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Paris (The Cure album)

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Paris
Live album by
Released25 October 1993[1]
Recorded19–21 October 1992
VenueLe Zénith de Paris, France
Length57:37
Label
The Cure chronology
Show
(1993)
Paris
(1993)
Wild Mood Swings
(1996)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Calgary HeraldB+[3]
Hot Press(favourable)[4]
Rolling Stone(favourable)[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[6]
Vox8/10[7]

Paris is a live album recorded by The Cure at Le Zénith de Paris, in October 1992 during their Wish tour, but released in October 1993. The band announced the album in July 1993.[8]

Paris was released at the same time as Show, which was recorded in the United States. The album features more cult classics like "The Figurehead" and "One Hundred Years" than Show, which is generally more single-friendly.

50% of the royalties earned by the album were given to the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement charities in support of their international relief work.

In mid-1996, Billboard reported that Paris had sold 95,000 copies in the United States by that point, much less than the 213,000 copies of Show sold there by the same point.[9] The magazine described the release of the album "within a few weeks" of Show as exemplifying the "unorthodox career path" that the band had taken.[9]

Reception

[edit]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic praised the album, observing "Show featured mostly hit singles; Paris features the songs that built their cult, including "Close to Me" and "Letter to Elise." Consequently, most fans will find this the more interesting of the two live albums, and, out of the two records, it is the more consistent and satisfying."[10]

Patrick Brennan of Hot Press was also positive on the song choices and felt it was "for die-hard Cure fans it's a gorgeous treat and for other acolytes of the lukewarm or lapsed variety it might well re-recruit them back into Bob Smith's sometimes wacky, ofttimes gloomy and always idiosyncratic world."[11]

Michele Kirsch of Vox praised the album's "top shelf sound engineers" and "good editing".[7] Rating the album eight out of ten, he noted "there's nothing here that doesn't work."[7]

Track listing

[edit]

Paris - 1992 Original Release

  1. "The Figurehead" (Pornography) – 7:26
  2. "One Hundred Years" (Pornography) – 7:15
  3. "At Night" (Seventeen Seconds) – 6:39
  4. "Play for Today" (Seventeen Seconds) – 3:50
  5. "Apart" (Wish) – 6:37
  6. "In Your House" (Seventeen Seconds) – 3:59
  7. "Lovesong" (Disintegration) – 3:31
  8. "Catch" (Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me) – 2:41
  9. "A Letter to Elise" (Wish) – 4:50
  10. "Dressing Up" (The Top) – 2:49
  11. "Charlotte Sometimes" (stand-alone single) – 3:58
  12. "Close to Me" (The Head on the Door) – 3:57

Paris - 30th Anniversary Edition

LP Side A

  1. "Shake Dog Shake" (The Top) – 5:05
  2. "The Figurehead" (Pornography) – 7:26
  3. "Play for Today" (Seventeen Seconds) – 3:50
  4. "At Night" (Seventeen Seconds) – 6:39
  5. "In Your House" (Seventeen Seconds) – 3:59
  6. "One Hundred Years" (Pornography) – 7:15

LP Side B

  1. "Apart" (Wish) – 6:37
  2. "Lovesong" (Disintegration) – 3:31
  3. "A Letter to Elise" (Wish) – 4:50
  4. "Catch" (Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me) – 2:41
  5. "Charlotte Sometimes" (stand-alone single) – 3:58
  6. "Dressing Up" (The Top) – 2:49
  7. "Close to Me" (The Head on the Door) – 3:57
  8. "Hot Hot Hot!!!" (Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me) – 3:53

Personnel

[edit]

Production

[edit]
  • Robbie Williams – production manager
  • Howard Hopkins – stage manager
  • Tom Wilson – keyboard tech and backstage coordinator

Charts

[edit]
1993 chart performance for Paris
Chart (1993) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[12] 72
UK Albums (OCC)[13] 56
US Billboard 200[14] 118
2024 chart performance for Paris
Chart (2024) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[15] 42
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[16] 34
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[17] 12
Croatian International Albums (HDU)[18] 14
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19] 11
Hungarian Physical Albums (MAHASZ)[20] 20
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[21] 97
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[22] 20

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "none". NME. 30 October 1993. p. 52.
  2. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Paris – The Cure". AllMusic.
  3. ^ Phillips, Shari (7 November 1993). "Recent Releases". Calgary Herald.
  4. ^ Brennan, Patrick (17 November 1993). "Paris". Hot Press. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  5. ^ Evans, Paul (23 December 1993). "Paris". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  6. ^ "The Cure: Album Guide". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  7. ^ a b c "Mon Martyr" (JPG). thecure.nz. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  8. ^ "Take the Cure Twice" (JPG). Thecure.nz. 10 July 1993. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  9. ^ a b "Billboard". 30 March 1996. p. 77. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  10. ^ Paris - The Cure | Album | AllMusic, retrieved 9 September 2024
  11. ^ Brennan, Patrick. "Paris". Hotpress. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  12. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 71.
  13. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  14. ^ "The Cure Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  15. ^ "Austriancharts.at – The Cure – Paris" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  16. ^ "Ultratop.be – The Cure – Paris" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  17. ^ "Ultratop.be – The Cure – Paris" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  18. ^ "Lista prodaje 14. tjedan 2024" (in Croatian). HDU. 25 March 2024. Archived from the original on 10 April 2024. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  19. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – The Cure – Paris" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  20. ^ "Album Top 40 slágerlista (fizikai hanghordozók) – 2024. 13. hét". MAHASZ. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  21. ^ "OLiS - oficjalna lista sprzedaży - albumy" (in Polish). OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Note: Change the date to 22.03.2024–28.03.2024 under "zmień zakres od–do:". Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  22. ^ "Swisscharts.com – The Cure – Paris". Hung Medien. Retrieved 31 March 2024.