardice and self-censorship.

While most Cure fans will undoubtedly appreciate the amazing rarities here - and some of them are truly gems - some of us have even more appreciation for historical accuracy. I would rather have one debut single that has been a part of the rock pantheon for over 25 years than five, ten, twenty, or a million previously unreleased curios that are attempting to compensate for a rewriting of history.

For the record, the sound quality here is quite good - the album sounds clean but not overbright like some of the tracks on Join the Dots, and the extras all sound as good as their sources allow them to be... However, I do agree that "World War" was obviously taken from an inferior source as it is missing some high end. All in all, this project had great potential, but ends up something akin to botched plastic surgery: on the surface it looks great, but look a little deeper and all you can see are unforgivable flaws.

3 out of 5 stars

Could have been a better reissue December 14, 2004
8 out of 10 found this review helpful

Why can't record labels get it right? We fans have no problem shelling out cash for reissues, but it sure would be nice for them to be worth the money. What's positive? It's great to have all the bonus material, especially to have World War on CD, finally. I no longer have my TIB vinyl, but I believe all the original cover art is reproduced. Now for the bad news:

1. The sound is good, but other than being louder, it's not much of an improvement over my original Three Imaginary Boys or Boys Don't Cry CDs. I'm no golden-eared audiophile, but I've got plenty of other remasters that are noticeably better than the versions they replaced.

2. No Killing an Arab. This is just ridiculous.

3. The cover art colors look horrible. I know it's not a great cover, but heck, they could have at least reproduced the original colors properly.

4. No plastic slipcase like other "Deluxe Edition" reissues. The slipcase is cardboard and will start wearing. Mine came slightly dented because of this.

5. World War is finally on CD... but it's either a different mix from the Boys Don't Cry LP, or there's just absolutely no high end on the tape they used - it's so muddy you can hardly hear the cymbals compared to the vinyl.

6. The faint talking bit from the beginning of "The Weedy Burton" is missing (my player's time seems to skip about 15 seconds between the last two tracks, so this could be a CD indexing problem).

7. The liner notes are a bit skimpy and some are hard to read over the background.

Are these picky issues? You bet they are, but if record companies are constantly going to pump out reissued product, make it worth it for the fans.

4 out of 5 stars

at last..... December 8, 2004
7 out of 15 found this review helpful

The Cure's debut album Three Imaginary Boys was for a long time only available as an import. In the US it was repackaged and re-released ( with a few newly recorded singles taking the place of a few songs from TIB ) as Boys Don't Cry ( I still have the original vinyl version as well as the re-released cd version.) Here is the deluxe reissue of TIB with an extra disc of demos and home recordings. It still sounds good and the songs still stand up, despite the fact they were at the time a 3 piece band. A few minor compaints: the liner notes are somewhat skeletal ( although I like the inclusion of many never before seen photos ) the tone of the quotes from singer/guitarist/leader Robert Smith is somewhat pessimistic ( griping about certain songs, feeling he had no control over the artwork, STILL dissing Lol Tolhurst , etc) and several of the songs on the bonus disc are readily available somewhere else ( why oh why are we presented with Boys Don't Cry and Jumping Someone Else's Train AGAIN ?? Although they are great songs, they have already been on the cd Standing on a Beach singles compilation, as well as the US pressing of the Boys Don't Cry cd ). These few complaints aside, this is a great document of the early development of one of the greatest British post-punk bands. If you don't have Three Imaginary Boys I can highly recommended this cd for fans of bands like Wire, XTC, the Jam and Gang of Four.

4 out of 5 stars

1 Great Disc + 1 Imaginary Disc September 11, 2005
7 out of 8 found this review helpful

I was more than geeked to see the first American release of "Three Imaginary Boys" after merely 25 years in the waiting. Yep, I heard the album before this Rhino reissue 2-disc edition on a import cassette I borrowed from a friend more than a decade ago. It always shocked me how the U.S. Electra label narrowed the U.S. listeners down to the "Boys Don't Cry" album, especially after the disc version came out and eliminated the songs "World War" & "Object"--two of my favorite tunes from the band's 1st U.S. vinyl release. Yep, I realize the Robert Smith didn't quite care for "World War"--but it's among the top ten of my favorite Cure melodies to date--probably because the lyrics sort of ring a true bell to today's recent castrophies in U.S. history.

My question to Rhino Records--why the 2nd disc?!? It's great to hear some of the Cure "uncut/rarities" for the first time, but some of the tunes contained on the 2nd disc are barely listenable, such as the home demos of "10:15 on a Saturday Night", "the Coctail Party", "Boys Don't Cry" and "Grinding Halt." These outtakes are entertaining during the first listen and like dynamite for us Cure fanatics, but are a little too sloppy to pay an extra chunk for a two-disc set! On that note--I was very greatful to hear "Faded Smiles...," "Play With Me," and "Winter" for the first time. It's hard to believe that these tunes were buried and forgotten.

I would have given the original release reissue version of "Three Imaginary Boys" a whole five big stars, but the 2nd disc of the Rhino reissue ruined it for me. The band becomes too over-exposed, and the outtakes are too sloppy.

