The thought of cracking out another blog post any time soon seemed almost as impossible as grabbing this record for a decent-ish price. Turns out a snowy morning makes for ideal time to dust off the old cobwebs and make a start on writing about wax. I've fallen behind not only on my own blog, but on reading others I tend to follow pretty closely.
The Cure - Wish - Fiction Records - 1st Press (U.K) - 2 X LP
As far as 'White Whale Wants' go; this one was fairly high up on the list; and I'm not talking about this variant specifically. I would've settled for any copy; and after the 2016 Cure re-issues and the Record Store Day releases I was kind of hoping this / Mood Swings and Bloodflowers were all going to get a reissue. Sadly it doesn't seem to be the case, so I caved.
This isn't in the greatest condition; but the price is reflecting that honestly. Actually, that's not strictly true. It was listed as VG/VG - and although the records are definitely VG +; but the cover has suffered over the years and it's missing the promo insert. Just your standard single sleeve housing 2 LP's causing edge rubbing etc. It's nothing that's making me want to send it back (especially as this cost around half of the Discogs median selling price) but it's probably not VG. The hype sticker has also been removed, which isn't really a big deal and it's cool that there's no ugly sticker residue on the cover. But more than anything I'm just glad to finally own it.
The centre labels are great. The font is my favourite Cure typeface and all of the artwork here is pretty captivating; but you see more of that on the inserts.
Back Cover
The barcode sticks out like a sore thumb. Personally I would've kept it as far away from the art as possible, but again - what do I know?
Both LP's come in full colour (well - red and black) inserts. The lyrics are housed on one side - as far as I can see the credits are on the reverse. The sparse illustrations dotted around are great; they remind me of the merch from the time (I wasn't around at the time to be clear - the album is about 6 months older than me) and I always keep an eye out for Wish era tour shirts. However, much the same as record collecting - older band shirts and particularly tour stuff has become a little trend in itself so prices are probably not worth chasing right now. I'm not paying over £100 for a one-size-fits-all super worn Cure shirt for sure.
My favourite piece of art from this record is the hand print on the lift side insert; even more so than the cover. It suits the weird mood of the record and it makes me really happy to finally own it.
If this ever gets a reissue along with Bloodflowers and WMS - I would probably let this copy go (depending on how the reissue looks and sounds of course); but as it's 25th anniversary passed last year I'm not really holding my breath. Weirdly enough I always keep an eye out for the coloured reissues of the first 4 Cure LP's too from RSD 2012 (but I'm not indulging The Top) a few years back. It doesn't really make sense to want multiple variants as I still have some massive gaps in my Cure collection. For now though this will definitely keep me going.
Cheers!
