Disintegration (Deluxe Edition) (3CD) [Box set, Extra tracks, Original recording remastered]

The Cure | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 8, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 1989
• Number of Discs: 3
• Format: Box set, Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Rhino Records
• ASIN: B0030U1TLQ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (392 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,429 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Despite early concerns that it was too gloomy for radio airplay, The Cure's eighth studio album, 'Disintegration,' quickly became the groups most successful. Spurred by two Top 10 hits, 'Lullaby' and 'Lovesong,' album sales topped more than 3 million as the band sold out stadiums and arenas around the world during its 1989 tour. Rhino reissues this dark tour de force, remastering the original, adding a disc of unreleased outtakes and demos, plus a third disc that contains a live performance of the entire album recorded in 1989 at Wembley Arena, London. This Deluxe Edition comes with a 20 page booklet containing previously unseen pictures and art, as well as lyrics and an in depth overview of the period by The Cure's founder Robert Smith.

Robert Smith compiled, produced, and supervised the mastering of this three-disc collection, which covers the evolution of 'Disintegration,' from demos and rehearsals to studio and stage. The first disc contains newly remastered versions of the album's original 12 tracks.

Gathering 20 unreleased tracks, the second disc trawls through Smith's home recordings to find early instrumental demos of fan favorites 'Pictures Of You,' 'Prayers For Rain' and 'Fascination Street.' The band can be heard rehearsing and arranging various instrumental versions, including 'Homesick,' 'Closedown' and 'The Same Deep Water As You,' as well as studio outtakes of several other tracks, including 'Plainsong.' The disc also contains four unreleased songs: 'Noheart,' 'Esten,' 'Delirious Night' and a cover of Judy Collins' 'Pirate Ships,' the latter a solo performance by Smith that was recorded for, but ultimately not included on, 'Rubáiyát,' a 1990 album celebrating Elektra Records' 40th anniversary.

For the final disc, Smith remixes and expands 'Entreat,' a live album recorded in 1989 at Wembley Arena during The Cure's sold-out Prayer Tour. 'Entreat Plus' combines the original's eight tracks, remixed with the four 'missing' songs to create a complete contemporary live version of Disintegration.

* Previously unreleased song/Previously unreleased performance

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

136 of 144 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Disintegration is the best album ever�. January 20, 2001

By Doesn't Matter

Format:Audio CD

Disintegration is the best album ever....

God bless the boys from South Park. Kyle may have gotten it right. This album is epic. Before this record The Cure's music was underground club type music, and fit very nicely in the "post-punk" label. The music on this record has an incredibly beautiful melancholy to it. Most of the songs have a slow tempo and just ooze with a dark moodiness that makes you feel. I don't know that it can make everyone feel the same, but it will definitely make you feel.

The songs are a bit long, but that is not a bad thing as each is beautifully orchestrated. There is no filler in this record, and actually some of The Cure's best work is on this album. "Pictures Of You", "Love Song", "Lullaby", "Fascination Street", and "Prayers For Rain" are probably the best songs, but every song is incredible. Overall it's as bleak as any album I've ever heard, and it is painfully intimate. It's one I simply can't stop listening to, despite the dark melancholy of the music.

This is The Cure album for people that aren't even Cure fans. You don't have to be into moody, gothic, synthpop to appreciate just how great this record is. The album is nearly 12 years old, and doesn't sound dated at all. The material is still fresh, timeless. Enjoying this record is simply a beautiful experience.

99 of 108 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Very Last Thing Before I Go November 15, 2003

By MICHAEL ACUNA VINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard The Cure's "Pictures of You" in an advertisement for some camera or film on TV recently. But I did have to stop for a second to listen to this classic song. It brought back many memories and once again I had to pull out the CD and listen to "Disintegration," something I hadn't done for several years.
In 1989 when "Disintegration" was released I drove my family and friends nuts with multiple playings a day at home and in my car. What was it I was/am attracted to in this particular CD? The glorious sound of it of course, the voice (Robert Smith is a God), the lyrics, the general mood of despair and sadness for sure. But with all of that said, "Disintegration" is always hopeful, always "up." The Cure revels in their downtrodden and bleak view of life but they do it with a wink, a knowing smile and not a smirk; which pretty much says it all in regards to them and their music. And anyone familiar with their playful "Let's Go To Bed" has to agree: they're misanthropes with hope, if that makes any sense at all. The Cure are of the Light not of The Darkness.
"Disintegration" would definitely be on my list of CD's I'd have to take with me if I were sent to spend the rest of my days on a desert island, so that I could forever marvel at their wit, their attitude, their playfulness and their unrelenting spirit and drive to make this world a better place in which to live. I'd listen to "The Same Deep Waters as You" over and over, until I wasted away to nothing and returned to the earth from whence I had come.

45 of 48 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply a Great Album January 7, 2000

By Peter Charbonneau

Format:Audio CD

Disintegration was the first Cure album I bought back in 1989 after hearing Fascination Street on the radio. I wasn't really into their music at all up until then, but I got home, put the tape into my stereo and from the opening seconds of Plainsong I knew that this was my favorite band in the world. They haven't let me down since. This album is musically incredible and lyrically fascinating. Many songs, such as Plainsong, Closedown and Untitled are awash in long, lush intros followed by Robert Smith's introspective lyrics, back into an extended outro. Quite simply, these songs move me. They are haunting, beautiful and captivating. These are some of the best lyrics put to music I've ever heard. On 'Plainsong', Smith proclaims 'sometimes you make me feel like I'm living at the end of the world' 'It's just the way I smile, she said' is his response. I can't recommend this album enough. Many hail this album as among The Cure's best, which it is. It is also seen, quite rightly, as a pretty dark album in mood. But it's the lyrics and the music that raise the beauty of this album above its somber mood and make it a great addition to your music library.