Archive for Kamar

The Cure: Disintegration (Live from Entreat)

I was eleven when I accidentally found The Cure’s Disintegration in a pile of my brother’s cassettes along with New Order, Depeche Mode, and Nine Inch Nails. This may come as a shock, but I thought it sucked. I liked “Pictures of You”, “Lovesong”, and “Lullaby”, but the second side of that cassette… man was it long and boring. I tried numerous times to get through “The Same Deep Water as You”, but every attempt failed.

So how did Disintegration become my favorite album? That was an accident as well. I got really into The Cure around 1992 (Wish) and backtracked to the older albums. I also started to collect Cure stuff: magazines, posters, and singles. I bought the “Pictures of You”  single, and one of the B-sides was the live version of “Disintegration”. It blew my away like nothing before or since. I went back and listened to Disintegration. Maybe my taste matured, or maybe I was discovering that life sucked, but I connected with the second half and the whole album like I had found my one and only true love . I knew it would stand the test of time, and in high school I introduced it to as many people as possible. If they didn’t like it, I would insist they listen to the live version of “Disintegration”.

It worked on my friends Jill and Tony. Jill and I would stay up all night trying to decipher the lyrics. There were a bunch of lines added  and a few missing from the album version, and it drove us crazy. Jill suggested I buy Entreat at Reckless Records since the live version of “Disintegration” and almost every album song was on the live disc.  I couldn’t afford it, until the lucky day I found a used copy for $34. I ran to Jill’s car and as I ripped open the case, found tucked into the sleeve inlay card a sheet of handwritten lyrics to the live version. I screamed louder than I have ever before in my life. The coincidence, the luck, the idea that someone out there loved the song so much they figured out all the lyrics and hand wrote them onto notebook paper…and the sadness and shock that this person had parted with it, made me realize how much I loved The Cure, loved that song, and how it made me give that album a second chance and falling in love with that too.

Crazy to think that after all that I went through to save $34 to buy Entreat, it’s now being given away as a bonus disc as part of the 3CD re-release of Disintegration for $32.99. For me and millions of people around the world, this album means re-living great memories, but I hope that some kid out there stumbles upon this release, listens to it for the first time, and is blown away with the greatness of it all.

official website
Pre-order the 3CD deluxe edition of Disintegration

On a serious note…

In conjunction with Everybody Draw Mohammed Day, there are some illustrations of Mohammed with the Neo name on them being passed around the club. We have a few things that we’d like to say about this.

First of all, we don’t have a problem with the concept behind the event. As creative people ourselves, we don’t feel that anyone should be censored, and certainly no religion is above social or political satire. However, Everybody Draw Mohammed Day is not meant to be a platform for racism, and in this instance that’s all that it is.

We find the artwork in question offensive and absolutely do not in any way condone it. You will not see these cards at our events. We have expressed our views to the management as well, and the club is disassociating itself immediately.

We invite all people of any race or religion. Atomic is a party; we are here to have fun, not to judge, and we hope to create an atmosphere where everyone feels comfortable.

Sincerely,
Lisa and Kamar

Endora: Perfect Isolation + Carmen

I met this band ten years ago after I saw them opening up for Anything Box. Or it may have been Book of Love. I was instantly hooked on their synthpop sound with goth style vocals. I felt they could have been extremely successful, but for whatever reason, they parted ways after a series of shows and demos. I’m not sure what most of the members are doing these days, but their keyboardist Rubin has remixed numerous trance, synthpop, and EBM tracks (Iris, Icon of Coil, Syrian), and has a successful photography company.

The two songs I’m posting are from a five track demo CD. The first is “Perfect Isolation”, one of my favorite synth songs of the last decade and one of the most heavily requested songs when I did Destination Unknown. The second is their cover of Anything Box’s “Carmen”. It adds a darker dimension to the song without destroying the elements that made the original a classic.

