Two days ago it was the 13th -- the last 13th implicated in the Cure's rollout for their 13th LP (aside from 10/13, which is when the thing actually comes out). As has been unavoidably, exhaustively discussed here, there's been four pre-release singles (and b-sides) from the album these past four months and I would be losing my mind typing that sentence AGAIN, except they clearly saved the best for last. 8/13's a-side, "The Perfect Boy," felt as close to classic Cure pop as I've heard in years, and that track's b-side isn't far off. There's some sitar, but worry not, it's for embellishment and not for a move toward raga rock. "Without You"'s more of an easy strummer, Robert finding some sort of peace in a relationship stalemate: "the best thing to do is for me to go my way," of course, and to go glissando with that voice, heading high, and happy.
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If they're dropping tracks that play this effortlessly via b-side, either the next album will be pretty great or they need a new person to be picking their album tracks and b-sides. The Cure's next LP is out 10/13. "Without You" won't appear on it, but we've heard four so far that will.
[Photo from the Cure @ Sasquatch '08 by Chona Kasinger]
