I prefer instead to speak of this album as it was, and how it has fared.
...poorly.
This is not my own commentary. Reading posthumous reviews on this album's merits see it dragged through the mud, or, at least dragged through 'Disintegration''s viewing prism. In fact, any album The Cure dared to release after 1989 was constantly compared to the formidable 'Disintegration', as though the band were somehow saddled with bettering an album that was praised so highly.
That's not an easy task. Is 'Disintegration' the greatest Cure album? Well... Not really. It is, undoubtedly, incredible. Understand that I do not debate that, in the least. ...but this fan could do without having 'Last Dance' and 'Homesick' (the way the original vinyl was), or even relegating 'Untitled' and 'Prayers for Rain' to their own EP. It brings the album to an incredibly solid 8 tracks. A far more fantastic listen that would give an EP of four other great, though not as grand, songs.
I have no such conditions for some of The Cure's previous and later albums. 'The Head on the Door' is incredibly solid with nary an utterance of fodder. I do feel as though an edited version of 'Push' would have been a better single than 'A Night Like This', but I wouldn't change the album in the least.
'4:13 Dream' is a varied, but incredible, listen that reads like a band reflecting on its own career without playing the hits. It sounds like a commentary track to the band's years of releases. A grand review.
'Faith' is, perhaps, a better measure of The Cure in their dreamiest mode. It's a complete downer without hope; harrowing and spare. A brooding listen that fits the bill more often than any of their other releases when the world is on one's shoulders.
...and that brings us to 'Wish'.
My love for this album cannot be understated. It is faultless. The musicianship is leaps and bounds above their previous work and explores the peaks and troughs of emotions in a way that, dare I say it, 'Disintegration' didn't quite achieve.
'Lovesong' was gorgeous, but 'Friday, I'm in Love' is a complete give-over to joy. 'A Letter to Elise' scrapes the highs of 'Pictures of You' where the latter's true beauty only came to the fore when it was remixed for the video. The excellent 'Disintegration' is bested by several songs: the poetic desperation of 'Open', the chaotic pleading of 'From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea', the complete destruction of 'Cut', or even the quieter, though cathartic 'End'.
Even the glorious 'Fascination Street' is given an upgrade with the giddy 'Doing the Unstuck' where the band don't just gear up for a fun night out, they dance like no one is looking.
Ultimately, each song on 'Wish' also sounds like it belongs together. The stories are more grounded in reality than before, resulting in a much more honest and forward feeling. There aren't any forays into non-sequiturs. No spiders eating anyone; no dour and intentionally poetic sounding epithets like "The shallow drowned lose less than we...". Most of 'Wish' speaks in ways that we speak everyday. Well, except that most of us aren't quite that honest about our emotions.
It's a shame that The Cure's remasters stopped at 'Disintegration'. 'Wish' (or perhaps 'Mixed Up') would have been next in line. It also sold more copies than 'Disintegration', so it would stand to reason that it deserves a new treatment.
Also, the 'Lost Wishes' (which yours truly mailed out for back in the day) need to be brought into the digital world, as the cassette sounds simply terrible. (There is a vinyl of 'Lost Wishes' that was released in Greece which I have never been able to find.)
All I did for the remastering was to bring down the bass and kick up the high end a little. I adjusted the mids to boost some of the background sounds (listen to the string sounds trailing behind the piano that came to the fore in the beginning and instrumental bridge of 'Trust'). It allows for more play in alternate players. With the bass backed off, there is less kick and murmur in various players. I tested this album in 3 car stereos of various quality and preamps, 6 types of headphones (Beats Audios, factory issued Apple earbuds, Shure open backed monitoring headphones...), monitors, stereo speakers... I think this is a more versatile mastering that I was forced to achieve, once again, without the master tapes.
As for the 'Lost Wishes' and 'The Big Hand' that I've tacked on... My apologies. I had to do it all from an old cassette. I spent more time trying to get rid of the warble of the tape than it was really worth. Still, it's at least somewhat listenable compared to my source. Just know that I put hours of love into it to get it as far as I did.
I also dropped in 'Open (Fix Mix)' for good measure. It's not drastically different from the album version, but it has a few nice surprises for those of us who had become (overly) familiar with the original. I gave it a similar treatment to the album masters. Boosting the mid revealed some "ooooh"'s and incidental sounds I hadn't heard before. A small, but entertaining enough moment that seemed good enough to share.
So, with all of the love I can muster for one of my favourite albums... The Cure - Wish. The mock remaster.
Open (Remastered)
High (Remastered)
Apart (Remastered)
From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea (Remastered)
Wendy Time (Remastered)
Doing The Unstuck (Remastered)
Friday I'm In Love (Remastered)
Trust (Remastered)
A Letter To Elise (Remastered)
Cut (Remastered)
To Wish Impossible Things (Remastered)
End (Remastered)
Uyea Sound (Poorly Remastered)
Cloudberry (Poorly Remastered)
Off To Sleep (Poorly Remastered)
The Three Sisters (Poorly Remastered)
Open (Fix Mix Remastered)
The Big Hand (Instrumental Poorly Remastered)