New Order: Tribute at Neo 2/4/10

I  still get excited every year when we do our New Order Tribute Night. It’s not only a chance for us to play a bunch of New Order that we don’t normally play at Atomic, but it’s now one of the few times a year that I indulge in the brilliance of one of the most influential bands over the last thirty years.

The two songs here represent two completely different New Order styles, but they share that sentimental touch that ties the history of the band together. “Dreams Never End” is from their debut album Movement. Musically, the album still had a Joy Division feel to it, but it laid the ground work that turned them into international pop stars later in the decade. It’s one of the few New Order songs with Peter Hook on vocals. Listen to Dreams Never End (1982) and then The Cure’s Inbetween Days (1985). Trust me. The second song, “Here to Stay” was recorded for the 24 Hour Party People Soundtrack in 2002 and was dedicated to Martin Hannett (Joy Division/New Order producer), Rob Gretton (Joy Division/New Order manager), and Ian Curtis (Joy Division lead vocalist).

New Order Online [official fansite]

OMD: Sugar Tax

Sugar Tax was essentially a solo album released by Andrew McCluskey under the name OMD in 1991. Paul Humphreys left the band in 1989 and was followed by longtime members Martin Cooper and Malcolm Holmes, stemming from their unhappiness over the band becoming increasingly commercial. In addition, Graham and Neil Weir, who joined the band in 1985 and contributed to OMD’s mainstream success, left after disputes over their roles in the band. Surprisingly, Sugar Tax was a success in the UK and received attention in the States as well. Although it was missing many elements of what made OMD so great, the album included many memorable tracks such as “Sailing on the Seven Seas” and “Pandora’s Box”. McCluskey released two more albums as OMD (Liberator and Universal) before calling it quits. However, McCluskey, Humphreys, Holmes, and Cooper re-united in 2006, and have consistently toured since. OMD announced plans for a new album (History of Modern) to be released sometime in 2010.

Official OMD Website
Sugar Tax on Amazon

Fatima: Hassan

I first heard this song on an untitled mix tape with no track listing about twenty years ago. The tape was destroyed after years of over-use, and sadly I never learned the name or artist. Sometime in the early part of the last decade, DJ Dave Roberts loaned me a CD with a bunch of obscure new wave. When I realized that this song was on the CD, I nearly pissed myself. It’s crazy how songs from the past somehow always end up finding you years later. The quality of this song isn’t that great; it was ripped  from a CDR  and then burned onto another. If anyone has the actual release of this song, please let me know!

Lisa’s note: I found a great post on Hassan, along with the Razormaid mix, here on RetroWonderland. Definitely worth checking out!

30 Years of The Cure

Robert Smith’s tips to sustaining a long career:

• Write good songs: “I could write songs as bad as Wham’s if I really felt the urge to, but what’s the point?”

• Don’t worry about status: “I’m not going to worry about the Cure slipping down into the second division; it doesn’t bother me because I never expected to be in the first division anyway.”

• Don’t do it for the money: “I’ve never wanted a group to ever fall out about money. It’s not important. We earn far more than we should anyway.”

• Be inspired and love what you do: “I do a job I really, really love and I kind of have fun with. People think you can’t be grown up unless you’re moaning about your job.”

• Do things in moderation: “I think the rock’n'roll myth of living on the edge is a pile of crap.”

• Don’t worry about what people say or think about you: ” Most of the time I’m a professional idiot. I really don’t care about what other people think, which can be a bad thing.”

• Know when to quit: “If any of our songs ever did make it on the top ten, I’d disband the group immediately.”

The Cure on Amazon.com
band website: www.thecure.com

Camouflage: Heaven I Want You

This band is probably best known for their classic single “The Great Commandment” but they also had a number of other great tracks such as “Love is a Shield”,  “Anyone”, “That Smiling Face”, and my sentimental favorite, “Heaven I Want You” from the 1991 release “Meanwhile”.

The band is currently active with live shows, re-releases, and new material. For more information, visit their website at: Camouflage Official Site

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