| brussels explicit moments 11/06/1982 |
| the figurehead recording flaw/muffled m the drowning man a short-term effect cold at night recording flaw/muffled splintered in her head three imaginary boys cut near end siamese twins primary one hundred years the hanging garden play for today a strange day a forest pornography untitled song w/zerra 1 (opening act) and then gary biddles (later of fools dance) |
| the cure plays brussels in support of "pornography" in 1982. and even though this is a must have show (this is simon's last show w/the cure in 1982...and has some strange stuff)... this one is kinda difficult to like =\ because the recording itself is off...it plays faster than performance speed, which sometimes happens--shows/recordings are sometimes a little fast or a little slow--but this one is a little more quick than others...and...the recording itself is very low in the mix, you have to turn up the stereo really loudly to get into the band. in addition, "the figurehead" is really muffled until about half-way thru...so it's very quiet, and then the first half of the opening song is muffled as well. after the sound changes, it's better--but still has weak spots. "m" and "the drowning man" sound like they were good performances, as do "a short-term effect" and "cold." they all just sound a bit fast--it's slight, not a killer... "at night," like "the figurehead" that opens this recording, is muffled...and then rights itself about half-way in...the mostly instrumental/experimental "splintered in her head" follows and sounds good. |
| back to more familiar material w/"three imaginary boys," which is fine except for a little cut/gap near the end...not too awful, the follow-up is "siamese twins," which is actually really good--and then a rush of energy called "primary." "one hundred years" has a good mix of instruments/vocals to drum machine (always a plus--sometimes it's not really a good mix) and then into "the hanging garden." a quick "play for today" leads into "a strange day," (w/some nice sounds--laurence misses his cues/parts and keeps playing drums right thru the middle guitar alone-break) and then into "a forest." this one is excellent, w/a great amount of energy and momentum...and then the ending is really well-done w/good guitar work (slightly different feeling) by robert. the set closes w/"pornography," which is good too. the most interesting thing about this show/recording is also the very last--after some time (with the backwards voices/tape from "pornography" playing most of this time), the band comes back out (w/opening act zerra 1 joining them) and plays some instrumental stuff...totally unknown stuff at first, and then w/some of the chord changes/structure of "all cats are grey" thrown in--a really cool feeling, at least for awhile. these are the quotes taken from the "ten imaginary years" book... robert: "before the concert, lol and i sat in the dressing room, miserable because we knew it was the end. the show was quite flat and, during the encore, biddles came on and started singing 'smith's a wanker, tolhurst's a wanker, only simon's worth anything in this band.' i was drumming, so i stopped, threw the drumsticks at the back of his head and told him to fuck off. everyone looked at each other...and that was it." simon: "zerra 1 were on stage too. lol was playing bass, i was playing guitar and, to start with, it was great: but then it got stupid so i stopped and , gradually so did the others." robert: "i slept right through the journey back the next day and then i said goodbye to simon. i didn't see him again for 18 months." now, i couldn't make out those exact words from biddles...he did lots of off-the-wall singing/playing around, some howling as well (!!) mixed in more than once. i did hear "smith is a wanker, tolhurst is (something i can't understand)...." and the more howling....perhaps the words "die die die...." something about "living in a slum called belgium." and "simon....simon, oh simon!!" "on bass...laurence tolhurst!!" w/lots more noise and yelping... so just for the noteable freak-out at the end, and because this was the last concert w/simon--this is a must have recording...the sound quality at first is quite a downer, but since it steadies itself eventually--it's not too bad. the performances and momentum of the show/songs make it work...the pieces of cure history make it worthwhile. |