"The german TV music channel VIVA II will broadcast specials about this years Bizarre Festival in their daily show ""2 Rock". Tonight at 10 p.m. will be the first one. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday further specials follow. The specials include live performances, gossip and interviews from Bands that attended the Festival. So, maybe The Cure are also included and perhaps even an interview was made ?!"

"I have just received an e-mail from the german TV channel Bayern 3. He answered my e-mail when The Cure will be broadcasted on their programme. It will be on the 17th of November, beginning at midnight." This will be from Rothenburg.

"The September issue of UK Dance/club scene magazine "Mixmag" mentions the Cure 3 times!

No1, in a brief repeat review of Massive Attack`s "Mezzanine"

No2, in a brief review of some Ibiza club CD which is mixed by Paul Oakenfold (I don`t know how they are involved, whether Mr Oakenfold used a sample or actually mixed in a whole track)

No3, reported Robert chatting to the Prodigy, backstage at a recent gig. Robert suggested to Liam Howlett that after playing "Smack my bitch up" he should drop into a love song because "that would grab the crowd"."

XFM NEW FORMAT RAISES LISTENER HACKLES

XFM re-launched with its new format on Monday (August 24) this week, abandoning its agenda as being "London's Only Alternative Radio Station".

The topic of XFM's musical realignment has dominated NME.com's 'Angst' message board for most of the past week, with almost every contributor reacting angrily to Capital Radio's decision to take the station away from its established alternative territory.

Last week, over 20 staff and DJs were removed in a shake-up by owners Capital Radio. NME editor Steve Sutherland and writer Keith Cameron had their shows decommissioned and the daily NME news bulletin was 'suspended'.

Sir Bob Geldof commenced his two hour-afternoon show on Monday. Geldof's media production company, Planet 24, whose radio division syndicate material to 1200 stations around the world, are working with XFM for the foreseeable future.

On his first XFM show on Monday, Geldof played tracks by The Clash, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, Bob Marley and made a plea for people to send him tapes of new bands.

At a press conference on Thursday (August 20) Geldof said: "I hope we'll bring to it as many ideas as Planet 24 brought to television. XFM came with the promise of alternative music. I would prefer to think of the notion of an alternative radio station. Whatever is good will be played. I hope that we can reach a mean level of what is good without having to dumb down."

"Nothing has been said to me about the content of my show and if I want to play a track from 1967 I will. If it's been important in my head and I can explain why I will play it. That to me is as alternative as the latest release by whoever," Geldof added.

Creation Records boss Alan McGee is concerned about the implications of the developments at XFM as the station had a 20 per cent shareholding in the consortium he heads which aims to set up an alternative radio station in Scotland.

He told NME: "This has all happened at the wrong time. If we win the licence in November, it won't be like that because I won't allow it. it annoys me that Capital are handling it this way. It's very damaging for my Scottish bid."

McGee said he thought the worst aspect of recent events at the station had been the way in which people had been sacked, "especially when so many of them were the same people who campaigned to get XFM on the airwaves over the past seven years."

At the press conference on Thursday, NME put the following questions to XFM's Acting Programme Controller Richard Parks:

How many DJs were sacked? "Nobody was sacked. Certain individuals were made redundant because we're not going to have on the station specialist shows. We're going to have programmes that run three or four hours at any given time because we're going to broadcast our new music as a format. They had a lot of varieties of specialist shows that we're not going to keep. But all the daytime broadcasters continue to be in this new service. There are a finite number of people we can employ. They had more broadcast staff than any other radio station in London. It's just not realistic."

Didn't the radio authority grant your licence on the grounds of you doing something alternative? "We will be."

Why are the specialist shows going then? "We want listeners to turn on and hear the product as it stands day in day out whatever time they choose to listen. We want to be musically consistent throughout the day. We really want to build a new music station for London."

On your acquisition of XFM you told NME there wouldn't be any change in the music policy whatsoever. Now you've introduced 24-hour playlisting. Why? "XFM has always had a playlist. (The evening shows did not, however). Well, specialist shows were allowed to choose their own material. Daytime broadcasting (6-9) was all based on a playlist."

Record company radio and marketing departments are worried about XFM's change. They say they've lost a valuable outlet. "Do you think I could have persuaded Bob Geldof to come on board if I was gonna imitate Capital FM? (Frankly, yes). Can you see Bob playing records by Cleopatra? We have a promise of performance and if we don't live up to that you can give me a call."

