Cracker by Damian Christie

Damian, there are Cure geeks more attentive than you and I. For completists, here's the full setlist. From my vantage point down the front I also felt the lull during the second hour, but the three encores more than made up for it.

10:15 Saturday Night is such a great tune. A lovely piece of original punk/new wave niceness.

10:15 Saturday Night is such a great tune

On it's original 7" with Killing An Arab on the flip, it's one of the 70s great singles IMO...and I'd argue they never bettered it. Pop perfection.

Just as a not unrelated aside, is there any band/artist with any kind of longevity whose later stuff was better than their earlier stuff?
Cure, Stones, Ramones, AC/DC, Bowie, Floyd, Elton, Genesis, etc etc...

New Order.
David Sylvian.
I like the old stuff too, the new stuff just got betterer.

On it's original 7" with Killing An Arab on the flip, it's one of the 70s great singles IMO...and I'd argue they never bettered it. Pop perfection.

Completely agree. I can remember that single well although never owned it. I do have a mate though, who has a lovely collection of vinyl punk singles by the likes of UK Subs, The Damned, Subway Sect, Clash and loads more. Proper works of art.

For a more up to date fix, there's a fantastic punk/new wave compilation called "1-2-3-4 Punk & New Wave 1976-1979" 5 CD's of stone cold classics and a load of lesser known stuff that I imagine would be extremely hard to find elsewhere. So for every Sex Pistols and Ramones tune there's "19 & Mad by Leyton Buzzards or "I'm In Love With Margaret Thatcher" by the Not Sensibles, "F*ck Off" by the The Electric Chairs and "Gabrielle" by The Nips.

The more oblique end of the scale is well covered too by Wire, Swell Maps, Pere Ubu etc...

As well as The Cure, of course.

Yeah, Peter I have that thing...lovely box with badges stuck to the front. I'm lucky enough to own dozens of originals from the same period, piccy sleeves etc...one of the benefits of age, Jam, Clash, Damned, Ramones, all the early Pistols (EMI NZ Anarchy) and many more including lots of one offs with very cool garage graphics, gatefold sleeves, coloured or clear vinyl....

Mp3s, CDs, whatever, the 7" single still rules the pop format

Mp3s, CDs, whatever, the 7" single still rules the pop format

heh heh heh ...

... try telling that to today's kids, Grand-dad.

I'm lucky enough to own dozens of originals from the same period, piccy sleeves etc...one of the benefits of age, Jam, Clash, Damned, Ramones, all the early Pistols (EMI NZ Anarchy)

I remember being at Camden market in the mid-late '80s and they had a huge selection of classic punk vinyl singles and I'd gaze at them sweaty-palmed knowing I couldn't buy any of them because (a) I had no money and (b) I was basically living out of a bag. I do still have a few tucked away in the record collection though.

One thing I do have is an original 12" of The Suburban Reptiles "Megaton" single that I bought in Christchurch in the early '80s (may have even been off Roger). I'm sure someone told me this was NZ's first 12" single but have no idea whether that's actually true or not?

... try telling that to today's kids, Grand-dad

Don't worry, there'll be a select few that catch the bug.

(PS: I have no sub, nor claim to. This post is bound to be riddled with mistakes.)

No worse than usual - a couple of dangling participles, 4 split infinitives, an over-abundance of puncuational operatives and a tragically missed opportunity of displaying your newly-honed skills in the area of gerunds.

Par for the course, I'd say...

No worse than usual - a couple of dangling participles, 4 split infinitives, an over-abundance of puncuational operatives and a tragically missed opportunity of displaying your newly-honed skills in the area of gerunds.

Par for the course, I'd say...

Shouldn't that be puncTuational?

Nothing like a bit of punk tuition in a Cure post...

Shouldn't that be puncTuational?

Punktuational, indeed.

His spelling's OK, though...

... try telling that to today's kids, Grand-dad.

actually the humble 7"has had quite a revival in the UK, most indie bands releasing their singles in the format these days. Conch had a thing in their newsletter about a 400% increase in sales over the past few years.

I'm sure someone told me this was NZ's first 12" single but have no idea whether that's actually true or not?

It was, and I can put my hand up and say that was my idea. Phonogram who distributed it has to be forced into it very reluctantly. You did well to find a new copy in the 1980s too, only 500 were pressed in early 78. It was gold in AK by 81 and I was going to do a 7" repress of both Reptiles singles as a doublepack but for some reason never got around to it...

Would anyone distribute/put out a song called "Killing an Arab" these days? (presumably spun from Camus' Outsider?) Not surprised they didn't play it (did they?) It would quickly become notorious!

It was from Camus, they did change it, wikipedia link above, and I'm thinking of other songs that didn't rock the boat but maybe should have,
Holiday In Cambodia, Dead Kennedy's
Charlie Don't Surf, The Clash
And then I'm thinking about political songs and pop, haven't Pearl Jam recently been censored for anti-Bush lyrics?

Camus was kind of ambivalent about Arabs and his upbringing in Algeria colours all his works. Being a pied-noir was explored in his unfinished novel, 'The First Man'. I went through a huge Camus phase but for the longest time I didn't notice the significance of the lyrics of that Cure song.

And it was like giving four sharp knocks at the door of unhappiness.
(from The Stranger)

What a great line.

Sorry, I know this is a music thread.

Not surprised they didn't play it (did they?)

Are you asking whether the Cure played it the other night? They certainly did, in the final encore - see Matt's post above about the full setlist:

http://www.cure-concerts.de/concerts/2007-08-14.php

It was, and I can put my hand up and say that was my idea. Phonogram who distributed it has to be forced into it very reluctantly. You did well to find a new copy in the 1980s too, only 500 were pressed in early 78. It was gold in AK by 81 and I was going to do a 7" repress of both Reptiles singles as a doublepack but for some reason never got around to it...

Excellent, really nice to know some of the history behind it. I've always been hacked off I didn't snag a single copy of Saturday Night as well.

I think I got it in either 1982 or even 83. It may have been a copy at the Uni of Canterbury Book Shop with Steve Birss behind the counter. I remember Vince Oi from The Johnnys (Chch) offered me $100 for it in 1984.

I like to dream that it has some value nowadays. It's still in very nice nick.

Are you asking whether the Cure played it the other night? They certainly did, in the final encore - see Matt's post above about the full setlist:

I was told by someone who was there that at the Sydney show they sang it as "Killing an other". So perhaps it's the new theme song for Lost?

I like to dream that it has some value nowadays. It's still in very nice nick.

Original Sat Nite went on TradeMe for NZ $550 a while back. Megaton is much rarer and almost never comes up anywhere but one went in the US for USD$600 recently. If you have the first press (200...you can tell by the label...the first run had the Roger Dean label, I insisted on it as some sort of silly punk snipe at hippie-dom...the second run has a black and white Vertigo label) it's worth the most, as the $600 one was the second, bigger, run

Roughly on-topic, an amazing Guardian story about Edwin Collins, who is recovering from a devastating stroke two years ago.