The Cure have announced a 30th anniversary reissue of their ninth studio album, ‘Wish’ – find all the details below.
Released in 1992, the record features the singles ‘Friday I’m In Love’, ‘High’ and ‘A Letter To Elise’. It reached Number One on the UK albums chart, and Number Two on the Billboard 200 in the US.
Today (July 28), The Cure confirmed that the special deluxe edition of ‘Wish’ will arrive on October 7 via UMC/Fiction/Polydor. You can pre-order/pre-save it here (the 2LP versions come out on November 25).
The forthcoming collection includes the full original album, which has been remastered by frontman Robert Smith and Miles Showell at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in north-west London.
It also boasts 24 previously-unreleased tracks – including demos, instrumentals and rare 12″ mixes – as well as four songs that will be coming to CD and digital platforms for the first time.
The 3CD edition comes with four tracks from ‘Lost Wishes’, a 1993 mail-order only cassette, which have never been available on CD or streaming.
You can listen to ‘Uyea Sound’ from that cassette below.
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Per a press release, ‘Wish’ came about during demo sessions at The Live House in Cornwall and continued at Farmyard Studios in the Cotswolds. “We got around 40 songs put down during those two sessions,” Smith remembered. “We were on fire!”
As for the experience of listening back to the record in 2022, the singer explained: “There’s a side to the album which I had kind of forgotten, a very gentle, yearning thing which is quite beautiful.
”Trust’ is one of the best things we’ve ever done I think, it’s played with great feeling, and ‘To Wish Impossible Things’ is another gorgeous, melancholic piece… in fact it could well be my favourite song on the record.”
Smith went on to recall how the original album “sounded excellent”, but said he later noticed a glitch on the recording: “It was too late to do anything about it; the album was out, and we were off around the world again. It has really bugged for me for a very long time.”
During this year’s remastering process, the frontman was given the chance to amend the error. “It has taken 30 years, but finally, finally my Wish has come true,” he commented.
The 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of 'Wish' newly remastered by Robert Smith and Miles Showell at @AbbeyRoad Studios is now available to pre-order on CD, Deluxe CD & Black Vinyl. Shipping dates starting from October 7th 2022. Pre-order now at https://t.co/LgKJHS7V8k pic.twitter.com/pqwlHogWKH
— The Cure (@thecure) July 28, 2022
Smith confirmed in 2018 that a deluxe edition of ‘Wish’ was complete. During an interview with NME this May, however, he explained that he was still working on the project.
“There are so many of Simon’s [Gallup’s, bassist] demos that never got past the demo stage and remained instrumental – purely because I couldn’t think of any words for them,” Smith said. “That’s really sad, because some of them were really great!”
He continued: “They’re all coming out as instrumentals, and I think there are about 36 unreleased songs coming out on the package. That’s the same every time we do anything. There’s always loads of music, and a lot of it is Simon’s. I just run out of words!”
The full tracklists for the ‘Wish’ 30th anniversary reissues are as follows:
CD1 Original Album Remastered by Robert Smith and Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios:
01: Open (6:51)
02: High (3:37)
03: Apart (6:38)
04: From The Edge of The Green Sea (7:44)
05: Wendy Time (5:13)
06: Doing The Unstuck (4:24)
07: Friday I’m In Love (3:38)
08: Trust (5:32)
09: A Letter To Elise (5:14)
10: Cut (5:55)
11: To Wish Impossible Things (4:43)
12: End (6:45)
CD2 Demos – All previously unreleased versions:
*Unreleased track.