Who will choose the playlists? "I'll be chairing a panel with the programme controller who's greatly experienced in this alterntive field of music. We'll be using all the benefit of systems that modern radio uses to ensure that all the records that we put on the playlist actually get played because that isn't the case on all stations."

Part of the promise of performance said XFM would play artists generally outside the mainstream... Bob Geldof answered: "We will. All these bands who are good will be largely determined by the DJs and that's what the difference is between this and other stations."

Shouldn't you change the name because the X factor that XFM stood for is not part of the equation any longer. "You buy XFM cos that's it. You don't want to re-establish it 'cos that costs shit loads of money. Change the name of NME," said Geldof.

And this from Bigmouth:

Bob Geldof was forced to make an apology, on air, during his second stint, as a DJ for XFM, after announcing that Ian Dury had died. Geldof made the announcement after receiving a phone call from a 'distressed' caller, which he believed. Bob also had to apologise to Ian's family and friends. Dury announced, earlier this year, that he has been fighting cancer for three years.

'Orgazmo' Album Features Alt-Rock's Finest

A new collaboration between KRS-One and the Dust Brothers, as well as the debut from COGASM, the side project of the Cure's Robert Smith, grace the soundtrack to "Orgazmo." NICKELbag Records will release the album Oct. 6; it will also feature new tunes from both rock'n'rave act the Crystal Method and DVDA, the band formed by "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

An October Films project, "Orgazmo" is the story of a Mormon missionary who becomes a porn superhero. The movie was written and directed by Parker, who also stars in it. "Orgazmo" will open Oct. 23 in theaters across the U.S.

Saturday August 29th, 9:00 pm / Sunday August 30th, 2:00 am

MM The Big Ticket

"The Cure: Live In London" - The Cure perform their hits in a concert taped May 7, 1996 at London's Adrenaline Club (does not air on Much USA)

This special features live performances of Want, Club America, This is a Lie, Mint Car, Jupiter Crash, Round&Round&Round, Return, Trap, Treasure, and Bare.

This article appeared on Thursday in "No" a music supplement from the newspaper "Página 12"... it says (translation needed):

"South Dark- Robert Smith, frontman of The Cure, has just finished recording with his parallel group, Cogasm, the song "A sign from God", which will be part of the soundtrack to South Park. The song counted with the participation of guitarist Reeves Gabrels (member of David Bowie's band) and drummer Jason Cooper, coequiper of the always depressed in The Cure and in Cogasm"

Once again, this track IS NOT for the South Park soundtrack, it's for Orgazmo. (Thanks Juan)

Capital retunes Xfm for 'broader' appeal

Capital Radio has axed Xfm’s entire line-up of specialist shows as part of a massive programming shake-up.

Seven of the London station’s 16 presenters have been dropped and high-profile DJs such as Gary Crowley removed from daytime in the first programme changes to be introduced by Capital since it completed its £15.9m purchase of Xfm in July.

Another seven sales and administrative staff have lost their jobs following the takeover of the station, which was completing its move into Capital’s Leicester Square building over the weekend ahead of the new programming schedule starting at 6am today (Monday). For the past three-and-a-half days it has been broadcasting test transmission tapes. Despite the sweeping changes, Capital Radio’s group programme director Richard Park has committed the station to continuing to support new bands and new music.

“There isn’t a massive difference,” he says. “We are remaining absolutely true to the Promise Of Performance Xfm had when they won that licence from the Radio Authority some 18 months ago.”

This commits the station to primarily targeting a 15 to 34 audience with a new music format which is youthful, innovative and generally guitar-led. As part of that commitment, Park has vowed that Xfm will break six new acts over the next 12 months.

“The new music content is something we’re going to bring to the forefront for Londoners,” says Park, who adds he has scrapped the specialist shows to make the output consistent throughout the day.

Among the changes, Planet 24 chairman Bob Geldof is being brought in to host the 4pm-6pm show weekdays, initially for the first 104 days of the schedule, mirroring the station’s 104.9FM frequency. In addition, Planet 24 is acting in a consultancy capacity for the station. Planet 24 senior producer Des Shaw is being installed for the year ahead as programme controller, replacing Xfm co-founder Sammy Jacob who has resigned, while new presenters including former Capital FM DJ Jeff Young have also joined.

Former Xfm managing director Chris Parry, who remains a director, shareholder and board member, downplayed the changes, saying some would have occurred regardless of the takeover in order to try to increase the station’s audience.

“We have to continue to play the music as early as possible and the trick is to combine that with a station that has a reasonably broad appeal,” he says.

