"Steven Severin (from the Banshees) has posted on his Myspace and website a new series of Robert Smith photographs called "Japanese Whispers" which he took during the 1983 Banshees tour and are now that available for sale.
"First in a series of portfolio editions of Steven's photography. 'Japanese Whispers' features 6 never before seen intimate shots of Robert Smith on the Banshees tour of Japan. All six photos are 10" x 8", seal embossed and individually signed by Steven. Ready to frame." (Thanks Michelle)
"First in a series of portfolio editions of Steven's photography. 'Japanese Whispers' features 6 never before seen intimate shots of Robert Smith on the Banshees tour of Japan. All six photos are 10" x 8", seal embossed and individually signed by Steven. Ready to frame." (Thanks Michelle)
His website is a fracking hassle to navigate. Couldn't access the photos.
ReplyDeleteMuld: Go to his Myspace page and click on My Pics. All 6 photos are posted there.
ReplyDelete$206.00... wtf.
ReplyDelete@annie: what part of "selling" did you not understand?
ReplyDeleteoh pardon me, I'm poor.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Craig.
ReplyDeleteRobert looks so cool, dare I say "sexy" with that bit of stubble but wild hair and honestly bored expression. He's not some poser like so many goth-like wannabes. Man, he looked good! (And I say this with total heterosexuality.)
Does he have the authorization from Robert himself?
ReplyDeleteI don' feel comfortable with this.
i'm not gonna get into whether or not selling old pictures of yr friends is ok or not.
ReplyDeletebut i was just thinking about, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to bring it up, how all the b-sides from the 'fantasy' singles still are all my favorite cure songs.
i always wonder if anyone likes those songs as much as i do.
discuss....
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"Just One Kiss" is in my "top ten" songs. The others are all just outside. For me JOK is one of those "I wish they played it live" songs, along with "Burn" and "A Japanese Dream".
ReplyDeleteNice photos.A friend of mine knows Severin quite well. Apparently he's still good friends with Robert, so I don't imagine there's a problem with him selling prints of the photos.
I wonder how Robert feels about this.
ReplyDeleteindeed, wtf.
ReplyDeleteI have no doubt RSX knows and does not care. They are friends, right? They did the Glove remaster together just a few years ago!
ReplyDelete*waves wildly to soul-sistah Anah*
muld: Robert *always* looks sexy - yes, even now, which cherubic features. The man is sex incarnate.
ReplyDelete*wonders is she has transgressed some new unspoken COF rule*
;-) Craig ;-)
it really doesn't matter what robert thinks as steve is the copyright holder of the fotos...he is also selling some of siouxsie...
ReplyDeleteWha? These are all out of focus! He should be GIVING these away.
ReplyDeletehe must be skint...
ReplyDeleteRobert looks so lovely in those pictures! Those eyes, the hair, that look he has like I don’t give fuck about anything is priceless! Oh so Yummy! OK I'm having a fan girl moment!!!
ReplyDeleteAs much as I love these photos, personally one of my favorite time periods for RS hotness, it's quite expensive for what SS is charging for the pictures. They capture Robert well but then I think anyone could have taken those photos. But they are Steven's pictures so he can do what he pleases. And I doubt Robert cares one way or another as to what Steven does with them.
I’d buy them if the prices were reasonable but right now I can’t afford it. I just had to put 4 new tires on my car!
Hey. That's not a bad idea. I might start selling pictures of my friends.
ReplyDeleteShould fetch a very pretty penny indeed!
Unfortunately, can't access Myspace or Severin's site so I can't see the pictures.
ReplyDeleteThese would certainly be nice to own, of course, but as to whether they're worth the asking price, who knows? Depends on how limited the run is. Did someone say $206? That's a heavy asking price. I don't think they have that much re-sellability on eBay. So I'm probably out of investing in this one.
