EP-iphanies: The Cure’s “Catch” [U.K. 12″]

The Analog Kid lives for b-sides and non-album cuts! In this continuing series, I will share some of my favorite EPs and 12″ singles from over the years in their entirety. And since it’s digital, you don’t have to worry about correctly setting the turntable speed to 33⅓ or 45!

First of all, thank you for all of your kind words during my recent extended absence. I haven’t posted since the day Prince died, and I have to admit that I was pretty shaken up by his death. I just didn’t feel like writing in the weeks afterward, and then it was time to depart for a long-planned family vacation. By the way, this place does not suck:

When we finally returned from the great National Park Expedition of 2016, almost a month had gone by since my last blog post. Here’s the crazy thing: despite the absence of any new entries during that time, the last month has been the busiest in the history of the Analog Kid Blog. I was getting upwards of 4,000 hits per day after Prince died– turns out my blog is one of the few places where you can find a copy of The Black Album. I’m even on the first results page if you google “Prince Black Album,” so that’s kinda cool. It’s also pretty cool that I haven’t been busted by the notorious Prince internet police, and I thank them for letting my little blog remain in tact. So many people have thanked me for giving them access to hard-to-find Prince music, and in a way that made me feel just a little bit better after the tragic loss.

Again, I really do appreciate all of you friendly folks who wrote to me during the break. Some of you were worried about me, and some of you just wanted to say thanks. I can assure you that I am healthy and happy, and that my faith in music has once again been fully restored. And guess who did it? These guys:

The Cure recently began their first full-scale tour of the United States since 2008, and I was lucky enough to grab a last-minute tenth-row seat for the Dallas show (the fifth on the tour). What I saw simply amazed me: an epic three-hour, 34-song set that covered just about every aspect of The Cure’s vast catalog. Big hits? Check. Deep album cuts? Check. B-sides? Check. A whopping 9 songs from Disintegration, one of the best albums EVER? Double-check!!

I’ve been following the set lists each night on Twitter (thanks, @CraigatCoF!!), and my show was not an anomaly. The Cure have played more than 70 different songs already, and they just wrapped up an epic three-night stand at The Hollywood Bowl. That’s three straight nights at The Hollywood Bowl. Ok, I’ll say it: you know how much I love Bruce Springsteen and his epic live shows, right? Well, The Cure are making Bruce look a little lazy– and that is a very hard thing to do. The North American leg of the tour continues through mid-July, and I urge you to catch a show if you get the chance. You will not be disappointed.

The Cure didn’t play their 1987 single “Catch” at my Dallas show, but they did bust out this underrated little love song two days later in El Paso. “Catch” wasn’t released as a single in the U.S., but it was a minor hit in the U.K (it reached #27). The U.K. 12″ single for “Catch” also contained two great (as usual) b-sides: “Breathe” and “A Chain Of Flowers,” either of which would have fit very nicely on Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me.

The inspiration for this sweet, “Catch”-y little song just might surprise you. It also helps to clear up something that has always left me scratching my head just a little: how exactly did The Cure end up contributing a brand new song to the 1993 Judge Dredd soundtrack? Well, it turns out that Robert Smith wrote “Catch” after watching a late-night airing of Rocky II back in the mid-’80s. Remember the scene when Rocky read a bedside poem to a still-comatose Adrian after the birth of their child? Here’s the text:

Smith was so moved by the scene that he wrote “Catch,” and included it on 1987’s Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me. Years later, Sylvester Stallone found out about his link to The Cure and asked the band to contribute a song to his latest movie project: Judge Dredd. And that’s how the bizarre Robert Smith/Sylvester Stallone “Dredd Song” pairing came to be, boys and girls! A strange attraction indeed…

It’s good to be back. Thanks again for your patience!

The Cure: Catch [U.K. 12″]

Fiction Records, 1987

1. “Catch” (Robert Smith/Boris Williams/Porl Thompson/Simon Gallup/Lol Tolhurst)

Catch

2. “Breathe” (Robert Smith/Boris Williams/Porl Thompson/Simon Gallup/Lol Tolhurst)

Breathe

3. “A Chain Of Flowers” (Robert Smith/Boris Williams/Porl Thompson/Simon Gallup/Lol Tolhurst)

A Chain Of Flowers

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Bonus Tracks!

The first rule of The Analog Kid blog is that if you write about a song on the Analog Kid blog, you share the song on the Analog Kid blog.

The Cure: “Prayers For Rain” (Robert Smith/Lol Tolhurst/Roger O’Donnell/Simon Gallup/Porl Thompson/Boris Williams)

From the album Disintegration

Elektra Records, 1989

Prayers For Rain

Bruce Springsteen: “Stray Bullet” (Bruce Springsteen)

From the album The Ties That Bind: The River Collection

Columbia Records, 2015

Stray Bullet

Bill Conti: “Fanfare For Rocky” (Bill conti)

From the album Rocky: Original Motion Picture Score

United Artists Records, 1976

Fanfare For Rocky

The Cure: “Dredd Song” (Robert Smith/Perry Bamonte/Jason Cooper/Roger O’Donnell/Simon Gallup)

From the album Judge Dredd: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

550 Music, 1993

Dredd Song

The Cure: “Strange Attraction” (Robert Smith/Perry Bamonte/Jason Cooper/Roger O’Donnell/Simon Gallup)

From the album Wild Mood Swings

Elektra Records, 1996

Strange Attraction