01: The Big Hand [1990 Demo] (4:38) [final version on B-side to A Letter To Elise 7”]
02: Cut [1990 Demo] aka “Away“ (3:31) [final version appears on WISH]
03: A Letter To Elise [1990 Demo] aka “Cut” (5:01) [final version appears on WISH]
04: Wendy Time [1990 Demo] (5:13) [final version appears on WISH]
05: This Twilight Garden [Instrumental Demo] (3:25) [final version on B-side to High 7”]
06: Scared As You [Instrumental Demo] (2:33) [final version on B-side to Friday I’m In Love 12“]
07: To Wish Impossible Things [Instrumental Demo] (3:33) [final version appears on WISH]
08: Apart [Instrumental Demo] (3:38) [final version appears on WISH]
09: T7 [Instrumental Demo] (2:40) *
10: Now Is The Time [Instrumental demo] (2:20) *
11: Miss van Gogh [Instrumental demo] (2:48) *
12: T6 [Instrumental Demo] (3:14) *
13: Play [Instrumental Demo] (2:28) [final version on B-side to High 12”]
14: A Foolish Arrangement [Instrumental Demo] (2:28) [final version on B-side to A Letter To Elise 12“]
15: Halo [Instrumental Demo] (3:06) [final version on B-side to Friday I’m In Love 7”]
16: Trust [Instrumental Demo] (4:02) [final version appears on WISH]
17: Abetabw [Instrumental Demo] (2:26) *
18: T8 [Instrumental Demo] (2:17) *
19: Heart Attack [Instrumental Demo] (2:41) *
20: Swing Change [Instrumental Demo] (2:10) *
21: Frogfish [Instrumental Demo] (2:35) *
CD3: ’Lost Wishes’ / Studio Out-Takes / 12” Remixes / Live / Rare / Previously Unreleased:
*Unreleased track **Unreleased version
01: Uyea Sound [Dim-D Mix] (5:28 [from Lost Wishes MC 1993]
02: Cloudberry [Dim-D Mix] (5:22) [from Lost Wishes MC 1993]
03: Off To Sleep… [Dim-D Mix] (3:47) [from Lost Wishes MC 1993]
04: The Three Sisters [Dim-D Mix] (4:12) [from Lost Wishes MC 1993]
05: A Wendy Band [Instrumental] (3:47) *
06: From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea [Partscheckruf Mix] (7:36) **
07: Open [Fix Mix] (6:51) [B-side to High 12“]
08: High [Higher Mix] (7:15) [High 12”]
09: Doing The Unstuck [Extended 12” Mix] (5:54)
10: Friday I’m In Love [Strangelove Mix] (5:29 [Friday I’m In Love 12“]
11: A Letter To Elise [Blue Mix] (6:36) [A Letter To Elise 12”]
12: End [Paris Live 92] (8:38) **
WISH 2LP Remastered by Robert Smith and Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios.
Vinyl cut by Milles Showell at Abbey Road Studios:
A1: Open (6:51)
A2: High (3:37)
A3: Apart (6:38)
B1: From The Edge of The Green Sea (7:44)
B2: Wendy Time (5:13)
B3: Doing The Unstuck (4:24)
C1: Friday I’m In Love (3:38)
C2: Trust (5:32)
C3: A Letter To Elise (5:14)
D1: Cut (5:55)
D2: To Wish Impossible Things (4:43)
D3: End (6:45)
LOST WISHES
D2C Exclusive replica cassette EP
SIDE A
01: Uyea Sound [Dim-D Mix] (5:28)
02: Cloudberry [Dim-D Mix] (5:22)
SIDE B
03: Off To Sleep… [Dim-D Mix] (3:47)
04: The Three Sisters [Dim-D Mix] (4:12)
WISH 1CD – Original Album Remastered by Robert Smith and Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios:
01: Open (6:51)
02: High (3:37)
03: Apart (6:38)
04: From The Edge of The Green Sea (7:44)
05: Wendy Time (5:13)
06: Doing The Unstuck (4:24)
07: Friday I’m In Love (3:38)
08: Trust (5:32)
09: A Letter To Elise (5:14)
10: Cut (5:55)
11: To Wish Impossible Things (4:43)
12: End (6:45)
Speaking at the BandLab NME Awards 2022 in March, Smith exclusively told us that The Cure’s long-awaited new album will be called ‘Songs Of A Lost World’. “It’s got artwork, it’s got a running order, it’s almost done!” the singer explained.
“They’re so slow because of vinyl, but it might come in September. I’d rather it just came out. I can’t stand the anticipation.”
The group have been at work on two upcoming records, “and one of them is finished”, the singer told NME at the time: “The first Cure album is relentless doom and gloom. It’s the doomiest thing that we’ve ever done. The second one is upbeat, and my [solo] one won’t be out until next year.”
Catching up with NME once again in May, Smith said ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ was “almost finished” and promised that it’d be out before The Cure begin their European and UK tour this October.
“Essentially it’s a 12-track album. It’s there, it’s kind of half-mixed and half-finished,” he explained. “It’s a weird thing. It’s kind of evolved over the last two years. It hasn’t always been a good thing to have been left alone with it. You pick at it, like picking at seams, and everything falls apart.”
Smith went on: “It’ll be worth the wait. I think it’s the best thing we’ve done, but then I would say that. I’m not doing an Oasis when I say that, ‘IT’S THE BEST FOOKIN’ ALBUM’. A lot of the songs are difficult to sing, and that’s why it’s taken me a while.”
As for the themes and character of the follow-up to 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream’, Smith told NME that the record “doesn’t have very much light on it”, and sounds “more like ‘Disintegration’ than ‘Head On The Door’.”
The Cure’s 2022 UK and Ireland tour kicks off in Dublin on December 1 – you can see the full list of dates below and find any remaining tickets here.
DECEMBER
01 – 3ARENA, Dublin, Ireland
02 – SSE, Belfast, Northern Ireland
04 – OVO HYDRO, Glasgow, Scotland
06 – FIRST DIRECT ARENA, Leeds, England
07 – UTILITA ARENA, Birmingham, England
08 – MOTORPOINT ARENA, Cardiff, Wales
11 – THE SSE ARENA, Wembley, London, England
12 – THE SSE ARENA, Wembley, London, England
13 – THE SSE ARENA, Wembley, London, England