The Cure 2004-10-15"Black Sessions" Studio 105, Maison de la Radio, Paris, France

The Cure
"Black Sessions"
Studio 105, Maison de la Radio, Paris, France
Recording date : October 15, 2004
First broadcast : December 6, 2004

Lineage : Digital broadcast (cable) > SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro > Goldwave > WAV > Flac Frontend > Flac

Track Listing :

Plainsong
High
A Night Like This
The End of the World
Charlotte Sometimes
Lovesong
Taking Off
Primary
Jupiter Crash
Closedown
Before Three
From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea
A Strange Day
Disintegration
If Only Tonight We Could Sleep
The Kiss


Session notes
Twice a month, French radio France Inter broadcasts the "Black Sessions". Hosted by Bernard Lenoir, who should be considered as the French equivalent of John Peel (RIP), this show features live sessions by new or famous rock and pop bands. Lenoir, who has followed The Cure's career since their early days, has never managed to get the band into his show for various reasons, mostly scheduling incompatibilities. Twelve years after the very first "Black Sessions", The Cure finally manages to play for this respected show.
The band played 18 songs during this 90-minute session. Two of them, "Us or them" and "Alt.end" didin't make it to the broadcast.
There were introduction and conclusion comments (in French) by Bernard Lenoir, but I had to cut them to fit the show onto a single 80-minute CD. NO music has been cut. Lenoir also adds some comments between some of the tracks, but has enough taste to stop right before the next track begins.

Technical notes
Even though I own a sound card that is 24-bit-capable, I'm not familiar with that kind of recording. I decided to try to do my best with 16-bit recording and an all-digital lineup. France Inter, the radio which provides the Black Sessions, broadcasts (among other means) over digital cable. So I used a Toslink cable to link the digital output of my cable box to the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro inside my PC. I recorded the tracks onto my hard drive and edited  them with Goldwave, which is the software I'm the most comfortable with for audio. Files were Flac'ed using the Flac Frontend.

WARNING
At 1:38 during Before Three, you'll hear 4 beeps. Every hour France Inter sends these beeps over the air, whatever the broadcast is (talk show, ads, music...). I don't think there is a way of removing them nicely, without tampering with the music. I hope you won't be too annoyed by these parasite sounds.

Enjoy this show. I'm not a huge Cure fan but I really liked this gig, which was really intense.
Bonne ecoute !
 

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