Robert Smith clarifies statements about the Cure's '4:13 Dream', '4:14 Scream' releases, says three new albums are in the works

Yesterday we reported that the Cure's Robert Smith wasn't too enthusiastic about the release of 4:14 Scream, the companion to 2008's 4:13 Dream. He called the project "a bit of a sore point" considering the band's lineup has shifted since 2008. Rather than rehash old material, he'd rather focus on new music with the current members.

Now, Smith has posted a statement to the band's official website, clarifying his earlier remarks and revealing that three new releases are actually in the works.

As Consequence of Sound points out, the majority of the post, titled "As Clearly and Succinctly as I Can," maps out a series of events beginning with the recording session that led to 4:13 Dream. The band cut 33 songs from those sessions with the intention to release a 26-track double album with "13 songs on each disc, most with words and vocals, but a few with words and no vocals (ie. 'instrumentals with words' ...!)."

However, Smith explains he ran out of energy toward the end of the project and lost the conviction he needed "to resist a growing commercial (and temporal) pressure from individuals and release structures I was obliged to work with, and (to my discredit?!!) abandoned the double album/instrumentals plan..."

Thirteen of those songs became 4:13 Dream, though they weren't put on the album in the order he had originally intended. However, when he was working on the band's Live in Paris 2008 concert film in 2011, Smith went back to the unreleased recordings and realized he still liked them.

"Albeit I wasn't sure about some of the lyrics... So I started writing new words for the instrumental songs, and I started singing them, and resigning others, and I began thinking of ways to finish off the project to my satisfaction."

Skip to the present day. Smith hopes that "in the next month or three," he will be ready to release two limited-edition albums containing 26 unreleased songs.

The first would be 4:26 Dream, a double album featuring 26 remixed songs from "the original 4:13 Dream sessions concept album (including the 'instrumentals with words')." At least 10 of those tracks will not have been released on 4:13 Dream or its B-sides.

The second limited-edition album will be 4:14 Scream, a 14-track effort that includes some of the tracks from 4:26 Dream, "but these 4:14 Scream versions will all have words and vocals."

Ultimately, 32 of the 33 songs recorded in 2008 will end up being released in some form. As far as which songs will be on which album in the series is to be seen, depending on when/if Smith actually completes the project.

Smith also says he is working on new music with the Cure's current lineup.

It's all a bit confusing, so we will just wait and see what happens as it happens. You can read Smith's original post here. Let us know what you think in the comments section below!

Tags

The Cure, Robert Smith