Rhino / Wea
2004
Three Imaginary Boys
About This Album
How to handle the B-sides, rarities, and sock-drawer discoveries? It's the dilemma of any band with an exhaustive series of reissues ahead of it. The results, no matter what they might be, are bound to cause a mix of jubilation, confusion, and frustration throughout the fan base -- especially when the band in question is the Cure. There's no clean, obvious way to do it. Rhino's elaborate overhauling of the Cure's back catalog assumes that you have been a rabid follower throughout the years and will want every piece of the puzzle. Cure fans being Cure fans, it's not a foolish judgment to make, and it's the one that should cause the least amount of consternation. Following the four-disc Join the Dots box, Rhino continued with a two-disc expanded form of Three Imaginary Boys, originally released in 1979 as the band's first album. Since the B-sides from this era appear on the box, they aren't included on the rarities disc that accompanies the album proper. This allows plenty of room for demos, live versions, and orphaned songs. "Jumping Someone Else's Train" and "Boys Don't Cry" -- two non-album A-sides -- are included, as is "World War," a song that appeared on initial copies and was presumably extracted for being, as Robert Smith accurately claims, "a terrible piece of rubbish.
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 5,7 and 12)

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Disc 2

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