The Cure “Death in the Pool” 2017. Unofficial release, Creepy Caterpillar Records, clear vinyl. Death in the Pool is a collection of demos from The Head on the Door era, including four early instrumental versions that Robert Smith recorded at his home in December ‘84 (“In Between Days,” “Inwood,” “Push” and “Innsbruck”). The Cure recorded the remainder of the tracks at Fitz/F2 Studios in London in February ‘85. Those include demo’s of b-sides like “Stop Dead” (the flip side to the US 7″ of “In Between Days”) and “A Few Hours After This” (the b-side to the UK 12″ of “In Between Days”) as well as different takes of familiar The Head on the Door tracks like “Screw,” “Kyoto Song” (the lyrics from which this bootleg gets its title), “Six Different Ways,” “A Night Like This” and “Close To Me.” The Head on the Door is one of my favorite Cure LP’s – it was the first one I bought with my own money, purchasing it pretty soon after its release and I listened to it on repeat through most of my 9th grade year at school. The different versions are…interesting. Takes a little – a lot – getting used to, like when your best friend shaves off all their hair – not necessarily bad, just really really different, a bit startling. The sound is not very rich (of course these songs didn’t go through professional production) and the synths are rather plink-plunky. There are two songs on the bootleg that are “new” (the entirety of Death in the Pool is available on the 2006 deluxe edition reissue of The Head on the Door): “Mansolidgone,” a jazzy little number with sax riffs, little bursts of lyrics that are also in “Six Different Ways,” and “Lime Time” which is super-sunny and poppy which has lyrics that also appear in “In Between Days” and “Six Different Ways.”

The album came with a big poster, so that was a nice touch.