Brings me onto the subject of the Glove reissue: Do you think the second disc are original demos, or were they recorded for the project? They're absolutely amazing and I love them all to pieces, but seriously.. Robert's voice sounds evolved, totally how he sounds on the Cure's more recent output. Doesn't matter either way, of course, but surely if they were a brand new thing, they'd be shouting about it from the rafters. I dunno, maybe it's something to do with new production or something.. it's not a field I'm especially fluent in.
Be nice to hear what other fans think. I've been meaning to bring up the subject of the Glove reissues for a while now, and I've finally found a tenous means to do so!
James x
Unrelated I know, but good news all the same, Tim Pope has finally got his new movie project of the ground.
ReplyDeleteWell done to you sir, and here is to hoping it isn't pissed around with by studio producers like the last one.
Um, Robert lied about the Glove remaster vocals being original. They were re-recorded, very clearly so. As much as I admire him, that was one thing that really pissed me off - that he would lie about something so patently blatantly obvious.
ReplyDeleteso i guess you have to have a myspace account to look at them on his page? oh well. hope they're nice.
ReplyDeletealso, i agree with muld. his website is terribly plotted out.
ReplyDeletebut, if you go to his myspace page and play the song called 'the journey' and then open up his website on another tab, and play whatever song comes up first, no matter where you start that second song, the two fit in quite well together. it's kinda neat.
@ welfarereform, re: "blue sunshine" disc 2:
ReplyDeleteI can't remember where I read this, but it was probably the old COF site. Anyway, Bob said, if I remember correctly, that the demos had original vox and that they were "sweetened" in preparation for the release. What that means, I think, is that they have both old and new vox (which is what it sounds like to me when I listen - also it sounds like the older vox is being subjected to lots of reverb+echo - lots and lots of echo!)
Bob didn't lie about the vox. There is "old"-sounding vox audible on the release. But notice there are multiple tracks of his voice. Not strictly "double-tracked", because often one of the tracks is harmony (as Bob has done on countless Cure songs) .
I really don't think those are old vocals. Listen to every other demo Robert has done, the lyrics aren't that complete like they are on the Glove reissue. Robert ussually does says doodahdah and gibberish mumbling where coherant lyrics end up going. The vocals sound like his recent singing style.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I didn't like it was because he could have sang over the tracks instead of using the "demo" backing tracks. I really like the instrumental part of Disk 1, but I don't like the woman's voice so much, I like Roberts voice on Disk 2, but I don't like the instrumentals. That could have been a really awesome remaster if he would have used the instrumentals from Disk 1, but he didn't and it turned out to be mediocre IMO and something I rarely listen to.
mb---try this link, no account or log-in to myspace needed!
ReplyDeletehttp://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=79412580&albumId=2262331
Interesting comments there re: the Glove reissue.
ReplyDeleteI had the original re-release of Blue Sunshine (the 1990 edition) and played a lot. I loved it.
To hear the new RS vocals was pretty amazing, particularly on the track 'Looking Glass Girl', which are delivered with real passion - they just soar, and that did a lot for me as a longtime fan of the project.
Here's another sort-of related question for everyone I've been meaning to ask:
Do lyrics exist for the Flexipop version of 'Lament?' I know a lot of Cure fans consider it inferior to the 'real' version but it's another track I really love in a huge way.. it has that jagged, rough charm, but it's baffled me for years now; just what are the lyrics? I can identify 'I'm in a seance', somewhere in there, and I've listened to it so many times, and that's about it. Can anyone shed any light on this enigmatic song?
James x
thanks, CK! those are cool. but not worth as much as severin probably wants for them.
ReplyDeletejames- not sure on the lyrics, but i've always liked the flexipop version better...
ReplyDeleteBit naff isn't it?
