| dublin prayer two 16/07/1989 |
| plainsong noticeable recording flaws pictures of you noticeable flaws closedown flaws piggy in the mirror slight flaws a night like this flaws just like heaven slight catch slight last dance fascination street cold charlotte sometimes the walk a forest inbetween days the same deep water as you flaws prayers for rain flaws disintegration slight/very slight lullaby slight close to me let's go to bed why can't i be you? medley m fire in cairo three imaginary boys boys don't cry 10.15 saturday night killing an arab |
| the cure plays a second night in dublin during the prayer tour. this recording sounds average/slightly better than average at first spot-listen, but with some time you can hear slight pitch changes/waves...due to a flaw w/the source tape/taping equipment. it's pretty noticeable in the long sustained synth/keyboard notes of "plainsong," and then early on in "pictures of you" as well...after a verse or two, it seems to fall away and then comes back in places...sometimes worse/more noticeable than others. the band seems to be playing well. the recording flaws make this one difficult to review =\ but robert asks the crowd if anyone had been to see them yesterday (as this was the second of two nights in dublin), and said that "piggy in the mirror" was for those people who were at both shows. "piggy in the mirror" (and maybe other songs that move) doesn't seem to feel so distorted w/the recording problems...they only feel slightly altered. "a night like this" is ok w/some noticeable distortion of tone, further into the set...things get more settled really, "fascination street" "cold" and some of the others sound almost (that's almost!) untouched by the tape distortion stuff. where it's quite noticeable, i've marked those tracks...slight problems are marked w/"slight," and unmarked songs are songs w/little or no real audio/recording problems here.. "a forest" is really good (robert has a strong vocal on it tonight) and pretty clean, some hints of tape distortion/warped sounds are always in the mix--but it's pretty clean, and the performance is really good. the outro always sounds good, but this ending sounds pretty cool w/some slightly different melodic ideas mixed in. |
| a very upbeat "inbetween days" follows "a forest," and it comes thru mostly clean... but unfortunately, the long sustained notes of "the same deep water as you" sometimes reveal the continued flaws...much more easily heard, and more distracting. it's pretty hard to listen to and not be discouraged =\ by the wavering pitches in the keyboards and six-string bass lines, which are usually very lovely...the same problem keeps up during "prayers for rain," and then to a much lesser extent w/"disintegration." "disintegration" actually seems to be pretty stable, and the performance is strong. "lullaby" seems to be good,there are slight tonal changes here and there...but the encores seem to be better, and don't have so many noticeable problems. "close to me" and "let's go to bed" both are full of fun and energy, w/out many flaws. luckily, "why can't i be you?" is pretty clean w/additional lyrics and melodies from "witchcraft" "black magic" "young at heart" "everybody wants to be a cat" and "the lovecats." this one is really good!! a lovely performance of "m" follows (no real sound/recording problems!!) and then "fire in cairo" done by robert on a simple electric guitar...very nice. robert then plays around on guitar (almost starting "boys don't cry") before playing "three imaginary boys" w/everyone back in playing--excellent--after that is "boys don't cry," and then the classic cure one/two punch of "10.15 saturday night" and "killing an arab." all are well done, good performances...and the recording is actually pretty stable thru the end. this is actually a difficult listen, w/the unstable recording making the songs/performances very hard to enjoy..not a bad night--i think the band played a very strong show, and prayer tour shows are some of the best. but given that some really killer prayer tour recordings exist, this is strictly for curemad fans and people who may have actually been in attendance. not recommended w/out serious caution. |