When listening to The Cure’s Songs of a Lost World, the band’s first album in 16 years, you might have thought, “Wow, this is great,” or “How does Robert Smith’s voice still sound this good at 65?”—but probably not, “I’d love to hear some dance remixes of these songs!” As Cure albums go, SOALW ranks up there with Disintegration and Pornography as one of their most mercilessly gloomy records—an album made for wallowing after midnight with black scarves draped over the lamps. And yet, here is Mixes of a Lost World that might make you want to get up and bounce around the room.
With a record as strong as Songs is, it’s clear the 24 remixers felt an obligation to bring their A-game, and the banger quotient on Mixes is impressively high. This is The Cure’s third remix album—1990’s Mixed Up and 2018’s Torn Down being the others—but it’s the only one focused on a single album, with each of the eight SOALW songs getting three different remixes. After opening with Paul Oakenfold’s “Cinematic” remix of “I Can Never Say Goodbye”—a perfect entrance—we step onto the dancefloor and don’t leave for 94 minutes. Four Tet’s skipping two-step take on “Alone,” Daniel Avery’s hazy, simmering, funky-drummer-fueled refurbishment of “Drone:Nodrone,” Orbital’s head-bobbing spin on “Endsong,” and Cosmodelica’s Balearic synthpop twist on “And Nothing is Forever” are standouts, keeping the inherent moodiness intact. There are no duds among these beat-forward remixes, though a couple do feel weirdly ecstatic given the tone and timbre of the originals.
“For quite a while I have thought that I’ve probably done enough remixes and intended to stop, but then this came along and I couldn’t miss out. I loved making it and i’ve loved closing my recent shows with it. Respect to Robert Smith and the band it’s such a great song.” – Four Tet
The remaining eight remixes—including contributions from Deftones’ Chino Moreno, Mogwai, and Trentemøller—fall more into the heavy post-rock/ambient territory. They’re only available on the 3-LP / 3-CD deluxe editions (and streaming), and while they’re also good, you might find yourself asking: “Do any of these songs really need to be heavier, gloomier, and longer than they already are?” Clearly there are some who would raise a black-gloved hand to say yes, but this author would argue that, in that respect, The Cure have already achieved perfection.
Grab Mixes of a Lost World and other Cure vinyl in the BV shop.