Pitchfork

As the gray-skied mope of winter slowly transforms into a pastel-drenched spring, our inner teenager begins to go through some serious gloom withdrawal. Coming through with the industry standard prescription for said angst deficiency, Rhino Records has recently announced details on the next batch of Cure reissues, currently slated for release next month as expanded 2xCD sets. The announcement follows the label's previously reported plan to overhaul the entire Cure catalog, which kicked into gear last December with the excellent two-disc expansion of their 1979 debut, Three Imaginary Boys.

According to their official website, on April 26 the Cure will release the early classics Seventeen Seconds, Faith, and Pornography, some of the band's most revered work. Each of the digitally remastered albums is featured in its original running order on Disc One (except for Faith, which tacks on the previously cassette-only soundtrack "Carnage Visors"), while Disc Two is chock-full of live tracks, demos, and alternate versions drawn from each album's era. Now when is someone going to put the same request into Prince's purple suggestion box?? We're pretty sure you can track down info on the originals, so here are the extras (with sources helpfully noted):

>>Seventeen Seconds: Rarities 1979-1980
01 I'm a Cult Hero (vinyl single by Cult Hero)
02 I Dig You (vinyl single by Cult Hero)
03 Another Journey By Train (home demo)
04 Secrets (home demo)
05 Seventeen Seconds (live)
06 In Your House (live)
07 Three (alt studio mix)
08 I Dig You (Cult Hero live)
09 I'm a Cult Hero (Cult Hero live)
10 M (live)
11 The Final Sound (live)
12 A Reflection (live)
13 Play For Today (live)
14 At Night (live)
15 A Forest (live)

>>Faith: Rarities 1980-1981
01 Faith (RS home demo)
02 Doubt (RS home demo)
03 Drowning (group home demo)
04 The Holy Hour (group home demo)
05 Primary (studio outtake)
06 Going Home Time (studio outtake)
07 The Violin Song (studio outtake)
08 A Normal Story (studio outtake)
09 All Cats Are Grey (live)
10 The Funeral Party (live)
11 Other Voices (live)
12 The Drowning Man (live)
13 Faith (live)
14 Forever (live)
15 Charlotte Sometimes (single)

>>Pornography: Rarities 1981-1982
01 Break (group home demo)
02 Demise (studio demo)
03 Temptation (studio demo)
04 The Figurehead (studio demo)
05 The Hanging Garden (studio demo)
06 One Hundred Years (studio demo)
07 Airlock: The Soundtrack
08 Cold (live)
09 A Strange Day (live)
10 Pornography (live)
11 All Mine (live)
12 A Short Term Effect (live)
13 Siamese Twins (live)
14 Temptation Two (aka lgtb) (RS studio demo)

The band's archive-raiding for these reissues is particularly impressive considering that 2004's B-sides/rarities box set Join the Dots already delivered four discs of Cure goodness to longtime converts, but Cure fans are nothing if not obsessive, as we know firsthand. Besides the plethora of tracks dug up from their musical graveyard, the reissues also include a deluxe booklet with extensive liner notes, complete lyrics, and never-before-released photos from the band's personal archives. Pictures of Robert Smith sans make-up?! Have the Cure learned nothing from KISS?