– The Cure – in session for John Peel – May 9, 1979 – broadcast May 16, 1979 – BBC Radio 1 –
The Cure for our Sunday Night excursion. Their second session for John Peel – recorded on May 9 and broadcast on May 16, 1979, this session coincides with the release of their debut album Three Imaginary Boys, which was released on May 8, the day before this session. One of the bands pioneering Post-Punk and what became New Wave, The Cure eventually became highly influential in Goth, but disavowed the connection in the mid-80s, preferring to make their music more accessible to audiences.
Over the years there have been numerous line-ups, but the only original member consistently with the band is Robert Smith, who has been the guiding force behind the band and all its transformations.
Ironically, Three Imaginary Boys wasn’t a particularly well liked album, even Robert Smith confessed to not liking the outcome. Worse, the critics were less than kind, and for a time, critics were considering The Cure to be lightweight and not with much substance. Although, listening to this session, you’d be hard pressed to come to that conclusion. Nonetheless, in 1979 the band were only three years from initially forming. So there was some growth about to take place in the subsequent months ahead.
Needless to say, The Cure have become one of the pivotal bands in the late 70s/early 80s development of Post-Punk, and their popularity has increased. Actually, things improved greatly by the time their second album came out – they had embarked as support group for Siouxsie and The Banshees Join Hands promotion tour, in which Robert Smith wound up doing double duty, not only as frontman of The Cure, but being guitarist for the Banshees when their own lead guitarist, John McKay quit the group mid-tour.
But tonight it’s evolving Cure, and if you remember them, you will know this was an exciting period for the band. If you missed them the first time around, you can get a taste of what they were like in a live setting from this session.
Play loud – it’s obvious Peel was a fan.