Pinnacle managing director Tony Powell expects there will be some reticence about the changes in parts of the indie sector, but says something had to be done to increase listeners.

Anglo Plugging’s head of radio Dylan White says the new schedule will make the station more focused on mainstream alternative music.

“It was too alternative for its own good,” he says.

ARTE showed snippets of From the edge of the deep green sea + Cut

ARD showed the following 10 songs, and presenter Alan Bangs said they plan to show the whole gig when they rebroadcast it. Shake dog shake / Fascination Street / Just like heaven / Sinking / Lullaby / Disintegration / Untitled / A forest / 10.15 Saturday night / Killing an Arab.

And the WDReinsLive radio broadcast seems to have been identical to the ARD broadcast.

"I've just seen the diffusion of the Cure's live on TV and I feel disapointed. We've seen only two titles as :"From the edge of the deep green sea" and "Cut" and not all the versions ! Chanel ARTE prefered to show some tracks of Portishead, Chumbawaba, The Deftones, The Jesus and Mary Chain, PJ Harvey ..."

Robert Smith Breaks From Cure For Orgazmo

Rappers Wu-Tang Clan, DVDA and Dust Brothers help fill out the soundtrack.

Contributing Editor Colin Devenish reports:

For the first time in 15 years, Cure frontman Robert Smith has stepped away from his longtime band to offer his services to "South Park" co-creator Trey Parker's upcoming motion-picture soundtrack.

The Orgazmo album, which features a star-studded lineup that includes rap heavyweights the Wu-Tang Clan, pop-rockers Smash Mouth and hip-hopper April March, was produced by the Dust Brothers and features the first non-Cure song from Smith since 1983.

"It's a great, great song. It's pretty pumpin'. There's a rock 'n' roll version and a more Dust Brothers version," Dust Brother John King said of Smith's tune, "A Sign From God." "[Robert Smith] did it in England ... It wasn't really completely finished but we knew he was trying to do a tongue-in-cheek rock thing. That's what [the film] 'Orgazmo' is about, and the producers wanted a more dance version as well."

The score includes two versions of the Smith-penned song, recorded by Smith's new side project, Cogasm, a collaboration between the goth-pop artist, his bandmate Jason Cooper and Reeve Gabrels, longtime guitarist for rock pioneer David Bowie.

The witty rocker is the first work from Smith outside the Cure since he released the album Blue Sunshine (1983) with the Glove, who also featured Steve Severin, bassist for Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Also contributing to the Dust Brothers' musical production was kitsch-hop singer April March, who offered a fittingly bizarre number to the track listing.

When it came to penning a tune for the porn-comedy flick about a young Mormon actor who innocently blunders into the porn business, March thought it would be fitting to write a song about a lovesick Mormon. She came up with "Jesus & I Love You," a song that the 33-year-old March said aptly airs during "a lovers' montage."

"There are a lot of sexual innuendos in [the song] to go along with the porn aspect [of the film] and I produced it so it would sound like a pretty super- religious white-trash group sound," said March (born Eleanor Blake), whose backup vocalists included former That Dog singer and violinist Petra Haden. "It's got a heavy organ sound on it and kind-of a slow march to it. The drummer used brushes and chimes. It sounds like people shuffling their feet."

"Orgazmo," slated to appear in theaters Oct. 23, was directed by and stars "South Park" co-creator Parker, as well as well-endowed porn star Ron Jeremy. In the same way that Parker and co-creator Matt Stone's popular cartoon on Comedy Central pokes fun at numerous social and political topics, the porn-spoof knocks everything from religion to pornography.

March and Smith are joined on the soundtrack by pop-rockers Smash Mouth, who sing a Latin-flavored ditty titled "Sorry About Your Penis." Rappers Wu-Tang Clan kicked in the song "C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me)" (RealAudio excerpt) and Parker and Stone's band, DVDA, contributed "Now You're A Man."

King described the new DVDA cut as "a very funny sort of rock-cliché song. Very reminiscent of ['80s pop hit] 'Eye of the Tiger.' "

The full track-listing for the Orgazmo soundtrack is: Cogasm ("A Sign From God" -- Dance Mix); DJ Swamp ("Disintegrator"); Crystal Method/DJ Swamp ("More"); Smash Mouth ("Sorry About Your Penis"); Atari Teenage Riot ("D.A.J.C."); Dilated Peoples ("Work The Angles"); Dust Brothers/KRS-One ("Forever"); Wreckx-N-Effect ("Rumpshaker"); Wu-Tang Clan ("C.R.E.A.M."); DVDA (Now You're A Man"); Head Set ("Twisted Steel, Leather Donut"); April March ("Jesus & I Love You"); and Cogasm ("A Sign From God" -- Rock Mix).

