Unfortunately, my CD skips so I've gone back to Nadja’s original recording, which features as the closing song on 2009 covers album When I See The Sun Always Shines On TV. As you might expect, it includes Nadja's reimagining of the a-ha song, alongside My Bloody Valentine, Codeine, Swans, Slayer, Elliott Smith and Kids In The Hall.
I was impressed with Nadja's 2021 version, which stretched The Cure's original to ten and a half minutes. Their 2009 version goes even further, teasing the song out to nearly thirteen minutes of droning guitar, relentless percussion and calm-amid-the-chaos vocals.
I enjoy both versions which really take you somewhere else but, as any good cover should, also lead you back to the original version. I probably didn't hear the Faith album until the mid- to late-1980s, when I was really getting into The Cure. Even then, it was a thing of ghostly, grim beauty.
In looking for a YouTube video of Faith to add to this post, I came across a re-recorded version that The Cure appear to have done in 2005. I know that the Faith album was re-mastered and re-released as a deluxe edition in 2005 but I don't think this new version was included and I've no idea if it was released in a physical or digital format elsewhere. It's not quite as good as the 1981 version though it stands up to repeated listens.
I've only ever heard The Cure live in concert on album, TV and radio. They are, of course, absolutely brilliant as the following YouTube clip demonstrates. I've not seen this performance of Faith before - if I've got my research right, this was from The Cure's gig at Arena De Dax, Orange, France on 8th April 1986.
The Cure are playing live in the UK and Eire in December 2022 (no, I don't have tickets) and Robert Smith has been promising at least one new album for ages - maybe we’ll get it in 2023, maybe not.
Nadja recently played a few gigs in Glasgow, Birmingham and London (no, I didn't have tickets) and have a new album - their second this year - out next week called Labyrinthine.
Labyrinthine comprises four extended tracks of the aforementioned atmospheric doom sludge, each with a different
guest vocalist: Alan Dubin (Gnaw, Khanate), Rachel Davies (Esben &
The Witch), Lane Shi Otayonii (Elizabeth Colour Wheel) and Dylan
Walker (Full Of Hell). You can buy Labyrinthine, When I See The Sun Always Shines On TV and their extensive back catalogue on Bandcamp.
I had to listen to the Nadja cover just because the description included the words "doom" and "sludge", which don't automatically go together. It's very intense. But I prefer the original.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you 100%, Rol. When I think of atmospheric music, "doom sludge" isn't exactly a phrase that's lined up waiting to roll off the tongue. Yet, it was a strangely apt descriptor. I found some of Nadja's other music...interesting, but I won't be in a great rush to hear their version of a-ha's The Sun Always Shines On TV again.
DeleteAs for Faith, I liked Nadja's version but The Cure's original album version is unbeatable. The 2005 version is okay though not entirely necessary so it's the live version that will be my other one on repeat.