Four years, a cancelled North American tour, and a slew of missed deadlines later, The Cure has finally released their thirteenth studio album. It's been a long, arduous process for the band's fans (and probably the band itself), a fact a good friend of mine hasn't been reluctant to remind me of. “[But] still," he would tell me, "at least their next album is supposed to be a double album!" That was eleven months ago. Clearly, things didn't go exactly as planned. Instead, Cure frontman Robert Smith opted to separate the recording (which was rumoured to be thirty-three songs long), with 2008's 4:13 Dream taking a more positive slant, while the as of yet untitled second half comprising of the darker tracks. But as disappointing as the change in plans may be, especially after all the delays, 4:13 Dream is still a quality release, as well as one of the strongest albums The Cure has released in quite awhile.

"Underneath the Stars" kicks things off with a bit of a gloomy jam reminiscent of Disintegration's "Plainsong", but after the six minute opener, the murkiness quickly dissipates. In its place, a bouncier, upbeat Cure takes over. "Only One" and "Hungry Ghost" are two of the more energetic offerings featured on 4:13 Dream. Musically, they present a glimpse of what the album has to offer, that being material generally happier and poppier than one would usually associate with the English band. Smith's singing is placed at the forefront of the album; sometimes he sounds genuinely content, particularly in the aforementioned "Only One", but other times a wistful tone manages to break through. Such moments of intimacy contrast very nicely with the layers of heavy instrumentation, especially guitars. That isn't to say that 4:13 Dream is all sunshine and daisies, of course. Smith sings the rather disturbing "I won't try to bring you down with my suicide" in "Reasons Why", and his "You've got what I want"s in "Real Snow White" could have been menacing if not for the buoyant chorus that shortly follows. "The Scream" and "It's Over" close off the album on a dark note; the former taking a mellower, effect heavy approach, and the latter taking a more frenzied route. Effectively, both songs provide a nice transition into what should have been the darker, second half of the album, a point made all the more evident through Smith's yelps of "This is not a dream" in "The Scream".

Overall, 4:13 Dream is an extremely consistent album throughout its runtime. Though the heavy wah effects "Switch" are somewhat irksome, and the dynamics of "Freakshow" are a bit odd, there is hardly a dull moment to be heard. The Wish-era Cure meets The Cranberries alt rock in "Sleep When I'm Dead" is particularly infectious, as is "Real Snow White", which is heavily built on intricate guitar melodies and dense rhythms. Classic Cure this is not, but it is, dare I say it, an easier album to digest than some of the band's previous works. Even if the material is a little atypical for the band, it's great to see that The Cure still has some juice left in the tank, especially after the torpid sounding efforts that were Bloodflowers and The Cure. Now hopefully it won't take another four years to release the second half.

Source


Background and production
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The thirteenth studio album by The Cure was originally intended to be a double album, however frontman Robert Smith confirmed in recent interviews that this idea was scrapped, despite the fact that 33 songs have been recorded.[2] Some songs featured on the album were recycled from earlier album sessions. An example is "Sleep When I'm Dead" which was originally written for the band's 1985 album The Head on the Door,[2] and "A Boy I Never Knew", a re-recording of an unreleased song from 2004's The Cure. Smith attested that the album would mostly comprise of the upbeat songs the band recorded, while the darker songs may be released on another album.[3]


Promotion
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On 1 May 2008, The Cure, via their MySpace profile, posted a bulletin in which they confirmed that the album would be released on 13 September. The bulletin also said that the thirteenth day of each month leading up to the release of the album (May, June, July and August) would see the release of a single from the album, as well as b-sides that would not make the final cut. The first single, "The Only One," was released on 13 May, followed by "Freakshow" on 13 June. "Sleep When I'm Dead" was then released on 13 July, followed by the fourth and final single, "The Perfect Boy," which was released on 13 August. On 16 July, Robert Smith announced that the album would be pushed back to 13 October, and in September's place, an EP was released containing remixes of the four singles from 4:13 Dream, entitled Hypnagogic States. The album's release date was delayed yet again, but has since been set by the band's record label, Geffen Records, as 27 October.

On 21 August the title of the album was announced online as 4.13 Dream, and corrected three days later to 4:13 Dream. The official track listing was first revealed on the band's official website on 15 September 2008. Smith also mentioned the "dark album" companion piece, and jokingly stated that he would like to have it released by his next birthday (21 April 2009).


Tracklisting
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1. "Underneath the Stars" – 6:17
2. "The Only One" – 3:57
3. "The Reasons Why" – 4:35
4. "Freakshow" – 2:30
5. "Sirensong" – 2:22
6. "The Real Snow White" – 4:43
7. "The Hungry Ghost" – 4:29
8. "Switch" – 3:44
9. "The Perfect Boy" – 3:21
10. "This. Here and Now. With You" – 4:06
11. "Sleep When I'm Dead" – 3:51
12. "The Scream" – 4:37
13. "It's Over" – 4:16


Download
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4:13 Dream´s FLAC rip:
http://rapidshare.com/files/161854535/413dflac.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/161873243/413dflac.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/161889497/413dflac.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/161902053/413dflac.part4.rar

4:13 Dream´s MP3@320kbps rip:
http://rapidshare.com/files/161916922/413d320.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/161919710/413d320.part2.rar

Password: freakshow

Ripped with EAC from the original CD. CUE and LOG included into the .rar