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BBC Radio 2 In Concert complete show




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James McCartney at Troxy

"What an awesome evening @TroxyLondon being fortunate enough to watch @thecure play tracks from their new album 'Songs Of A Lost World'. Lovely catching up with you Robert" ❤️






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Lost World reviews video

Reviews of The Cure's Songs of a Lost World. Video sent out by The Cure via Whatsapp.




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Lost World Deluxe Digital Download

Update: Now available in the UK store too, but only until midnight tonight (Nov. 7th).

It's now available in the EU and AU shops as well.


Available from The Cure shop (US only, but there are ways around that):

THE CURE SONGS OF A LOST WORLD (DELUXE) DIGITAL DOWNLOAD (MP3 & FLAC)

US $4.99

DELUXE DIGITAL ALBUM FEATURES SONGS OF A LOST WORLD STANDARD TRACKLIST PLUS FIVE LIVE BONUS TRACKS RECORDED AT SHORELINE AMPHITHEATER IN 2023.

TRACKLIST:

1.ALONE

2.AND NOTHING IS FOREVER

3.A FRAGILE THING

4.WARSONG

5.DRONE:NODRONE

6.I CAN NEVER SAY GOODBYE

7.ALL I EVER AM

8.ENDSONG

9.ALONE : LIVE @ SHORELINE AMPHITHEATER 2023

10.AND NOTHING IS FOREVER : LIVE @ SHORELINE AMPHITHEATER 2023

11.A FRAGILE THING : LIVE @ SHORELINE AMPHITHEATER 2023

12.I CAN NEVER SAY GOODBYE : LIVE @ SHORELINE AMPHITHEATER 2023

13.ENDSONG : LIVE @ SHORELINE AMPHITHEATER 2023

LIVE @ SHORELINE AMPHITHEATER 2023




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Mark Gardener and Kevin Shields at Troxy

From Ride Appreciation Society.

Robert Smith with Mark Gardener of Ride and Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine at Troxy London.





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Lost World still on track for UK debut at #1

From Music Week:


In the albums chart this week, The Cure are hurtling towards a No.1 finish with Songs Of A Lost World, which has racked up 45,054 sales so far. The record is significantly boosted by its physical release, which accounts for 40,129 sales, whilst downloads account for 3,234 units and streams make up 1,691. 




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CoF on Bluesky

Once again, completely understand why so many are leaving Twitter. You can find CoF on Bluesky too - @craigatcof.bsky.social




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Songs of a Lost World is #1 in the UK

Update: also debuts at #1 in Scotland, Germany and on these other UK charts - Vinyl, Record Store, Physical Albums and Album Downloads. #3 in Ireland.


From Official Charts:

The Cure's Songs Of A Lost World becomes band's first Number 1 album in 32 years

The band's 14th studio LP outsells the rest of the Top 5 combined to reach the summit

By Carl Smith

The English rock legends, whose current line-up comprises Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Roger O’Donnell, Perry Bamonte, Jason Cooper and Reeves Gabrels, last topped the Official Albums Chart with 1992 record Wish. 

16 years in the making, Songs Of A Lost World outsells the rest of the Top 5 combined to reach the summit, and earns the group a 23rd Top 40 album overall.

Reacting to the news, The Cure’s Robert Smith says: 

“It is enormously uplifting, genuinely heartwarming to experience such a wonderful reaction to the release of the new Cure album. 

“To everyone who has bought it, listened to it, loved it, believed in us over the years - THANK YOU!”

Song Of A Lost World also tops the Official Vinyl Albums Chart, the week’s biggest seller on wax, and the Official Record Store Chart, proving the most popular LP of the past seven days in independent UK record shops. 

The record’s release reignites interest in The Cure’s back catalogue, too. 2001’s Greatest Hits returns to the Top 40 for the first time in five years, vaulting 76 spots (30).




