Apparently the reason that The Cure’s 14th studio album, 2024’s Songs Of A Lost World, took so long to come out was because it took a number of years for frontman and leader Robert Smith to lay down his vocals onto the songs. As the story goes, most of the backing tracks were ready to go half a decade before, calling out for Robert to press record, open his mouth and start singing. As Roy Keane might say, “That’s his job”.
The funny thing is, Smith seems to have had zero issues in adding his voice to other people’s work over the years in which The Cure’s own catalogue wasn’t being added to, with quite a few of those coming in the years after those instrumentals from Songs Of A Lost World were just sitting there. Imagine what was being said on the secret WhatsApp group they have behind his back… “He’s done what with Gorillaz?”. But Smith did get there eventually with his vocal contributions on Songs Of A Lost World and there’s no denying it was worth the wait, a stellar addition to the gothic alt-rock-sometimes-pop’s back catalogue. That he did get there in the end means we can also celebrate some of those guest vocal spots without the spectre of his own group’s material remaining unfinished. Some very good gear in here – and yes, there is a side-effect that songs will start sounding exactly like The Cure if you get Robert Smith to sing on your song. Here’s some of his best...
