Customer Reviews

Blue Sunshine

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Glove - Blue Sunshine (originally released - 1983)

This bizarre, innovative album is simply loads of fun. A side project from Robert Smith (The Cure) and Steve Severin (Siouxsie and the Banshees), BLUE SUNSHINE is a must for fans of either of those bands. Years ago in a review of the original album, I refered to it as "sensuous gothic psychedelia" and I still think that's a pretty good description. Some of the tracks are a bit too twee for me if I'm not in the mood for 'em, but everything here is truly great. In particular, the beats are really unique and even sexy at times, and the songs are loaded with strange sounds. There's even weird little musical segueways between each track. Jeanette Landry, girlfriend of S&B drummer Budgie at the time, has a cool, unusual voice. She does most of the vocals on the original album except for 2 sung by Robert Smith.

About Disk 2:

The other reviewers here are correct: Robert Smith recorded vocals onto these demo versions recently, probably this year, 2006. The packaging is indeed deceptive; it's not entirely truthful to refer to these demos as "16 period rarities." However, Smith did give himself an out as he is quoted in the liner notes as saying " . . . singing songs that stayed in a drawer for 23 years . . ." BLUE SUNSHINE was released in 1983 - plus 23 years is 2006.

But the results are surprisingly great. Rhino should've just been honest about tacking new Smith vocals onto the original demos (singing onto the finished tracks would've been even better, but maybe that couldn't be done for legal reasons anyway). The demos themselves sound close to completion and they're actually very good (so good in fact that I suspect they received a modern update as well). The overall effect is an alternate BLUE SUNSHINE album or even some alternate reality Cure album, your imagination permitting. I especially like "Relax" (the original being one of the most hypnotically trippy tracks of all time). Robert adds some strange vocals that give it a much more unsettling effect.

The extra-album tracks are well worth the extra bucks for any fan, even if you have the original CD. The rare pictures are cool and the essay about the Glove is enlightening. Highly recommended!

OK...This is my favorite album of all time. There is nothing like it. NOTHING!!! I think Robert Smith is one of the greatest songwriters of all time. Steve Severin is also great, of course. I have every album from the Cure and Siouxsie & the Banshees...BUT...this is still my favorite. Acid had a good effect on these two. Extreme psychedelia at it's finest. I love 60s psychedelia, too.. but this is better. I listen to it every day. So original with excellent sounds! When i first heard the female vocals on this album, i was disappointed because it wasn't Robert Smith, but they grew on me. I would have liked to hear Robert's 80s voice on these tracks. That would be a 10. He sounds a little worn out these days. I like the extra instrumental tracks on the 2nd CD. I always wished they were tracks of their own, and now i have them. The new RS vocals suck, but I'm elated with the improved main CD. I have to give it 5 stars because it's so good!!! If you want to enter a new dimension, listen to this. If you only like standard pop sounds, forget it.

There is no mention of it in the liner notes, but if you listen to Robert's voice on the second disc, you will realize that he re-recorded the vocals... it's his modern-day voice (around 1996-present).... any true Cure fan has already figured this out. This re-release is less than a week old, so you'll start to hear reports about this soon enough. There's nothing wrong with Robert re-recording the vocals, but he undoubtedly did, and to a small extent it's misleading in that it's making Cure fans believe that this is the "lost Cure album from 1983".

Demos can be rough and unfinished... in this case they are and honestly that's fine and charming... but Robert's vocals on the second disc are all brand new. He clearly sounds much older on the second disc than his 24-year-old self on the first disc.

Also, the recording quality of his voice is vastly superior on the second disc than it is on the two tracks he sings on the original album. This is not the "lost" Cure album Robert and Rhino Records advertising have made it out to be.

Bottom line is: if you enjoyed the Glove's one and only album back in 1983, then this re-release (original album on Disc 1) sounds amazing. The artwork is on par with all of the other Rhino reissues of late (Cure and Depeche Mode included).

However, if you are going into this thinking that Robert recorded guide vocals for Jeanette Landry in 1983, and released it on this set, then you may be disappointed.

The reviewers here who do not like the bonus disk do not understand the Cure, or more specifically, Robert Smith. I have been following the Cure since _17 Seconds_ and this is perhaps the best "Cure" album after _17 Seconds_, _Faith_, and _Pornography_. The feel of the vocals is very reminiscent of the great period around _Japanese Whispers_. The sound is tremendously colorful, playful, and loose; the lyrics are some of the best [most bizarre] RS has written; and Robert sounds like he's having fun impressing Severin. Who cares when the vocals were recorded? A few of the songs feature acoustic rhythm parts reminscent of _The Top_, but less smarmy. "The Man from Nowhere" is a double-time rhythm guitar driven instrumental that could serve as a film theme song for for some bizarre spy or superhero. On the original CD it bridged a couple of songs, muffled, but you can here it here in its entirety. It's hilarious.

First of all, I am a rabid cure fan. I've been looking forward to listening to this bonus disc for months, since I first read about the "RS vocal demo" tracks. I rushed out to buy this and the three new Cure reissues the day it was released.

