Cure* ‎– Wish

please re-issue this rsd day 2022!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on a non pic disc with original analog master tape!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was excited to see there was a boot available for this album. I have several boots that were produced in the last decade and they are/were all great placeholders in my collection until the official reissues surface(d). So, I wasn't hesitant to pick this up. But first thing I noticed straight out of the sleeve is there is no track separation. Some of the boots I have have exaggerated track separation and some are normal looking. The only albums i have that do not have track separation are live albums and live bootlegs. As a result, I immediately think this is not going to be "best" boot in my collection. To my thinking, and I'm no expert by far, it makes it look like this album was cut at one level. a "set it and forget it" type of mastering. I may be wrong, if so please correct me.

Anyway, the jacket looks good. The colour may be a little saturated or stronger than the original, but i don't have an original to compare it to directly. The jacket is sturdy and the gatefold is straight. The only thing missing would have been the lyrics printed on the inside gatefold or printed inner sleeves. That would have been a nice touch.

Playing the record through there are a few points where there is slight distortion or "maxing out" on the vocals. It is generally on the louder songs like the first track Open. But, the quieter songs sound great, like Apart. Overall, it is completely listenable.

I'm not regretting this purchase. It is a flat and quiet press, and will tide me over until the long awaited official reissue. But i do wish they spent a bit more time with the mastering. It's not as dynamic as it could be.

My original ‘92 pressing is mostly a strong VG, but there are pops and clicks from time to time even though the discs look very nice. The ‘92 pressing is dynamic and clear, but because it’s dynamic, the quiet parts have the clicks. Particularly on the intro to Doing the Unstuck and all of To Wish Impossible Things. I paid around $100 for that copy and overall I think it was worth it, but I really wanted a copy of Wish without pops and clicks so I could hear To Wish Impossible Things without all the noise.

On the colored unofficial 2020 release, the EQ is even but the audio seems to be compressed and limited. The source used is most likely the CD audio but I wish the audio was left the way it was on the CD with the dynamics, I think it would have worked well on vinyl. Most recent CDs do not transfer well even if the audio remains untouched because most recent digital audio has been compressed and brick walled, whereas the digital audio for Wish was not. This is why the Wish CD sounds so much more quiet than many other CDs.

The limiting should have at least been 3db less, but it sounds okay except for some of the loudest sections. During those loud sections the vocals begin to become buried in the mix. The good thing is To Wish Impossible Things is a quiet song so the limiting doesn’t affect it as much as the other songs. I spent $100 on the unofficial. The gatefold is nice, the records could be more dynamic, they have the same qualities as a lot of other remastered vinyl editions. The spine is thick and sturdy with the proper font and the deeper red tone of the artwork looks better in person than in any of the pictures I’ve seen. The records are clean and quiet.

So the original pressing is superior, but this new version is enjoyable. Just a few unfortunate places where the limiting causes brief distortion.

If you can’t afford $400 for a VG+ original, I think $75-$125 is reasonable for a lesser quality copy of a classic record that is still hard to find.

Hopefully the Robert Smith reissue will come soon.

But if not, this is a a good substitute.

I think it could be better, but I think it’s worth keeping. I’ll play mine for casual instances of listening to protect my ever increasingly valuable original press while I wait to see if an official reissue ever comes to be.