Killing Someone Else's Train

One of my favorite discoveries these past couple of years has been The Cure. The whiplash of having zero interest in the band to having them at the top of my listening stats for two years in a row has been shocking. I've kept my experience with the band pretty narrow, only really listening to Disintegration (1989), Wish (1992) and their latest, Songs Of A Lost World (2024)... and occasionally dipping in to check out Pornography (1982)... but I really love those albums. At one point I was content to just listen to the albums through streaming services like Spotify, but more and more I feel the need to own the physical media and to have original UK pressings in my collection. I picked up the Pictures Of You single last year, and here I am fucking about with more singles from The Cure instead of actually chasing down the albums.

Last month I was checking out one of the Spotify playlists that included some bands that I wasn't too familiar with like Pixies, Basement and Joy Division. Normally I wouldn't stick with a playlist full of songs that I didn't know, but I was in the mood to just chill and read my book, so I took a chance and hit play. After a few songs, Jumping Someone Else's Train started to play, and I was like "oh cool a song from The Cure that I've never heard" and I was excited to give it a listen. I was surprised to find that the song was familiar, forgetting that Miltown covered the song on their split with Cast Iron Hike... but hearing the original version for the first time blew me away. I fucking loved it and immediately set to tracking down which album the song was on.

Turns out that Jumping Someone Else's Train was one of the early singles from The Cure and wasn't on a regular studio album... although it did appear on the US frankenstein version of The Cure's first record, Boys Don't Cry, where the label took a handful of songs from the actual first album, Three Imaginary Boys, and mashed them together with some various singles from that time, including this song. With that useless fact in mind, I kind of wanted the original UK single. The price for this was a bit high, but I was so obessed that it didn't matter... I just had to have it.

Initally I found one for sale from a US seller on Discogs, and I fired off a message to ask for him to confirm that the center label matched what was pictured for his listing. I wasn't even asking for a photo... just a simple confirmation that what he was selling matched what was shown. I got no response, so fuck that guy, and I ordered them from a UK seller on eBay instead.

As I was picking up the Jumping single, I noticed that the seller also had a single available for Killing An Arab. I'd never heard of this song either, so I checked a live version that was available on Spotify and I fucking loved it. That song was so rad that I said fuck it and threw more money to the seller to pick up both of those 7 inch singles.

Killing An Arab was the first single from The Cure, released back in 1978. Apparently there were 5,000 pressed for Small Wonders Records initially, and then two months later it was reissued on the new Fiction Records label. Kind of cool to own an original here... and in great condition.

Maybe I'll get around to picking up a Cure full length album for the collection in 2026.

Songs Of A Lost World

It's funny how some things change and evolve over time. A couple of years ago, if you'd asked me about The Cure, I would have responded with a resounding "no thanks". Last year I would have said, "oh yeah, I've found that there are a couple of songs that I enjoy". Earlier this year, I would have told you that Wish and Disintegration are actually really good records. Then here I am today, rushing out to buy the new album from The Cure.

Look, I don't know anything about the history for The Cure. This is all still new to me. Apparently it had been 16 years since the last Cure record, so it seemed to be a big deal for some people. I figured that I'd check it out, but I didn't really expect much from Songs Of A Lost World. I mean, 16 years is a long time to not release anything, so I felt the chances were high that this was going to be mid at best.

By the time I heard the second single, A Fragile Thing, it certainly had my attention. That song is so sad and so good... it felt like those earlier songs that I've obsessed over this year... so I was suddenly looking forward to the full album.

On release day, I assumed it would be easy enough to grab a copy of the record at the local store. I checked online, and could see that they had a few copies of the retail exclusive colored vinyl, and then a day or so later they were all gone. I did not expect them to sell out so quickly. Not wanting to settle on the black vinyl, I hit Discogs and grabbed one for a few dollars more. The grey vinyl looks good with the cover, so it was worth the extra money for me.

One of the things that attracted me to The Cure last year was the refreshing change that style of music was for me. I'd spent the entire Trump presidency and insurrection angry as fuck. Emotionally, they were hard times, and once Biden was in office and things settled down a bit, discovering music like The Cure felt really fucking good. It was refreshing and soothed those jagged parts of my brain. My jaw finally unclenched and muscles released some tension. It felt good to just wallow in sad and reflective emotions for a bit. Then last week, the US voted the fascist back into power. I don't know if I can face that again right now. Leave me the fuck alone... I'm just gonna hide inside this Cure record.

Give Me The Cure

No doubt, last year I really branched out on what I was listening to for music. I was craving something different, and I discovered all kinds of stuff that hit that spot. Part of that shift was that I allowed myself to listen to single songs. I've always been a "full album or nothing" kind of guy, but realizing the freedom with Spotify to listen to a song with zero commitment to chase anything else changed my entire outlook. Plus, as my friend Doug and I were sharing with each other the oddball shit that we had listend to that year, he told me, "Spotify is totally for listening to shit you won't buy." Words of wisdom, and recognizing that I can love songs from the first Lorde album with no commitment to have it on my record shelf was freeing.

Of course this is good for me in theory, but apparently if the obsession is strong enough, I'll still find myself buying records.

Last year, my friend Sarah shared the song Open from The Cure with me. Like a lot of the songs that she shared with me at the time, it took me a while to fully appreciate it, but once it hit me I found myself really enjoying it and returning to the song often. I didn't venture too far away from Open, but earlier this year I wanted to check out more from the band and happened to check out the song Pictures Of You. Wow. This song hooked me immediately. It had all the sad vibes that I was craving and I listened to that song so many times. My obsession with it finally got to the point where I started looking at 12 inch singles for it. I found a UK colored vinyl pressing from a seller in Canada, and even though the price was higher than I expected, it didn't matter as I quickly added it to my cart and checked out.

After sitting with the song Pictures Of You for a bit, I took a chance with the entire Disintegration album, and to my surprise, I love it so fucking much. Goddamnit. All I wanted was one single from The Cure, and now it's got me thinking of buying more.