I rushed home and threw in the bonus disc, expecting to hear unheard gems from 1982/3. Not the case. The "RS vocal demo" tracks on this disc have *clearly* been re-recorded, and are modern Robert Smith, not period pieces. This should be fairly obvious to anyone familiar with the back catalogue, but for comparison, simply listen to the original tracks with Robert Smith vocals to realize how inferior the new versions are. Additionally, the backing tracks have at the very least been re-mixed, as there are many variations from the originals (ex. the piano on "a blues in drag" is now lacking the gorgeous, over-processed delay sound that makes the album version; "this green city" lacks the crazy guitar solo), although not in "demo" form, and not for the better.

So, I am severely disappointed. In fairness, I have not listened to the remastered album yet (I've been too busy with the bonus discs), but I expect that the quality will be excellent and worth the price of admission. But, I feel like I was mislead. All I've really gleaned from this reissue so far is the knowledge that I would rather not hear Robert Smith re-record modern versions of his older material. As if these bonus tracks and the Blank & Jones version of A Forest were not enough, I could have figured that out on my own...

I'm not saying don't buy this disc, just know what you're getting into...

Robert Smith has called this, his one-time collaboration with Banshees bassist Steve Severin, a "summer album." Blue Sunshine is in fact is a lurid carousel of giddy psychedelic pop, morbid instrumentals, and cut-and-paste found sounds, the warped product of an apparently all-nocturnal, hallucinogen-and-slasher-flick-fueled studio residency in the delirious summer months of 1984.

Ok, for those of you who don't know, this record, made in 1983, was the one-off side project for Steve Severin (The Banshees) and Robert Smith (the Cure), operating under the moniker The Glove. The lead singer on most of Blue Sunshine's tracks was an obscure lady called Jeanette Landray. But on this bonus disc of the remaster, "original demos" of all the tunes appear with Robert Smith on lead vocals (this is a big selling point for the deluxe reissue, as you might imagine).

I love Blue Sunshine and the remaster is terrific but one thing bothers me. What bugs me is this: the Smith vocals don't sound like the Robert Smith of the Eighties, they sound like the Robert Smith of the Aughties (I've listened to everything the man's done, and I think my ear is pretty well tuned to All Things Smith at this point). Obviously I'm not alone in my suspicion (just scan the other reviews here) that RS overdubbed new vocal tracks on these old demos just for the occasion of this reissue, and has passed them off as "original."

Wouldn't have bothered me if they'd just advertised the product as such ("original demos with new RS vocals!"), instead of pretending to unleash a rare historical artifact from a much-loved period in Robert Smith's musical life. Other reviewers here have said "so what, who cares when the vocals were recorded?!", but I don't like getting fooled into believing I'm buying something that I'm not actually getting. Especially considering this is now the second time I've purchased Blue Sunshine.

For shame.

I bought the record back in the eighties. I bought the CD in the nineties, it was stolen so I bought another copy. Now this Deluxe edition is out so I bought it again.
It is a classic eighties album and should be in anyone's collection that enjoys The Cure and/or Siouxsie and the Banshees.

I should slap myself for not buying this earlier. It is a great album, and I can't stop listening to it. Just buy it. You won't regret it.

Ok, it's obvious that the vocals on the second disc were recorded in the last couple of years. But I have a theory on this. These are, for the most part, less polished demo versions than what appears on disc one. Perhaps vocals were not originally present on these recordings, so Robert had two choices: 1) release them as-is, or 2) add vocals to them.

I wouldn't be surprised if the original multitrack masters of the final versions are long lost, so there might not have been much choice here. Robert could have recorded vocals along with the original Jeanette Landray versions to make a duet (eeek), or he could go solo on the demos as he did.

I'm sure most of us wanted to hear what this album would have sounded with Robert on all the songs... Well, this is the closest thing. Sure, it's missing the great guitar solos as well as some other elements. But overall I think disc two is much more truly psychedelic than the original -- because of both the musical style itself and Robert on vocals.

Maybe I'm wrong and there were original Robert vocals. If this is true, then it's a pity. But in the end, it's an interesting listen. We should just be happy that Robert decided to give us something new to listen to.

The bonus disc from this deluxe edition has been within arm's reach of my CD player since purchasing this the other day. Listening to the full album with Robert Smith's vocals is a big treat for any long time Cure fan. It's like listening to an album that should've came out from Cure between Pornography and The Top. Not to say that you don't hear Severin's input but this rings heavily towards the Cure's Top sound. I wasn't even sure if I could listen to "Punish Me With Kisses" with Robert singing after many years used to Landray's vocals.I'm happy to announce that Robert pulls it off. The other little treats we get are the two mixes of "The Man from Nowhere" (nice little instrumental jam that reminds of video game music, minus the moog, like Shinobi or Ninja Gaiden). I predict numerous used copies of the old Glove CD popping up everywhere once word of mouth spreads on this release! PS-"Relax" (vocal mix) doesn't really have Robert singing, just making sounds with his voice. This is cool because I could never imagine this classic instrumental track having vocals.