XFM RESTRUCTURING AXES ALTERNATIVE MUSIC POLICY XFM

London's alternative-playlist FM radio station, is to be relaunched on Monday (August 24) with a different airplay policy.

Additionally, the station will no longer be operating under the banner "London's Only Alternative radio station".

The relaunch announcement follows a week of unrest which has left 20 staff, including DJs and programme assistants, sacked and survivors shunted to new slots. Among those badly hit was DJ Gary Crowley who is thought to have resigned after being asked to host a five-hour show running from 1am until 6am. Crowley left the station on Wednesday afternoon, saying to colleagues, "It's not good."

Crowley's manager told NME that the DJ has gone away for the weekend and that his future with XFM was "unclear".

NME editor Steve Sutherland and writer Keith Cameron are among other on-air staff who lost their programmes and the daily NME news bulletin has been suspended.

The decision by XFM's Acting Programme Controller Richard Parks to shunt Crowley - well known for broadcasting demo tapes from unsigned bands - to the graveyard shift doesn't bode well for the future of new music at the station. Such fears were reinforced at a press conference to announce the changes yesterday (August 20) as Parks repeatedly attempted to put distance between the station as it was and how he envisages its future.

When Capital Radio bought XFM in May, Parks vowed to NME that the music policy would not change. From next Monday on, however, every XFM programme will now be forced to use a playlist, effectively ending the option for DJs to express their personal taste; the very premise on which the station was founded.

Parks addressed the press beneath an enlarged station logo which had the words "London's Only Alternative" blacked out and replaced by sponsors' stickers. Questioned about the logo alteration, Parks said that 'alternative' was "a media word and if a song was a new release it should be judged as new music."

He also said the station's output would move away from its old format which he described as a set of individual shows changing direction in each three hour period.

"XFM in its new environment is a consistent radio station broadcasting new music 24 hours a day and not varying in and out."

The new-sound XFM broadcast test transmissions - minus DJs - from Thursday morning while the station packed up from its Charlotte Street base and moved into Capital Radio's Leicester Square offices. It will begin broadcasting the new service proper on Monday morning at 6am.

Bob Geldof has been enlisted to host a two hour-afternoon show for the first 104 days. The media pundit and one-time Boomtown Rat, who once hosted a drivetime radio show in Perth, Australia, says he doesn't have a clue what he will be playing but ironically contradicted Richard Parks' assertion that no old records would be played on the new-look XFM. "Nothing has been said to me about the content of my show and if I want to play a track from 1967 I will," says Geldof. "If it's been important in my head and I can explain why I will play it. That to me is as alternative as the latest release by whoever."

Parks claims the station will remain "absolutely true to the promise of performance that XFM under co-founders Sammy Jacob and Chris Parry had when they won the radio authority licence." Though he admits that, in common with Radio One and Capital, there is a chance the station would play fewer records more frequently - in essence a high-rotation playlist.

NME writer Keith Cameron is among former XFM staff critical of the changes. "I think it's become a travesty of an alternative radio station. I'm not surprised they've taken the 'alternative' off the logo because it would be a laughable claim. It's like Barclays Bank running an indie station. XFM would not have existed had it not been for stations like Capital having it their own way for so long. There's absolutely no point for the station to exist now

ROBERT SMITH'S SIDE-PROJECT TO DEBUT ON ORGAZMO OST

The Wu-Tang Clan, Smash Mouth, Atari Teenage Riot and the Crystal Method are among the bands that appear on the soundtrack to the forthcoming Orgazmo motion picture. It's another project from the twisted sumbiches behind South Park (Trey Parker is the film's writer, director and star). The movie (in theatres October 23) is a heartwarming tale about a missionary turned crime-fighting adult film star named Joe Young. The soundtrack will be released October 6 on Nickelbag Records, the label owned by contributing artists the Dust Brothers.

It will also mark the first appearance of recorded music by COGASM, the new side-project for The Cure's Robert Smith. Smith (the SM) is joined by The Cure's drummer Jason Cooper (the CO) and former Tin Machine/David Bowie guitarist Reeves Gabrels (the GA). Gabrels recently collaborated with The Cure on their last single "Wrong Number", which appeared on the singles collection Galore. COGASM have the song "A Sign From God" bookend the Orgazmo soundtrack, one in the form of a dance mix, one a so-called Rock Mix. This is reminiscent of the Smashing Pumpkins' contributions to the Batman & Robin OST. Robert Smith and Parker are old pals these days, after Smith's hilariously mocking appearance on South Park last season.

