By their very nature, remix albums carry the weight of both their source material and the expectations of a “new” record. More often than not, the original music culled for remix collections is always better, and the result isn’t so much a new album as it is a set of old songs restructured and recontextualized as the artist readies their next proper LP.
The Cure is no stranger to the remix album. In 1990, after the success of Disintegration, they released Mixed Up, which featured remixed songs from their first decade. A sequel, Torn Down, played catch-up with the preceding quarter century in 2018. Both albums served a purpose, closing chapters for the group.
Mixes of a Lost World has a different purpose: to extend the life of the 2024 comeback LP Songs of a Lost World while offering new perspectives on the album’s eight songs. Unlike its predecessors, though, Mixes of a Lost World enlists big-name producers and remixers to overhaul the tracks, each receiving multiple remixes. Unsurprisingly, the mostly club-ready mixes turn out to be just as much about the remixers as it is the Cure.
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Conceived and curated by Robert Smith, the album features new mixes by Daniel Avery, Four Tet, Paul Oakenfold and Orbital, among others. They each spin the music through their distinct filters, allowing the band’s originals to occasionally peek through the screens they lay on top of and beneath the foundations. The viewpoints may be different, but nothing here surpasses the tracks found on Songs of a Lost World.
Still, some of these new mixes reveal textures and layers not initially apparent on the 2024 LP, such as the menacing darkness hiding in the corner of “I Can Never Say Goodbye,” pushed to the forefront of Oakenfold’s “Cinematic” remix, and Shanti Celeste’s rippling “February Blues” reworking of the melancholic “Alone,” Songs of a Lost World‘s best song. Others (Sally C, JoyCut) merely turn a few knobs in other directions, while meera’s “All I Ever Am” dispenses of the Cure altogether. Smith has said there won’t be another 16-year wait for Songs of a Lost World‘s follow-up. Until then, Mixes of a Lost World continues the comeback buzz.
The Cure Albums Ranked
Gloomy, gothy, punky, poppy – this multidimensional band’s albums are among the best of the era.
Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci
