The Cure

About this product

This three-disc Deluxe Edition of Disintegration includes:

• Remastered version of the original album
• Bonus disc of 20 previously unreleased tracks of demos and out-takes
• Live performance of Disintegration recorded at Wembley Arena
• 20-page booklet of unseen pictures, art, lyrics, and interview with Robert Smith

Robert Smith compiled, produced, and supervised the mastering of this three-disc collection, which covers the evolution of Disintegration, from demos and rehearsals to studio and stage. The first disc contains newly remastered versions of the album’s original 12 tracks.

Gathering 20 unreleased tracks, the second disc trawls through Smith’s home recordings to find early instrumental demos of fan favourites 'Pictures Of You', 'Prayers For Rain' and 'Fascination Street'. The Cure can be heard rehearsing and arranging various instrumental versions, including 'Homesick', 'Closedown', and 'The Same Deep Water As You', as well as playing studio out-takes of several other tracks, including 'Plainsong'.

The disc also contains four unreleased songs: 'Noheart', 'Esten', 'Delirious Night' and a cover of Judy Collins’ 'Pirate Ships', the latter a solo performance by Smith that was recorded for, but ultimately not included on, Rubáiyát, a 1990 album celebrating Elektra Records’ 40th anniversary.

For the final disc, Smith remixes and expands Entreat, a live album recorded in 1989 at Wembley Arena. Entreat Plus combines the original's eight tracks, remixed with the four 'missing' songs to create a complete contemporary live version of Disintegration.

More about Disintegration

Disintegration is a glorious introspective album by former pioneers of sensuous pop, The Cure. Robert Smith, uncomfortable with the group's new found popularity, lapsed back to the use of hallucinogens and this seeps across the album.

With gorgeous textures and spacey production, it's a dreamy masterpiece of an album, featuring Cure classic 'Plainsong', the awkwardly beautiful 'Lullaby' and a clutch of other seminal tracks.

Isolating himself, Robert Smith wrote most of Disintegration without the involvement of the band and it is a distinctly personal album. In fact, prior to recording Smith suffered bouts of depression, reportedly due to the fact that on his 29th birthday he realised he would turn 30 in a year and that all masterpieces in rock and roll had been completed well before their band members had reached that age.

The band actually loved the work and happily played the songs in the recording studio, however founding member Lol Tolhurst's increasing substance abuse was taking its toll and he wasn't coping well in the confines of the studio. Add to this Robert Smith's decision "(To) be monk- like and not talk to anyone. It was a bit pretentious really, looking back, but I actually wanted an environment that was slightly unpleasant."

Unsurprising really that this intense atmosphere whilst recording seeps into the album but somehow it simply embalms the most iconic set of Cure songs yet released. 'Pictures Of You' is the most upbeat, with sensitive lyrics, while 'Lullaby' is exactly that, a hypnagogic waft of ethereal sound to soothe the nerves. All told, and against all odds, a classic album.