A potential highlight (but probable lowlight) of the soundtrack is Smash Mouth's song "Sorry About Your Penis". Y'know, there are soooo many punchlines that suggest themselves here, just pick one of your own, OK?

"This afternoon, capital held a press conference to announce their first "signing" as DJ for XFM, which starts broadcasting from Capital's headquarters on Monday. It is................Bob Geldof!!

How fucking appalling is that?

There have been no DJ's on XFM since 11am this morning. Capital say it is because of the changeover. The rumour is that either Gary Crowley (one of the most senior DJs) has walked out taking the others with him or that all the DJs have been sacked."

"On October 31, 1998 , Three Imaginary Boys, will play a tribute to The Cure at The Oven in Houston, Texas. We really want to get as many Cure fans in as possible (our set list is geared towards fans)."

Orgazmo is being shown this year at the "Fantasy Film Fest" which is a festival for fantasy/sf/horror/action/comic/trash films moving from one big German city to another. It's just been to Munich and Cologne ("Orgazmo" got standing ovations here - go, enjoy and love it!). I don't know the festival dates for any other city, sorry ... you have to check them out for your area yourself. More info (in German) on the "Fantasy Film Fest" and "Orgazmo" at www.kinopolis.de/filminfo/fantasy-orgazmo.html

Cure Frontman's Side Project To Appear With Smash Mouth, Crystal Method, Wu-Tang, Others On "Orgazmo" Soundtrack

The debut of Robert Smith's new side-project will come with the release of the soundtrack to the film "Orgazmo" from "South Park" creator Trey Parker.

The Cure frontman, along with fellow bandmate Jason Cooper and Tin Machine's Reeves Gabrels have dubbed themselves COGASM, which stands for Cooper, Gabrels, and Smith. The side-project will be going public shortly with their song, "A Sign From God," which turns up on the soundtrack.

The film, written, directed, and starring Parker, will be out via October Films on October 23 and is centered on the character of Joe Young, a Mormon missionary turned superhero porn star.

As for the soundtrack to "Orgazmo," it will arrive on October 6 on the Dust Brothers' Nickelbag Records. The song by Cure side-project, COGASM, will be featured as both a rock mix and as a dance mix, courtesy of the Dust Brothers.

Other songs on the soundtrack include a collaborative track by the Crystal Method and Beck's mixmaster, DJ Swamp, called "More," plus a track by the Dust Brothers and KRS-One called "Forever." Songs by Smash Mouth, Atari Teenage Riot, the Wu-Tang Clan, and DVDA (featuring Trey Parker and his "South Park" partner Matt Stone) also help round out the soundtrack's line-up.

Here's what awaits on the "Orgasm" soundtrack:

The Bizarre festival's page says a Live Chat with the Cure has been confirmed for Sat. night at 21.20.

(For those in the US who may be confused about times, the Bizarre Cure chat will be at 3:20pm eastern / 2:20pm central / 1:20pm mountain and 12:20pm pacific. The live webcast of The Cure will be at 4:20pm eastern / 3:20pm central / 2:20pm mountain and 1:20pm pacific. Of course festival times are tentative, so expect times to be pushed back a little.)

"The French-German TV channel ARTE put up a nice web page about the Cure in its Bizarre festival section. It includes a very good Cure biography (1977-1997) in French and German and a Cure quiz in which you can win two CDs: Wild Mood Swings and Galore.

Links to their Cure pages:

French: http://www.sdv.fr/arte/special/cure/ftext/index.htm

German: http://www.sdv.fr/arte/special/cure/dtext/index.htm

Links to their Bizarre festival pages:

French: http://www.sdv.fr/arte/special/cure/ftext/bizarre.htm

German: http://www.sdv.fr/arte/special/cure/dtext/bizarre.htm

ARTE's homepage: http://www.sdv.fr/arte/

ARTE's Music Planet show will broadcast the Cure live in Cologne at 11:35 pm CET on August, 22nd (for an hour, together with excerpts from other bands' performances).

"At the Zillo Gig, someone handed me the following flyer."

