4:13 Dream - Harry Potter 6 Books

Track Listing

1. Underneath the Stars
2. The Only One
3. The Reasons Why
4. Freakshow
5. Sirensong
6. The Real Snow White
7. The Hungry Ghost
8. Switch
9. The Perfect Boy
10. This. Here and Now. With You
11. Sleep When I'm Dead
12. The Scream
13. It's Over

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #235 in Music
• Released on: 2008-10-28
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
2008 release, the 13th studio longplayer from the legendary Goth rockers led by Robert Smith. Now down to a quartet (Smith, Simon Gallup, Porl Thompson and Jason Cooper), the band continue to musically evolve while dealing with subjects like relationships, the material world, politics and religion. The songs on 4:13 Dream are stripped down and 'in your face' while also sounding very much like The Cure. Includes the singles 'The Only One', 'Freakshow', 'Sleep When I'm Dead' and 'The Perfect Boy.'

Amazon.com
No one ever managed to nail aimless suburban alienation quite like the Cure, so sensitive yet so party-hearty, and 4:13 Dream, their thirteenth studio album and first in four years, lands in a musical landscape infested with their descendents. Yet Robert Smith and his old blokes can still show the young shavers how it’s done, even as they enter their fourth decade as a working band. The wistful yet ominous opener, "Underneath the Stars," seems to slip towards Pink Floyd’s "Wish You Were Here," making for a perfect exemplar of the Cure’s highly nuanced, yet undeniably commercial, English art-rock. "The Only One" seems to rework their own, twenty-year-old classic, "Just Like Heaven," while the febrile scratchy funk of "Switch" sounds peculiarly contemporary right now. Their woozy "Sirensong" simply refuses to settle into predictablility, and even the lumbering and gloomy "The Real Snow White" sounds ready for arenas rather than confined spaces. Enjoyable throughout and often effortlessly commercial, 4:13 Dream should depress and impress many young people, especially some musicians who may now realise just how far they have to go to catch up. --Steve Jelbert

About the Artist
20/10/08 The Cure Story continues...

It all started in 1976 as 'Easy Cure', formed by Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) along with schoolmates Michael Dempsey (bass), Lol Tolhurst (drums) and local guitar hero Porl Thompson. They began writing and demoing their own songs almost immediately, playing throughout 1977 in Southern England to an ever growing army of fans. In 1978 the 'Easy' was dropped, along with Porl, and an eager trio now known simply as The Cure were quickly signed to Chris Parry's new Fiction label.

In May 1979 their debut album Three Imaginary Boys was released to great acclaim, and as the band toured extensively around the UK, the singles "Boys Don't Cry" and "Jumping Someone Else's Train" were released. Michael left the band at the end of the year, and Simon Gallup (bass) and Matthieu Hartley (keyboards) joined. In early 1980 the 4-piece Cure embarked on an exploration of the darker side of Robert's songwriting, and emerged with the minimalist classic Seventeen Seconds, along with their first bona-fide 'hit single' "A Forest."

After an intense world tour Matthieu left the group, and in early 1981 the trio recorded an album of mournful atmospheric soundscapes entitled Faith, which included another successful single in "Primary." The band then set out on a second global trek, named "The Picture Tour," during which they released the non-album single "Charlotte Sometimes." In 1982 The Cure went back into the studio, and their increasingly ugly fascination with despair and decay culminated in the unrelenting sonic attack of Pornography. An intensely volatile tour ensued, and the single "The Hanging Garden" was released just as Simon left the band.

After pushing the limits of excess, Robert felt he had to change things, and did so by 'going pop' again. Rejuvenated, the now 2-piece Cure released their first real dance single, the cheesy "Let's Go To Bed," and during the making of the accompanying video forged a colorful and lasting relationship with director Tim Pope. The band continued into 1983 with the groovy electronic dance of "The Walk," followed by the demented cartoon jazz of "The Lovecats." In 1984 The Top was released, a strange hallucinogenic mix, which contained the infectiously psychedelic single "The Caterpillar." The world `Top Tour' saw the band expand to a 5-piece, with the addition of Andy Anderson (drums) and Phil Thornalley (bass), and the return of Porl Thompson (guitar).