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Robert's interview with NPR




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Anonymous heART Project auction is up

Update: 

Final prices

DRONE:NODRONE- £1,800

WARSONG - £3,974

ALL I EVER AM - £2,551

A FRAGILE THING - £3,600

I CAN NEVER SAY GOODBYE -£15,500


The @heartresearchuk auction is up.


DRONE: NODRONE - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/267030793797


WARSONG - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/267030793091


ALL I EVER AM - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/267030794980


 A FRAGILE THING - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/267030793378


I CAN NEVER SAY GOODBYE - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/267030794239




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Songs of a Lost World debuts at #4 in US

The Cure's Songs of a Lost World debuts at #4 on the Billboard 200 in the US.

From Billboard:

The Cure achieves its highest charting album in over 30 years, and first top 10 in over 20 years, with the No. 4 debut of Songs of a Lost World.

Songs of a Lost World bows with 57,000 equivalent album units earned (the act’s best week by units). Of that sum, album sales comprise 53,000 (The Cure’s biggest sales week since 2004, when its self-titled album launched with 91,000), SEA units comprise 4,000 (equaling 5.02 million on-demand official streams of the album’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. Songs of a Lost World also debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales; the first leader for The Cure on the 33-year-old chart. The new album’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across five vinyl variants (which sold a combined 23,000 copies; the band’s best week on vinyl since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991), a standard CD, a CD/blu-ray audio package, two cassettes, a standard digital download and a deluxe digital download with five bonus live tracks (exclusive to the band’s webstore).

Songs of a Lost World was released on Nov. 1, and cryptically announced in early September. The set’s title and release date were confirmed on Sept. 26, alongside the release of the album’s first cut (and first new song in 16 years), “Alone.” On Oct. 9, a second song from the set, “A Fragile Thing,” arrived. The latter track climbs 25-22 (a new peak) on Alternative Airplay and 12-10 on Adult Alternative Airplay. It’s the first charting hit for The Cure on Alternative Airplay since 2008 and the band’s highest-charting song since 2004’s “The End of the World” reached No. 19. On the Adult Alternative Airplay ranking, “Fragile” is the act’s third charting song ever (dating to the chart’s 1996 start), and first to reach the top 10.




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Songs of a Lost World chart positions

Songs of a Lost World debuts at:

Australia - #5

Austria - #1

Belgium (Flemish and Wallonian) - #1

Canada - #12

Denmark - #1

Dutch - #1

France - #1

Germany - #1

Ireland - #3

Italy - #2

New Zealand - #3

Scotland - #1

Spain - #2

Sweden - #1

Switzerland - #1

UK - #1

US - #4




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Inside the Cure’s Big Halloween Comeback: Concert, BBC Takeover and ‘Lost World’ Album

From Variety:


Brit Beat: Inside the Cure’s Big Halloween Comeback: Concert, BBC Takeover and ‘Lost World’ Album

By Mark Sutherland

It’s been 16 long years since legendary British alternative rockers the Cure last released a studio album, but the campaign for the band’s new outing, “Lost World,” has made it feel like they’ve never been away.

And the band has also returned “home” to the Fiction-via-Polydor label, which released the band’s recordings up until 2004’s self-titled album. The most recent two Cure albums came out via America on Geffen, but Polydor Label Group President Ben Mortimer says he made it his “mission” to bring the band back to the record company.

“I actually can’t believe it’s happened because it’s been a conversation that’s been going on for so long,” Mortimer tells Variety. “Robert Smith sits alongside Paul Weller, who we brought back to Polydor a few years ago, as one of those people who are really in the fabric of the label. [The return] has really energized the whole label and tapped into the soul of what we do.”

Mortimer says “huge credit” should also go to Fiction Records Managing Director Jim Chancellor, “who has had a brilliant relationship with Robert for a long time.” Smith manages the band himself and Mortimer says the release plan came together over numerous emails featuring Smith’s trademark “all caps firmly on” style.