The Cure Festival - 4th September in Halle/ Saale Germany with 3 livebands:

Entrance fee will be 8,- DM

Robert Smith Gives South Park Creators The Cure -- Sort Of

The Cure's Robert Smith doesn't make any bones about the low regard in which he holds his fellow man -- except that he's taken quite a shine to the filmmakers of the hour, Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park and BASEketball fame. After appearing as himself on an episode of South Park last February, Smith kept in touch with the twosome, who are self-proclaimed Cure-addicts, and offered them a track for their upcoming Orgazmo project, a spoof on the porn industry. The confection he's impishly calling "Cogasm" was written especially for the project, and it's not a Cure song by any stretch of the imagination, despite the fact he recorded it with Cure drummer Jason Cooper -- Bowie's stylish guitarist Reeves Gabrels, who also appears on the track, gummed up any resemblance to the Cure.

This partnership marks the first time Smith has worked on a side project since his 1982 working vacation playing with Siouxsie and the Banshees as a replacement for John McGeogh, and his later collaboration with Banshee guitarist Steve Severin and Jeanette Landray in the short-lived Glove.

The Cure will close out their European festival swing later this month. They've been dashing out each weekend to different parts of the continent, and returning to sleep in their own beds by Monday. A perfect set-up, if you ask us. This Friday, August 14, you can find them at Junge Garde, in Dresden, Germany, followed by the Zillo Festival the next day in Hildesheim, Germany. On Friday, August 21, they'll have their fill of chocolate bars when playing the Gampel Festival, Sierre, Switzerland, followed by a walk along the Rheine at the Bizarre Festival in Cologne, Germany, winding it all up on August 23, at the Brno's Sun Festival 98 in the Czech Republic.

After they rest-up from all this, the band is due to re-enter the studio, where their rep tells us the plan to finish up next album by September. A few nips and tucks, and the thing should be ready for a release early next year -- "depending on how the sessions go," advised their sagacious publicist Michael Pagnotta.

BTW, I've heard that some are saying that Orgazmo is a South Park film. It isn't. If you want to know the plot, go here, or here, or here .

Rocktropolis For The Masses Special

Robert:We've bumped into Depeche over the years, a lot. And they've bumped into us. They've been to see us play quite a few times, we've been to see them play, um and there's lots of other connections kinda behind the scenes. Perry, our guitarist, went to school with most of Depeche and so has known them from the days when they were, uh pre-New Romantic or whatever the hell they were when they started. So yeah we've know each other for a long, long time. In fact they were probably among our very few showbiz friends.

That's Robert Smith of the Cure explaining why his band decided to contribute a Depeche Mode cover for the album. Smith had his choice of several songs, but eventually chose World in My Eyes and here's why.

Robert: For me it was a straight choice between World in My Eyes and um, (Robert sings) "Try walking in my shoes.." 'cause very much my favorite song really. And I thought they, both those songs I could kinda get into them lyrically, and I thought they'd suit my voice and I thought I could do an interpretation that would sort of at least throw another light on the song. And I went for World in My Eyes in the end because it felt more natural, I tried both of them at home and that just worked straight away.

Here's the Cure's version of World in My Eyes.

(The Cure - World in My Eyes is played)

That's The Cure with World in My Eyes from the Depeche Mode Tribute album For the Masses.Interestingly The Cure's Robert Smith isn't that concerned what Depeche Mode thinks of that track.

Robert: Some of them have heard it, Dave's heard it, Martin likes it. I'm sure they all like it, but I wouldn't say they didn't, even if they didn't. But I hope they like it, you know. But I mean I don't think that was really, you know it wasn't a big concern because that might have stopped us doing something, like thinking "Are they gonna like it?". I think it was more important for us to do something that we liked really. But I'm glad that they do like it, I mean it would be unsettling if they didn't.

We'll have more with Robert Smith of The Cure a little later.

Leading off For The Masses is the Smashing Pumpkins version of Never Let Me Down Again which is a particular favorite of The Cure's Robert Smith.

Robert: I think the Smashing Pumpkins one is really good, I think the first four are really good <laughs>.

The best person to offer a sense of perspective on the Depeche Mode tribute album is Robert Smith of the Cure, because he's a contemporary of theirs. The Cure have had their own tribute albums, so Smith knows a bit about it.

Robert: There have a couple of Cure tribute albums in the past 3 or 4 years. One came from Scandinavia and one came out of America, but they were both very low key, I mean not really comparable,I shouldn't dismiss them because they were done by bands who like The Cure and wanted to um, it's kinda more of a thank you I think. There were bits that I liked about it, it's sort of strange, I mean I don't know how Depeche feel about a tribute album, it's kind of, it's almost like an end of career thing. It's like this is your legacy. But I listened to them, and I wrote to the groups involved thanking them for their efforts. It was alright, I dunno, it's a difficult subject actually.

