Rockin Bear Vinyl & CDs

Review: The Cure's live albums has always been a generous collection, and perhaps it pinnacled with the ruinous film shot in the depths of southern France, Live In Orange. But this double-disc set of live radio recordings from 2005 and 2008, capturing the band in two late-period phases, hears them in a rawer, prenatal stage. Though often folded into goth rock, the band has always hovered just outside the lines, blending post-punk moodiness with pop precision and sonic excess. In the dusty wake of their most recent album, Songs Of A Lost World, these sessions pull from across their catalogue, from the shimmer of 'Plainsong' and 'Just Like Heaven' to the frayed aggression of 'Shake Dog Shake', 'Disintegration' and 'Us Or Them', all still burning with drama.