Mixed Up (Double LP)

MIXED UP With the Disintegration album and its accompanying global Prayer Tour, 1989 had delivered a triumphant end to the 80s, but the first year of the 90s found The Cure unexpectedly unsettled.

Determined to keep up the momentum of the band's ongoing success, but knowing there were internal tensions to address before heading back into the studio, Robert Smith decided on a different course of action; curating an album of the band's rarer 12" mixes. As work on Mixed Up progressed, Smith realised that some of The Cure's earlier remixes didn't stand up to the newer ones.

Robert singles out Brian 'Chuck' New's dub style remix of Pictures Of You as the one that inspired him to take a more adventurous path. "That mix turned the music on its head, but at the same time left the essential heart of the song intact. As soon as I heard it, I updated the entire Mixed Up plan. My revised ambition was to compile an album that was contemporary without being dated, immediate without being obvious, musically inspiring, rhythmically exciting and sonically great!"

Two tracks on the album, A Forest and The Walk, were not just remixed but entirely re-recorded, as the multi-track tapes for both songs had long been lost. Both songs were reconstructed in the studio with producer Mark Saunders, using original instruments and gear.

The band convened over five days in June 1990 to record a new track for Mixed Up. After a certain amount of fraught experimenting with beats, loops and sequenced bass lines, Smith decided to change the vibe. A demo entitled PhaseAGE that had previously been deemed 'too rock' was committed to tape as Never Enough and was released as a single in September 1990. The 'Closer Mix' of Close To Me soon followed this and both songs were accompanied by customarily deranged Tim Pope videos.

With Mixed Up finally released, Smith felt he could at last move on, confident in a re-energised and re-integrated band. "The whole of 1990 was essentially spent emerging from the shadow of Disintegration, and we managed to do it in a creatively satisfying way; by the end of the year, I couldn't wait to start work on new songs for the next record".