On that point, the people who, the bands who covered us tried to sound more like us. And I think what makes this tribute album as good as it is, is that most of the bands aren't trying to sound like Depeche, they're actually trying to sound like themselves doing Depeche songs, and that's why it works. But I think probably like a lot of the bands on there have got more identity, 'cause there's a lot more recognizable bands on this, so they've kind of established an identity for themselves, so I think it's easier. Whereas the couple of albums that have been done so far for us have mainly been kinda fan based, so it's not really the same thing.

Robert Smith believes that Depeche Mode deserves this tribute record because they are that rare band that has achieved both critical acclaim and huge popularity.

Robert: They occupy an unusual position in that they've developed out of what I would consider to be a pretty, uh, I mean I don't know how to put this nicely, but there are some things that they did when they first started out in the first couple of years, kind of image wise and musically, which live and haunt and then have lived and haunted many other groups. You know you kinda look back and most groups don't recover from that kind of beginning. I think they've done really well in that they've managed to kinda develop into a critically acclaimed group but one that is also hugely popular, and there's very few groups that manage that, I mean I don't think The Cure's every really occupied that kind of position, we've generally been critically hated as we've become popular. I think a lot of that ties into how they've kinda manipulated their image, and they've always used like Anton Corbjin, I think it's very clever the whole kind of way it's put together, it's not contrived, it's just like a very natural kind of thing that comes out of the members of the band and personalities, but its worked really well.

So what's the most interesting aspect of Depeche Mode according to Robert Smith?

Robert: It's the way that Martin's words and the kind of like, the emotion that's in a lot of the lyrics is married to a very, almost soulless kind of music. I think our favorite Depeche songs are ones that are very clinical sounding, but actually like, got a lot of emotion lyrically. And it's a weird combination, they're probably, its a very unique Depeche thing, that's what drew me toward them, 'cause I wasn't originally a big Depeche fan, certainly in the 80's, it's only really since about '89 that I've thought they turned into a really good group. There's always like 2 or 3 songs on every Depeche album which are very memorable and are really well put together and just like stand up to any kind of interpretation which is the sign of a good song, you know you can kinda play it on an acoustic guitar, blah ,blah, blah, which I think comes from the way Martin writes. I mean a lot of what Depeche do is sort of based on the sounds and it's like the songs are tied up with the sounds, but the really, really good songs, once you take all the sounds away, the songs still there.

How about another one of Robert Smith's favorite tracks, Veruca Salt's version of Somebody?

Robert: I really like Veruca Salt, I think it's really different, sort of a nice little change of tone.

For a final word on the album, let's check back in with The Cure's Robert Smith

Robert: I really like the songs, most of the songs on there are my favorite Depeche songs, so you can't really go wrong.

"The Cure live in wiesen 1998 will be broadcasted at 22.00 ( 10p.m.) at FM4 (austrian radio station). FM4 is at the same frequenz like blue danube radio, but starts at 19.00 p.m."

Xfm was one of the star radio performers in the second quarter, increasing its audience by more than 50%, according to the latest Rajar figures.

Publicity surrounding its takeover by the Capital Group throughout the three months helped raise awareness of the station, which attracted 329,000 listeners a week between April and June, compared with 219,000 in the first quarter. Capital officially took control of Xfm on July 20.

The latest Rajar figures also reveal that Radio One has lost another 365,000 listeners, with more than 260,000 deserting the Zoe Ball and Kevin Greening breakfast show. Audiences for Radios Two and Three and Atlantic also fell during the quarter.

Depeche Mode Influencees Pay Respects On Tribute Disc

Smashing Pumpkins, Robert Smith and the Deftones are among those honoring the gloomy band on For the Masses.

Senior Writer Gil Kaufman reports:

You know you've nailed it when a member of the band whose song you've covered says he likes your version better than his own.

"Jesus, that's pretty rad. I've got a big smile on my face," was Failure leader Ken Andrews' reaction to word that Depeche Mode keyboardist Andy Fletcher had high praise for Failure's half-electronic/half-rocked-up radio-hit version of DM's "Enjoy the Silence."

The song, the first single from the tribute and one of the last tracks recorded by Failure before their quiet disbanding last year, is among many surprising and unusual takes on the music of the gloomy British synth-pop band found on the recently released 16-track For the Masses tribute album.