The new Cure sound was captured live for the album Concert. Andy and Phil left soon after the end of the tour, and were replaced by Boris Williams (drums) and further returnee Simon Gallup (bass). This new incarnation started work on 1985's The Head On The Door with a very real sense of 'something happening'... The vibrant hit single "Inbetween Days" was followed up by "Close To Me," and the ensuing world tour paved the way for the massive success of the singles collection Standing On A Beach in 1986. That summer saw the band headline the Glastonbury Festival for the first time, and a year of extensive gigs and festivals was crowned by Tim Pope's live concert film The Cure In Orange.

In 1987 The Cure brought out Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, an immense double album of extreme and extraordinary stylistic range, and with the arrival of Roger O'Donnell on keyboards the 6-piece Cure traveled the world with the 'Kissing Tour', enjoying 4 more hit singles along the way. The wonderfully atmospheric Disintegration was demoed in 1988 and released in 1989, and despite being a work of powerful brooding grandeur, it too gave rise to 4 hit singles. The awesome 'Prayer Tour' that followed, with the band back down to a 5-piece following the departure of Lol Tolhurst, included some of The Cure's best performances to date, and was captured live for the album Entreat.

In early 1990 Roger O'Donnell left the group, and was replaced by long-time band friend Perry Bamonte, just in time for a series of headlining European festival shows that included the band's second Glastonbury headline slot. The album Mixed Up was released, supported by the re-mixed singles "Never Enough," "Close To Me" and "A Forest," and in 1991 The Cure at last won some long overdue "home" recognition with a Brit Award for "Best British Group."

In 1992 they produced Wish, a richly diverse multi-faceted guitar driven album hailed by some as their best work to date. It spawned 3 fabulous hit singles, and the glorious `Wish Tour' that followed was a worldwide sell-out. The sheer power of the shows inspired the release of two live works in 1993, Paris and Show. Immediately after the tour ended, guitarist Porl Thompson left the band again (this time with a smile!), and The Cure headlined the XFM 'Great Xpectations Show' in London's Finsbury Park as a 4-piece. The band also contributed '"Burn" to the film `The Crow' and covered "Purple Haze" for the Hendrix tribute album 'Stone Free'.

In 1994 Boris Williams decided to move on, and in early 1995 Jason Cooper took up residency behind the drum kit, with Roger O'Donnell rejoining once more on keyboards. Work on the next album was interspersed with recording "Dredd Song" for the film `Judge Dredd', a cover of Bowie's "Young Americans" for an XFM album, and headlining several major European festivals, including the 25th Glastonbury. Wild Mood Swings was released in 1996, and went straight into almost every top ten around the world. The Cure hit the road once more with 'The Swing Tour', their longest to date, and released 4 more singles.

Galore, the follow up singles and video compilation to Standing On A Beach, was released in 1997, after which work took place in 1998 on a variety of projects, including "More than This" for the `X Files' album, and a memorable appearance by Robert in the TV cartoon show `South Park'! In 1999 the band completed the recording and mixing of what many regarded as their best studio album so far, the Grammy Nominated Bloodflowers. With it's release in 2000 the band set off on the massive world-wide `Dreamtour' - playing to more than a million people in 9 months.

2001 saw the long awaited release of the Cure's Greatest Hits album, which featured all the band's biggest selling singles along with 2 new songs, the elegiac "Cut Here" and the ebullient "Just Say Yes," a duet with Saffron. This year also saw the end of the group's relationship with Fiction Records, the label they had been instrumental in starting 23 years before.

In 2002 the band spent the summer headlining a number of European Festivals before going into rehearsals for two very special nights in November at the Tempodrom Berlin, where they performed all the tracks from Pornography, Disintegration and Bloodflowers plus encores! Both performances were shot in Hi-Def video on 12 cameras, and Trilogy DVD was released.

In 2003 as another chapter of The Cure story opened, the band signing a 3 album global deal with the Geffen label. 2004 saw the release of Join the Dots, a 4cd Box set compiled by Robert of all the B-sides and Rarities, followed by the widely acclaimed new album The Cure, co-produced with the renowned Ross Robinson. 3 singles, "The End Of The World", "alt.end" and "Taking Off" all hit big, and another hugely successful world tour ensued, with the 23 date North American Curiosa Festival leg especially notable for seeing the band supported by a number of hand picked younger bands including Interpol, Mogwai, The Rapture and Muse. The year ended with an MTV Icon Award presented at a special televised London show.

