Growing up in the late 80s and early 90s, few bands were as important to me as The Cure; my father even accused me of singlehandedly keeping them in business.
When they released Mixed Up in 1990, band mastermind Robert Smith interviewed that the project had come about because they had been surprised at how expensive some of their old singles had become in collectors' catalogs, and so they'd wanted to put out an album of B-sides so people could get their hands on them. Smith talked about how B-sides had become a lost art, and how with some bands, like Siouxsie for example, he'd liked the B-sides more than the common songs. Mixed Up, obviously, evolved in a different direction (though a lot of the included mixes had originated as B-sides).
Following on the DVD release of their three-album Berlin show, Trilogy, they've gone ahead and made good on that original intent. Join the Dots: B-sides and Rarities, 1978-2001, the Fiction Years offers 70 tracks of varying rarity, many never before available, and many more unavailable on CD. I'll have a review up as soon as I get my hands on the thing; in the meantime, the tracklisting is available inside.
Disc 1
10:15 Saturday Night
Plastic Passion
Pillbox Tales
Do the Hansa
I'm Cold
Another Journey by Train
Descent
Splintered in Her Head
Lament (Flexipop Version)
Just One Kiss
The Dream
The Upstairs Room
Lament
Speak My Language
Mr Pink Eyes
Happy the Man
Throw Your Foot
New Day
The Exploding Boy
A Few Hours After This...
A Man Inside My Mouth
Stop Dead
Disc 2
A Japanese Dream
Breathe
A Chain of Flowers
Snow in Summer
Sugar Girl
Icing Sugar (Weird Remix)
Hey You!!! (Kevorkian 12" Remix)
How Beautiful You Are (Clearmountain 7" Remix)
To the Sky
Babble
Out of Mind
2 Late
Fear of Ghosts
Hello I Love You (Psychedelic Version)
Hello I Love You
Hello I Love You (10sec Version)
Harold and Joe
Just Like Heaven ('Chuck' Remix)
Disc 3
This Twilight Garden
Play
Halo
Scared as You
The Big Hand
A Foolish Arrangement
Doing the Unstuck (Saunders 12" Remix)
Purple Haze (Virgin Radio Version)
Purple Haze
Burn
Young Americans
Dredd Song
It Used to Be ME
Ocean
Adonais
Disc 4
Home
Waiting
A Pink Dream
This Is a Lie (Palmer Remix)
Wrong Number (Smith Remix)
More Than This
World in My Eyes
Possession
Out of This World (Oakenfold Remix)
Maybe Someday (Hedges Remix)
Coming Up
Signal to Noise (Acoustic Version)
Signal to Noise
Just Say Yes (Curve Remix)
A Forest (Plati/Slick Version)
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