Chicago-based rockers the Smashing Pumpkins check in with a previously released mellow take on "Never Let Me Down Again" , while German pyrotechnic act Rammstein deconstruct "Stripped" with a plodding industrial beat and fellow moody Brit Robert Smith of the Cure turns "World in My Eyes" into a churning dance-floor groove.

Add that to tracks by such high-profile acts as God Lives Underwater, Chicago's Veruca Salt (who contributed one of their last recordings), Meat Beat Manifesto, Monster Magnet and the Deftones, and you begin to wonder, what am I missing here? Depeche Mode?

"[Depeche Mode songwriter] Martin [Gore] has that gift, that one-in-a-billion thing that can make for the perfect pop song," said Gary Richards, co-founder of 1500 Records, which released the album. "I see him in the same light as John Lennon. He has that magic, where his songs are so simple and so perfect."

Richards said the idea for the album honoring the nearly 20-year-old dance-pop band began four years ago when his roommate, God Lives Underwater's Jeff Turzo -- whose band has covered "Stripped" in their live show for years -- suggested they try to get their friends to record DM covers for a tribute. Soon, Richards said, the pair were inundated with tapes, resulting in an album's worth of covers, plus 20 extra songs that they briefly considered putting onto a second disc.

"These guys [DM] have written so many good songs ... we're just in it as fans," Richards said. Ironically, despite what Richards said was unbridled enthusiasm from everyone to whom he mentioned the project, at first it was difficult to get anyone to actually sign on the line in the days before 27-year-old partner Philip Blaine launched their two-year-old label. "At first, nobody would take our calls," Richards said, "but then once the Cure decided to do it, everyone came on board."

Once word of the project started leaking out, other artists, from Dishwalla to hard rockers the Deftones, started coming out of the woodwork and owning up to their love for DM, according to Turzo. "When [bandmate] Dave [Reilly] and I got together when we were, like, 16, we had one band in common and it was Depeche Mode," Turzo, 27, said of his early inspiration. "They never quite got the respect they deserved, but we knew how cool they were and how great their songs were, and we met a lot of bands along the way that were into them, even if they were ashamed to admit they had DM albums at home."

The effort has not gone unnoticed among the members of DM, who have kept up with the progress of the album from afar. "Philip has given us versions of the songs all along," DM keyboardist Andy Fletcher said. "Some of the versions on it are very rocky and it's nice to hear them played that way, because I think they still stand up as good songs." Fletcher said the album was reaffirming in some ways for himself and bandmates Gore and singer David Gahan, because instead of serving as a post-mortem, he felt the tribute came at a time when the band is still doing its best work.

"I'm just tripping out that it's getting played on the radio," said Failure's Andrews, still enthused about his defunct band's cover being chosen as the first single from the album. "Because there are a lot of bigger bands on the album, most of whom haven't been broken up for a year."

It will be released in Australia on August 10th.

(Thanks to Maciek, Frank, Jon, Olivier, Richard, Catcure, Henrik and Cristina for the info)

"The News on spanish TV is about a fire which is extending all over Portugal. They say one of the main points that are burning is Odemira"

I don't think it has changed any plans for the festival, but it may affect your travel plans.

Update: The album IS out in Germany. It was released on July 27th. So if those reports were accurate, then I have no reason to doubt the other reports. So For The Masses is out in parts of Europe. (Thanks Jon and Frank)

Also, 1500 Records has a For The Masses site up with samples from all the songs and comments on all of the tracks. Here's what they say about The Cure:

THE CURE -- "World In My Eyes"

Among the highlights of FOR THE MASSES is the appearance of the Cure, another long-lived, influential British band. "For the past 13 years, I think Depeche Mode have had great style," says Cure frontman Robert Smith. "From their innovative use of unusual sounds, through their often weird juxtaposition of lyrical emotion and musical precision, to their instantly recognizable graphics and visual image, they are one of a select group. A unique band. And they've also made some fantastic songs!!!"

"Just wanted to give a tip for people that don't speak portugese .. you just gave a link to that page for an online concert...(http://www.cerveja-sagres.pt/sagres/evensw98.html)

anyhow.. have them visit this site.. http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/

all they have to do is copy the URL in the box, and be sure to choose the translation from Portugese to English.. and it works perfectly fine.. you can even convert your newsdesk into any language as well.. it's pretty cool :)"

http://www.cerveja-sagres.pt/sagres/evensw98.html