Various Artists – Concise Pink Pig Atlas: The Whole Cure In The Mirror
Today’s post is a bit of an anomaly, but still on brand, both for it’s obscurity as well as its subject matter. I’ve known about this mythic fourteen-disc compilation since its release, but to my knowledge, it was released in a small run of 500 copies, most which are in the hands of the contributors. I’ve also seen many devoted Cure fans who have been looking to hear this for many years, and strangely, no digital copies of this have surfaced over the years…until now! Many thanks to my current Harrow bandmate John Forester (who appears on this compilation and has an original copy) for this upload.
For those unfamiliar with the Pink Pig project, this fourteen (!!!) disc compilation is a semi-official, band supported collection released in late 2000 in Argentina that features covers of every single Cure track that was known at the time, in chronological order. This massive collection includes every studio track, b-side, anomaly, live show intro (“Eyemou,” “Relax,” “Tape” and “Carnage Visors” appear here) and more, including the two Glove tracks that Robert Smith sings on, soundtrack exclusives, early Cure demos that were heavily bootlegged at the time, “Ariel,” the Curiosity cassette, the Cult Hero 7” and the wonderful Lost Wishes cassette. Shame this compilation wasn’t put together later on, or I would have happily submitted The Harrow’s cover of “Mouth to Mouth” or even a cover of “The Walk” John and I did for fun during the early days of the pandemic.
Anyway, this is quite an epic collection of tracks. Some of these covers remain faithful to the original arrangements, while others differ wildly and experiment with all types of styles and instrumentation. The whole collection is deliciously lo-fi in places and glossy in others, and you can tell each track was recorded with ultimate love and devotion to one of the world’s greatest bands. We’re talking such heavy devotion that there are renditions of “You’re So Happy” and “Just Say Yes,” both which were only released in lyric form at the time. While the Cure’s own recording of “Just Say Yes” would come out shortly after the release of this compilation, “You’re So Happy” has never seen the light of day, not even in demo form. You simply have to admire the cojones to take a set of internet lyrics and take a complete stab in the dark as to what the music could have sounded like. That must have been especially difficult considering just how many styles and sounds The Cure have explored in over their lengthy career…
As I understand it, this compilation was as officially sanctioned as you could get, even so far as to have legendary guitarist Pearl Thompson handle the artwork for the booklet! I believe there were plans for an updated compilation which would cover “Cut Here,” the s/t record as well as 4:13 Dream, though I’m not sure if they ever came to fruition. Would be fun to hear some takes on those songs, especially now that we have the excellent Songs of a Lost World in the mix. Dibs on “Anniversary” if so. 😉
Since there are fourteen discs here, I won’t post the full track listing here, but feel free to swing by Discogs for the full rundown of this one. Otherwise, enjoy!
Various Artists – Concise Pink Pig Atlas: The Whole Cure In The Mirror
*download it all here*
Last, but not least, if you need a local Cure fix, I’ll be DJing a Cure-themed party on April 17th to celebrate Robert’s birthday in NYC at Mr. Nancy’s in Ridgewood along with good pals Ivy Oh and DJ Chase ’77. We kick off at 9:30pm and go until late – keeping things hot hot hot until the early morning hours. Here’s a flyer for the festivities. Come say hi! <3
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