In 2005 Perry Bamonte and Roger O'Donnell left the band and Porl Thompson joined for a third time. The quartet's debut show was headlining Live 8 Paris, followed by a number of other summer European Festivals. The first four Cure albums (Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography) were re-released, with Robert providing 'rarities' for Deluxe Edition extras CD's, as part of an ongoing campaign to re-master and re-issue all the Cure albums. Immediately after closing a week of Teenage Cancer Trust Shows at the Royal Albert Hall in April 2006, the band started recording their 13th studio album, breaking off in June to allow Robert to work on a live DVD. In August the second set of re-releases (The Top, The Head On The Door, Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me) was released, each album as a 2CD Deluxe Edition, along with 1983's Glove album Blue Sunshine. In November Festival 2005, a 155 minute 5.1 DVD comprising a 30 song selection of live performances captured the previous summer by a mix of fans, crew and `on-the-night-big-screen cameras', was put out.

Spring 2007 saw The Cure headline the Miami Ultra Music Festival before heading back into the studio to continue work on new songs. The 11 show Australasian leg of `The Cure 4Tour 2007-2008' kicked off in July with a headline slot at the Fuji Rock Festival, the band's first performance in Japan since 1984, before moving on through Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. In October the band headlined the San Francisco Download Festival, before playing 3 wild nights in Mexico City at the Palacio de los Deportes, followed by an outstanding performance at the MTV Latin America Awards.

In February 2008 The Cure kicked off the 23 date European leg of `The 4Tour', and in May released "The Only One", the first of 4 singles to be released every 13th of the month for 4 months. "Freakshow", "Sleep When I'm Dead" and "The Perfect Boy" followed, and as the band continued `The 4Tour' with a sell-out 27 date North American leg, all 4 singles reached #1 on the Billboard chart. Indeed, for one remarkable week in August, 4 Cure singles were in the USA Top 20 at the same time! In September the "Hypnagogic States" EP was released, featuring remixes of the first 4 singles by acclaimed younger artists Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance), Pete Wentz & Patrick Stump (Fall Out Boy), Jade Puget (AFI) and 30 Seconds To Mars. 4Tour support band 65 Days Of Static joined in the fun, remixing all four singles as one track. All artist royalties from this EP were donated to the International Red Cross.

In a radical move the new album 4:13 Dream was performed in its 13 song entirety by The Cure 2 weeks prior to release at a live broadcast MTV event in the Piazza San Giovanni in Rome before an estimated crowd of 75,000 and a potential TV audience of 200 million. The reaction to the event has been awesome, with many fans already acclaiming this new Cure album as a bona fide classic...

In late October 4:13 Dream, The Cure's 13th studio album - recorded, engineered, produced and mixed at Parkgate Studios UK by Robert Smith and Keith Uddin - is released worldwide...

To be continued...

(Tim Brothers)

THE CURE is Robert Smith (Vocal and Guitar - 32 years in the band), Simon Gallup (Bass - 29 years in the band), Porl Thompson (Guitar - 15 years in the band) and Jason Cooper (Drums - 13 years in the band)

Customer Reviews

Lucky Number 13
Underneath The Stars: is a Bloodflowers-ish sounding epic opener clock in just over six minutes. An awesome track to start with Robert signing about the universe's 13 billion years (so poetic). My only minor bummer is that vocals are a tad low and do get meshed during the outro.

The Only One: is a Wish-era throwback song, an alien hybrid of Doing The Unstuck/High if you ask me. Not a favorite, a bit too "happy" sounding for me.

The Reasons Why: is a groovy Head On The Door-ish tune with lyrics to boot about Robert talking about his suicide/sacrifice. One of my faves.

Up next get the psychedelic track Freakshow. Filler track, in my opinion.

Sirensong: sounds like something off Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness meets Wild Mood Swings. A song your can drift away to.

