Kronomyth 13.0: A MIXED SUCCESS. A kindness to kure kollectors, who number not a few, Mixed Up kompiles a handful of hard-to-find 12-inch mixes with some newly released and re-recorded mixes. Robert Smith has gone on record as saying that the album’s intent was to put this material within easier reach of fans who might not be inclined to pay $20+ for an aftermarket single, but fans still had to reach into their wallets if they wanted to hear the new stuff (and enough of them did to send it platinum). There are new visions of old nightmares now de-fanged (“The Walk,” “A Forest”), quirky revisions of the classics (two of which, “Close to Me” and “Inbetween Days,” were released as singles to promote this album) and the usual sort of sonic spelunkering one might expect from the psychedelically inclined Smith. It didn’t change my world, it won’t change yours; Mixed Up is about filling in the cracks in your collection, not adding another brick to the wall between you and The Cure and the rest of the world. Time moves excrementally toward the clogged catch basin of our collected memories and Mixed Up seeps through without so much as a stain to remember it by. I wouldn’t make acquiring this a priority since it’s not where the real party is happening, but cure-iosity is bound to get the better of you sooner or later.
The Songs
1. Lullaby (Extended Mix) (Robert Smith/Simon Gallup/Porl Thompson/Boris Williams/Roger O’Donnell/Lol Tolhurst) (7:45)
2. Close To Me (Closer Mix) (Robert Smith) (5:46)
3. Fascination Street (Extended Mix) (Robert Smith/Simon Gallup/Porl Thompson/Boris Williams/Roger O’Donnell/Lol Tolhurst) (8:49)
4. The Walk (Everything Mix) (Robert Smith/Lol Tolhurst) (5:28)
5. Lovesong (Extended Mix) (Robert Smith/Simon Gallup/Porl Thompson/Boris Williams/Roger O’Donnell/Lol Tolhurst) (6:21)
6. A Forest (Tree Mix) (Robert Smith/Lol Tolhurst/Simon Gallup/Mathieu Hartley) (6:56)
7. Pictures of You (Extended Dub Mix) (Robert Smith/Simon Gallup/Boris Williams/Roger O’Donnell/Lol Tolhurst) (6:43)
8. Hot Hot Hot!!! (Extended Mix) (Robert Smith/Simon Gallup/Porl Thompson/Boris Williams/Lol Tolhurst) (7:02)
*8b. Why Can’t I Be You? (Extended Mix)
9. The Caterpillar (Flicker Mix) (Robert Smith/Lol Tolhurst) (5:42)
10. Inbetween Days (Shiver Mix) (Robert Smith) (6:24)
11. Never Enough (Big Mix) (Robert Smith/Simon Gallup/Porl Thompson/Boris Williams) (6:07)
* This track only appears on the 2LP version.
The Players
Produced by Robert Smith and David M. Allen except Smith, Allen and Chris Parry (track 9), and Smith and Mark Saunders (tracks 4, 6 & 11). Remixed by Saunders (tracks 4, 6 &11), Saunders and Smith (track 3), Saunders, Smith and Parry (tracks 1 & 5), Paul Oakenfold (track 2), Brian “Chuck” New (tracks 7 & 9), Francois Kevorkian and Ron St. Germain (track 8), William Orbit (track 10). Engineered by Steve Osborne (track 2) and Richard Dight (track 10); horns on track 2 produced by Tent Party; additional rhythm overdubs on track 10 by Sugar J.
Did You Know?
- Several of the remixes here are named after lyrics in the song (e.g., flicker, shiver, big, everything).
- The 12-inch single for “Close to Me (Closer Mix)” included three new mixes that did not appear on the Mixed Up compact disc or cassette (apparently the gods of the 12-inch aftermarket required a sacrifice for Mixed Up’s sacrilege).
The Plastic
Released on 2LP, CD and cassette on October 30, 1990 in the UK and Singapore (Fiction, 847099-1/2/4), the US (Elektra, 60978-2/4), Australia (Fiction, 903172517-1), Brazil (Fiction, 847 137-1), Canada (Elektra, E2-60978), Czechoslovakia (Popron, 50 053-2), Japan (Polydor, POCP-1052), the Philippines (Polydor, 847 099-4), Poland (Fann, F-154) and Venezuela (Polydor, 30.596); reached #8 on the UK charts and #14 on the US charts (RIAA-certified platinum record).