ReplyDeletePresumably Robert had to sign off on the image rights thingy...? If not, the now would be a good time to head it off atthe pass...who exactly is this sort of crap aimed at?
mb-No problem, glad to help! :)
ReplyDeleteYes they are great pics but the prices he's charging are a bit outrageous(about $206 bucks per pic). If it was for charity then I could see it but not for his own profit.
wow a Robert without those extra pounds,
ReplyDeleteSlightly off subject sorry, but picking up from james's question..i happened upon some interesting rare tracks on You Tube and was wondering if one of you can help..If you search for "The Cure rarities" on You Tube, you will find some songs which aren't THAT rare, but some that are less obvious.This chap called ramsua has about 10 or so different clips and some are quite interesting to listen to..My question is:The cure rarities9, 1 minute in,a real slow and kind of sureal version of KAA kicks in and i would love to know where it's from...Thanks in advance!
ReplyDeletejust one kiss and the upstairs room are both in my top 10.
ReplyDeleteand yes. smith looks delicious here and i may have to shell out because obsession knows no bounds and i am a fool.
ps: HI EVERYONE! ive missed you! XOXO
okay now, it's not nice to pick on plump people. robert is hot hot hot regardless of poundage, and even if he weren't, does weight really matter so much? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?
ReplyDeletethat $206, though, is an outrage to pay for some freakin' PIX.
yuppers.
PM: that cure rarities dude rocks AND rolls, i agree. lurve me some cure rarities. i have sent him a message (or left him a comment) at his you tube, but he ain't responded yet. i want to know where he got some of that stuff, esp. the KAA thing.
ReplyDeletei suspect he revels in anonymity. don't we all?
s/he probably remixed them him/her self.
ReplyDeletehow silly of me to assume the gender of coveted you- tuber. perhaps, though, rarities freak is of no fixed gender - a hermaphrodite, perhaps?
ReplyDeleteall hail hermaphrodite cure freaks!
interesting. i thought he was still friends with Bob?
ReplyDeletevocals on the second disc of the glove are not new...
ReplyDeleteaccording to steve severin robert did a "center channel extraction" isolating the vocals, then he did extensive work to clean them up and re-added them to the original... hence the double track feel... i think its great... like a lost album from 1984...
i have personally performed these kinds of vocal enhancements and i guarantee that it's not science fiction.
@genital ben - re: "old vox"
ReplyDeletethey are not ALL old vox, that was my point. Read it again since it seems you didn't understand that.
Also, comparing them to "every other demo Robert has done" (which you can't possibly have heard in the first place since not "every other demo" has been made available) is meaningless for this album since it was ultimately performed by a different vocalist (at the behest of Chris Parry who didn't want Fiction to lose the royalties - see the book "Ten Imaginary Years" where he states this himself)
That being said, however, there ARE moments where "doodahdah and gibberish mumbling" ARE audible.
I'd probably be more interested if Smiffy himself signed the pics as well. Least then we'd know it was sanctioned.
ReplyDeleteCome on Robert, give us some more album news! I don't care about remixes or pictures or covers, I want 4:13 now! Okay, rant over =)
ReplyDeleteThe pics are kinda cool, but poor in style - although they still capture the ethos of those years, don't they?
ReplyDeleteRS is much better looking when slim, and that hair length is way cooler too.
The idea that the second disk of Blue Sunshine is new had me very disappointed - why lie about it? we'd buy it anyway and just love the effort the more!
Just one kiss is also one of my faves, especially the extended beginning - all syncopated and stuff, but Upstairs Room could also be doen with the CureFour lineup.
perfect.murder - That is a demo version recorded in 11-15-1977 at Sav
ReplyDeleteStudios, London.
Here's a copy for you:
http://www.mediafire.com/?wpzmbnv6e25
It is a crappy mp3, but it is OK. The one on YouTube must have had some EQ treatment and maybe some noise reduction.
Thanks msp000...i had a sneaky feeling it might be the one...Sounds reaaly cool, cheers.
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ReplyDeleteno, go, I understood what you said, but those new 'main' vocals are new, there's no doubt about that, robert simply didn't sing that way back then. And listen to the demo's we have, the Blue Sunshine ones are much more complete than the others.
ReplyDelete