The Real Snow White: a so-so track, nothing to write home about.

The Hungry Ghost: It took a while to like this track, lets just say I don't skip it anymore.

The David Lynch-y identity finding track Switch takes the listener on a rockin' journey.

My favorite track is The Perfect Boy. A dreamy track that could be the star-crossed lover to Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me's The Perfect Girl. Genius!

This. Here and Now. With You: Is it me or does This. Here and Now. With you/Prayers For Rain/Sadacic have similar bass intros? Anywho, probably my 3nd fave track.

Sleep When I'm Dead: is past Cure with catchy chorus and all.

The Scream: With hypnotic rhythms and an alarming scream this track is made WIN.

It's Over: is something that came out of the ashes of Disintegration then shot to the atmosphere into outer space pass the edge of the solar system and finished with a whisper "I can't do this anymore." Great ending track!

The Bass is mixed way too low on some tracks, the vocals are mixed too too high w/ reverb on other tracks. This album takes a few listens for you to get a feel of it, right off the bat I didn't like the sound of the album and was disappointed. Usually Cure albums are mixed really well, you wouldn't expect The Cure to have an Steve Albini sound to it. Other than that 4:13 Dream is a good record even with no keyboards this time around. I've been a fan since the 80's and I think you'll really enjoy this album. This is where I would rank 4:13 Dream.


1 Disintegration
2. The Head on the Door
3. Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
4. Pornography
5. Wish
6. The Cure
7. 4:13 Dream
8. Join The Dots
9. Faith
10. Blue Sunshine (Disc 2)
11. The Top
12 Seventeen Seconds
13. Three Imaginary Boys/Boys Don't Cry
14. Wild Mood Swings
15. Bloodflowers

The Cure is stuck in a rut, and I'm sad
So, I'm a big fan of the following, faith, head on the door, disintigration and, yes wild mood swings (I'll explain later).

Everything since wild mood swings has robert smith in a horrible rut, every song uses the same melodic structure and the inventiveness and creativity is (poof) gone. I'm seeing age set in.

Now, I like wild mood swings for the same reasons I liked head on the door, it was a dramatic break from "the cure sound" which people are far too enamored of.. it gave smith singing from a third person perspective, which has not happened before or since, so for the first time in his career he actually told some really unique stories. Musically, they experimented quite a bit more then they had since Kiss Me 3x. This cd was drubbed because it didn't have the 'cure sound'. People must get past this. All the cure's best work did not have that 'cure sound'.

RS has this repetitiveness that has lasted all of this decade. It is time for the cure to pack it in and call it a day. I like the cover art, though.

Too bad. I was really looking forward to this one. I've heard there were to be two versions, I'm skeptical.

Disappointing return (again)
Let me state upfront that Robert Smith and I are roughly the same age (he is one year older than me) and that I essentially grew up with these guys from the late 70s on. So I have been on this ride for a long long time. After the utterly disappointing 2004 self-titled album, here again comes Robert Smith (the only remaining original band member of the Cure) with a new album, after another 4 year lay-off. I had heard/read encouraging things about the album, so I was eager to hear it when I finally had the chance.

Well then... "4:13 Dream" (13 tracks; 53 min.) is, I am sorry to say, yet another utter disappointment. I have hold off posting a review for a while, playing this album quite a bit in the last few weeks, to make sure I wasn't missing the mark, but here I am. To state it bluntly, there is only ONE track on here that bears repeated listening, and it is the opening track "Underneath the Stars", a beautiful, doomy track with a long instrumental intro, finally giving way to what is in essence a revisit to "Pictures Of You". Well done. After that, though, I hear the music, but absolutely none of the remaining tracks have any lasting impact, frankly. What a major disappointment, to say the least. Looking back, the last meaningful album of the Cure was 1996's "Wild Mood Swings", as uneven that album was, but at least it had a number of memorable songs on it. No such luck here (other than "Underneath the Stars").

I've had the good fortune of catching the Cure live in concert a number of times over the years, including in their early days in the 70s when I still lived in Belgium and they weren't the superstars yet that they would become. That said, if I have another chance to see them live, I will do so again, no questions asked. But "4:13 Dream" is simply not a great album, and I'm being mild.