Though the Cure is not remix-averse, they don’t seem to give over every single song to others like some of their contemporaries do. Some fans consider Mixed Up—their 1990 collection of remixes, rare tracks, and a new song (“Never Enough”)—a proper entry in the band’s discography. Twenty-eight years later, the band released Torn Down on Record Store Day. Featuring a remastered version of Mixed Up, the release also included Mixed Up Extras 2018: Remixes, versions of Cure favorites remixed by Smith himself.
Just a few months after the November 2024 release of Songs of a Lost World, the Cure’s critically acclaimed first album since 2008’s 4:13 Dream, the band returns with Mixes of a Lost World, a deep and varied set that features two or three remixes of each Lost World track, depending on which version you purchase. The Cure also said all royalties will go to the charity War Child, immediately doing away with any criticism that this collection is a shameless cash grab.
Each song on the record is remixed two or three times (depending on the version), sequenced in a way that makes each disc of nine tracks feel as singular a work as the original record. The tracks vary depending on the remixer, offering wild mood swings that use a basic original element to explore whole new sonic worlds.
The album opens with Paul Oakenfold’s “Cinematic” mix of “I Can Never Say Goodbye,” Smith’s elegy for his late brother. Oakenfold doubles down on the song’s grandeur while pushing the sadness away, replacing it with something more visceral and intense. Meanwhile, the Craven Faults “Rework” version strips the song back until it’s little more than a funereal soundscape.
Floating above many of these remixes are Smith’s ghostly vocals, shorn back from the front and center of the original until they hover in ghostly suspension. For example, the Orbital remix of “Endsong” begins all swirling atmospherics and a chopped-up Smith vocal before ascending into a scintillating techno pulse. The song is again remixed by Gregor Tresher, who speeds up, and Mogwai, who makes it gauzy and loud.
It is difficult to pin down distinct highlights on the record. The Ex-Easter Island Head take on “Alone” trembles with sadness while the Chino Moreno remix of “Warsong” takes the song’s tormented tone and blasts it off into outer space.
Unlike prior Cure remix records, Smith hands the reins over to 24 talented musicians and producers to create something distinct from the original material on Songs of a Lost World. Smith’s world has always been an insular one. It’s nice to see him sharing it with others and seeing what they do with it.