Key to the strategy was a suitably gothic Cure takeover of the BBC on Halloween, the day before “Songs of a Lost World” dropped, with a live session on BBC Radio 6 Music and a career-spanning BBC Radio 2 “In Concert” recording, which was also televised as part of a BBC 2 Cure night on November 2. The “In Concert” recording reportedly received the most ticket applications of any show in the long-running series.

“One of the stipulations Robert had on doing the deal was that the album to come out straight after Halloween,” Mortimer says. “Our production team had to jump through hoops to deliver vinyl and everything in time. It was really touch and go but Robert was very clear, unless it’s coming November 1, we ain’t doing this!”

The band also made a spectacular full live return with an intimate show at London’s Troxy venue on November 1, which featured a full rendition of the new album as well as many other songs. It was livestreamed around the world on YouTube and attended by many other musicians, from Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong to Culture Club’s Boy George.

All that attention – and some of the best reviews of the band’s career – has also translated into record sales, with the album set to debut at No.1 in the Official U.K. Albums Chart on November 8. It had already passed 40,000 units by Monday, according to the Official Charts Company. That’s despite this being the band’s first album release of the streaming age – previous studio album “4:13 Dream” came out in 2008 – with Mortimer saying the band racked up huge numbers of Spotify pre-saves.

“The Universal catalog team, alongside Robert, have done a very good job of keeping things alive for years, but it’s more than that,” says Mortimer. “If you look at their streams, there are tracks at over 700 million on Spotify, so there is a young audience there that streams the Cure.

“We’ve brought in new ideas – Robert’s remarkably open to modern ways of thinking, he’s such an intelligent man, he grasps things so quickly – but I don’t think it changed his strategy,” Mortimer adds. “Some artists are able to speak to different generations, and the Cure are one of those.”

With the band likely to announce further touring plans, Mortimer is expecting a long campaign for the album, one of the first big releases through the new Polydor Label Group, after a major Universal U.K. restructure: Mortimer now also oversees the Capitol U.K. and 0207 Def Jam labels, run by Jo Charrington and Alec Boateng respectively.

“It’s been a crazy year across the whole business, but I’m really thankful about the new responsibilities that I have,” says Mortimer. “Working with Jo and Alec is just an absolute dream, they’re some of the best A&R executives of recent generations and they’ve brought so many brilliant artists into our system, so I’m feeling really lucky. Everyone complements each other really well.”

Meanwhile, the American release of “Songs of a Lost World” goes through Capitol, meaning Mortimer has reunited with his former Polydor co-president Tom March, now chairman/CEO of Capitol Music Group (“Tom’s wonderful – having a Brit over there who gets it has been really helpful”). The pair revived Polydor’s fortunes in the 2010s and Mortimer is hopeful the Cure’s renewed success could also bring back the buzz to music from this side of the pond.

“It feels like there’s real interest in what the U.K. and Ireland does really well again,” he says. “You look at Oasis, the Cure, plus we’re getting such an explosion of interest on Sam Fender at the moment and we’re seeing growth on a band like Inhaler… We’ve been talking about it for 15 years but it’s genuinely happening now.”




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Songs of a Lost World Debuts at No. 1 on Multiple Billboard Charts

From Billboard:

The Cure’s ‘Songs of a Lost World’ Debuts at No. 1 on Multiple Billboard Charts

The set marks the group's first leader on the 33-year-old Top Album Sales chart, and the band's highest-charting album on the Billboard 200 since 1992.

By Keith Caulfield 

The Cure make a striking return to Billboard’s album charts (dated Nov. 16) with the arrival of Songs of a Lost World. It’s the band’s first No. 1 on the 33-year-old Top Album Sales chart and the act’s highest-charting effort on the Billboard 200 (No. 4) since 1992. It also bows at No. 1 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums, Top Alternative Albums, Vinyl Albums and Indie Store Album Sales.