This reissue could have been narrowed down to one disc with the addition of "World War," "I Want to be Old," "Winter," "Faded Smiles" and "Play With Me." The rest of the 2nd disc becomes a distraction of live versions, home versions, and "too many versions heard" of the same songs all over again. After hearing this 1st bunch of the Rhino reissues of the Cure, I'm a little skeptical of whether or not I will buy any more of the reissues of the Cure on Rhino. Perhaps this opinion will change once the label buys up the rights to the Cure classics "the Top," & "Japanese Whispers." But, until then--I'm only sleeping.

5 out of 5 stars

Early Cure - Quirky Pop-Rock That's Waaaaay Addictive July 29, 2006
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

There's something about the primitive innocence of early Cure that makes me want to listen to it again and again. I'm a dyed-n-the-wool Cure fan, which means I like or at least appreciate nearly everything they do, but this early stuff is really melodic and could potentially appeal to a much bigger crowd than, say, PORNOGRAPHY ever could. Yes, the American release of THREE IMAGINARY BOYS (renamed BOYS DON'T CRY) is superior, but Disk 1 presents the album in its original form - that's history, baby! Yes, "Killing An Arab" belongs here, but that song's pretty easy to come by anyway. "Plastic Passion" is also missing, but you can get that one on the JOIN THE DOTS B-side collection which is worth getting for the first disk alone (and, of course, there's always downloading). Obviously, this expanded package is aimed at the die-hard fans, but some of the unreleased tracks on Disk 2 are superior to many of the TIB tracks (IMHO). There's a lot of really cool music on Disk 2 that's worth discovering even if you're not a big fan. There's also a few well-known singles and some demos that are mostly of interest to the die-hards.

The following is a song by song commentary of Disk 2 from an old-school Cure fan (since '85). I've never been dedicated or savvy enough to collect a lot of bootlegs, so most of Disk 2 for me was a thrilling discovery. -------------------------------------->

"I Want To Be Old" (studio demo) - this appropriately cynical song totally rips. Very punk. Robert Smith has said his main influences starting out were The Sex Pistols, The Clash and the Buzzcocks, and that influence is very evident on several Disk 2 tracks including this one. Great sound. *****

"I'm Cold" (studio demo) - many Cure fans are familiar with a slowed-down, wiggy version of this song which served as an early B-side. This is a straight-up version, upbeat and rocking. The lyrics are perfectly clear without the wicked reversed echo heard on the B-side and they're so cool - cold, actually. Guitar wizard Porl Thompson appears on several of these early tracks including this cut. After a falling out with Robert Smith, he later rejoined the band. Great sound on this one. *****

"Heroin Face" (live) - a harsh blast of punked-up energy. Decent but not great sound (I believe it's an audience recording). Those fortunate enough to have a copy of the rare CURIOSITY cassette released back in the day have heard this track. ***1/2

"I Just Need Myself" (studio demo) - Robert Smith quite obviously cops Johnny Rotten's attitude (Sex Pistols) on this cut (as he does on the TIB track "So What"). He even sounds a bit like a sneering Rotten. Pretty basic rock n' roll with Porl wailing on guitar. I love it. ****

"10:15 Saturday Night" (home demo) - I am so thrilled to have this version. Just a young Robert Smith, home alone on Hammond organ, guitar and drum machine. This version captures the bare essence of the song. Robert sounds so anguished! *****

"The Cocktail Party" (home demo) - an amusing lark with Hawaiian-sounding guitar, poorly recorded but fun. ***1/2

"Grinding Halt" (home demo) - early document, mostly of interest to those who study the band. Not much different from the final studio version, has bad sound. ***

"Boys Don't Cry" (studio demo) - pretty good, straight-up version. A very good pop song, but far from my personal Cure fav. ****

"It's Not You" (studio demo) - cool song, very good version, some different lyrics. ****

"10:15 Saturday Night" (studio demo) - great version, not too different but way cool. *****

"Fire In Cairo" (studio demo) - cool version, slightly grittier sound on the guitars. *****

"Winter" (studio out-take) - this is a great lost track. So soft and dreamy, I can understand why it wasn't included on the debut. A harbinger of more mellow and emotional songs to come from the Cure. *****

"Faded Smiles" aka "I Don't Know" (studio out-take) - another great lost track, this one rocks. ****1/2

"Play With Me" (studio out-take) - wow! yet another great unreleased song, this one has a prickly old-school guitar groove that just works. ****1/2

"World War" (rare album track) - Robert Smith hates this cut and was appalled when label head Chris Perry added it to the original album line-up. If memory serves, this song was on my old BOYS DON'T CRY tape and I've always found its primitive, almost bone-headed approach strangely appealing. It's got a sort of sinister post-apocalyptic feel to it. ****

"Boys Don't Cry" (extra album track) - the (should've been) hit single. Undeniably catchy, but again, not my favorite Cure song. ****1/2

"Jumping Someone Else's Train" (extra album track) - This frantic, runaway-train track is one of their best singles. A biting commentary on poseurs. *****

"Subway Song" (live) - previously available on the CURIOSITY tape. An otherworldly sounding, very cool bootleg. ****1/2

"Accuracy" (live) - Smith has claimed this is one of his favorite Cure songs. I don't share his opinion. It's too "sing-songy" for my tastes. This early bootleg does nothing to change my opinion of it. **1/2

"10:15 Saturday Night" (live) - a totally punked-out, hyper kinetic blast through "10:15." Quite a vast difference between this one and Robert's home demo, but both of them are absolutely fantastic in their own way. This live version gets into some totally groove-worthy rhythms to ward the end and reaches a head-spinning climax. A must for Cure fans!

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