The Cure - Faith (Reissue)

Browsing through my collection of compact dics, I find that all too many are "classics" that have thankfully been restored to their high esteem by Rhino Records and their seemingly neverending forays into bringing back the beatiful past. Last year, we were given the Cure's debut, Three Imaginary Boys, remastered, repackaged--revamped--and since it's a new year, it's time for more of Robert Smith & Co.'s catolog to get the same treatment. Originally released in 1981, Faith followed up Seventeen Seconds, and was at that point at a loss, with the departure of keyboardist Matthhieu Hartley. As the liner notes included with the package say, Smith was in a deep, dark place (imagine that), and the loss of many close friends and relatives in such a short amount of time prompted him to turn to the church, though he says: "I understood that, above all, people were in church because they believed in a personal 'eternity.' I began to realize that I didn't believe in this eternity at all, and I was scared. On the day I wrote the words to 'Faith,' I knew I had the title track." But what's really the point in my analysis of songs that have been critiqued for 24 years? There's no reason for doing such a thing, so onto disc two, the "rarities 1980-1981" collection. This disc is an assorment of demos, live tracks, studio out-takes, etcetera, and though I'm a fan of the Cure, there isn't much on this second disc that really, truly would make a purchase worthwhile, unless you're an absolute Robert Smith fanatic. The quality of the demos is pretty poor, which makes sense, seeing as how they are demos, but they're less than enticing. The live tracks aren't spectacular, and "Charlotte Sometimes," tacked on the very end, can only redeem the disc so much. Solid album, not their best, but casual Cure fans won't be missing anything on this. [www.thecure.com]