Songs of a Lost World is the group’s first album of new material since 2008. The new album is the act’s third top 10-charting set on the Billboard 200, following its self-titled effort (No. 7 in July 2004) and Wish (No. 2 in May 1992)

Equivalent album units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. Nov. 16, 2024-dated charts will be posted in full on Billboard’s website on Tuesday, Nov. 12.

Songs of a Lost World bows with 57,000 equivalent album units earned (the act’s best week by units) in the United States in the week ending Nov. 7, according to Luminate. Of that sum, album sales comprise 53,000 (The Cure’s biggest sales week since 2004, when its self-titled album launched with 91,000), SEA units comprise 4,000 (equaling 5.02 million on-demand official streams of the album’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

The new album’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across five vinyl variants (which sold a combined 23,000 copies; the band’s best week on vinyl since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991), a standard CD, a CD/blu-ray audio package, two cassettes, a standard digital download and a deluxe digital download with five bonus live tracks (exclusive to the band’s webstore).

The set’s “A Fragile Thing” rises 25-22 on Alternative Airplay (a new peak and its highest charting song since 2004) and 12-10 on Adult Alternative Airplay (The Cure’s first top 10, and third charting hit, since the list began in 1996).




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Joel McHale Really Loves Coffee, The Cure, and Meat Pies

From Food & Wine:

On the genius of The Cure's Robert Smith

"Disintegration is one of my favorite albums. Young people listening to this podcast right now, are like, 'What the f--- are they talking about?' It's the 'Friday I'm in Love' guys. Check it out. 'Just Like Heaven' is a perfect pop song. It is like carbon on the periodic table of perfectly executed, joyous, catchiest, most perfect things. 'Pictures of You' is probably one of the most tragic pop songs ever written, and it's perfect. 'A Forest' — I remember when Nouvelle Vague covered that, and I was just like, 'Oh my gosh.' I don't know why The Cure doesn't get more recognition for how important they were.

To go from punk into New Wave, into — I think at any moment if Robert Smith wanted to, he could be like, 'I can write the poppiest song of all time.' Like Kurt Cobain, where it's just, 'I can do this all day long. But I'm going to put sandpaper in it and make your brain turn upside down.' But then you're like, 'What just happened to me?'"




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A Fragile Thing is Top 10 on AAA in US

From Billboard Charts:

The Cure hits the top 10 of this week's #AdultAlternativeAirplay with "A Fragile Thing" (up 12-10). It earns the band its first top 10 hit at the format.

It also earns the band its first top 10 on any Billboard airplay chart since "Maybe Someday" peaked at No. 10 on #AlternativeAirplay in 2000.

"A Fragile Thing" is the lead single from Songs of a Lost World, which concurrently debuts at No. 1 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums.





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Time management for political sysadmins

Can you put me in contact with the "tech team" of a political campaign?

I am offering my "time management for sysadmins" training pro-bono to any Dem or anti-Trump digital team, sysadmins, devops team, SRE, etc. Contact me via LinkedIn, DM me on Twitter or email me if you know my email address.




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Book: Become Ansible by Josh Duffney

My coworker Josh Duffney launches his self-published book on Ansible today!

Congrats and I wish great success!

Crawl, walk, run, sprint your way through learning Ansible with "Become Ansible"! Visit his website becomeansible.com




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Adarsh Shah on "Continuous Delivery for Machine Learning" (September NYCDEVOPS Meetup)

Come one, come all! nycdevops does its first virtual meetup! All are invited!

Hope to see you there!




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Oct 15 NYC DevOps Meetup: "Introduction to Site Reliability Engineering" by Nathen Harvey

This month's nycdevops meetup speaker is Nathen Harvey of Google, who will give a talk titled "Introduction to Site Reliability Engineering".

The talk starts at 5pm sharp! (NY is in US/Eastern)

Please RSVP! See you there!

https://www.meetup.com/nycdevops/events/272956481/

(This is a virtual meetup. Everyone around the world is invited!)