Now that we're in the new year, I'm willing to listen to recordings by people who were not in the final row at the top of the arena as I was. I try not to be jealous at the sound...
Played Wild Mood Swings in my car. Just as bad as I remember.
I really feel like the band was trying to sound like Kurt Cobain with this one. "Gotta stay relevant!" was the vibe.
We didn't know that we'd have to listen to half the album at every live show for the next 30 years, either.
Well, at least we got an astronomy lesson with Comet Shoemaker-Levy breaking up in Jupiter's atmosphere:
I really don't get the reference to Cobain. For me WMS sounds absolutely nothing like him or Nirvana. Quite the opposite of what you said, I feel WMS was Robert's way of saying "I really don't care about staying relevant, I m going to have some fun this time around".
Also, WMS has not really been played live much. The only constant is Want. Jupiter's Crash and Mint Car used to pop up live every now and then, but not in recent years.
Overall for me WMS is certainly one of their weaker albums, but not the worst (I'm looking at you guys: Self titled and 4:13 dream!).
WMS has at least 3 great songs (Want, Treasure, Bare); another great song was only used as B-side (It Used to Be Me) and a few other decent ones.
The problem is that it is utterly inconsistent, with too many mediocre songs dragging it down.
The problem is not the fact the songs are very different (KMKMKM is also poliedric, but brilliant). It's a matter of quality consistency. Too many below Cure standard songs.
Last Edit: Feb 23, 2024 21:39:49 GMT 1 by thebighand
Played Wild Mood Swings in my car. Just as bad as I remember.
I really feel like the band was trying to sound like Kurt Cobain with this one. "Gotta stay relevant!" was the vibe.
We didn't know that we'd have to listen to half the album at every live show for the next 30 years, either.
Well, at least we got an astronomy lesson with Comet Shoemaker-Levy breaking up in Jupiter's atmosphere:
WMS is the steaming bowl of Brussel sprouts on the Christmas Dinner Table of Life.i It's not to everyone's taste and there are so many other sumptuous delights to choose from. But because someone has taken the time to grow them, prepare them & present them, you feel obliged to try them, even though the last 27 Christmases you know that you don't like them. It doesn't matter whether you cook them with garlic butter, chestnuts & bacon, drown them in gravy or drown yourself in alcohol...they're still bloomin' sprouts!
In 2026 for Grocer Store Day they are expected to release a genetically modified variety to make them more palatable.
As for whether WMS was trying to sound like the Nirvana/Pearl Jam new wave of music, I present exhibit A. This is what RS was playing when making this album:
For those keeping track, I'm still listening to the 2019 tour of The Cure. The setlist is pretty standardized, a greatest hits setlist that a band typically plays when that's where they are. Which is fine. Apparently The Snakepit was not part of the 2019 playlist, so here it is from 1987:
I'm still ready to be an audience taper for The Cure's next North American tour.
I have finally conceded defeat to the cell phone revolution, and left my digital audio recorders home. This is the best sound I've gotten yet, just with an ordinary A21 Samsung cell phone:
You have to keep the zoom at 1x, or the stupid cell phone will "digitally zoom" your audio, making concert recordings worthless. That's what happened to me at The Cure's show in Miami last year. Live and learn.
I'm still ready to be an audience taper for The Cure's next North American tour.
I have finally conceded defeat to the cell phone revolution, and left my digital audio recorders home. This is the best sound I've gotten yet, just with an ordinary A21 Samsung cell phone:
You have to keep the zoom at 1x, or the stupid cell phone will "digitally zoom" your audio, making concert recordings worthless. That's what happened to me at The Cure's show in Miami last year. Live and learn.
jesus that's amazing. is that the audio just while recording video? No fancy mic or app ?
how did it go with battery life ? I assume you walked in with it near enough to a full battery?
If you have a lead on Brisbane 21 August 1992 - CT version, for the love of Bob, let me know. Please!
Thank you, nausearockpig. I switched the video mode from SHD (1080i) down to HD (720i) because according to information I read, the higher resolution camera mode had "audio/visual enhancements". Using the lower video resolution kept the sound pure.
I only used 15% battery life because I set the phone to "airplane mode", who needs incoming calls while you're at a show? That conserves the most power. I also set the screen brightness to minimum, but that was just so the people behind me wouldn't be blinded by the display.
Just the microphones that came with the Samsung A21. I held my hand in a U-shape on my knee so that the mikes (at the base of the phone) were being held up in the air.
If I were to compare the recording to my ear, there was a lot more bass that I heard than ended up on the recording. You can still make it out, but it's all treble lead guitar and drums.
Last Edit: Mar 18, 2024 4:13:09 GMT 1 by AForestFan