Cure, The
Fade Away: The Early Years Vinyl Box Set

Listening notes

Released in 2009 on the Vinyl Lovers label (catalog number 999208), Fade Away: The Early Years Vinyl Box Set collects material from The Cure spanning the band's first several studio albums alongside a range of supplementary recordings. The set is documented as comprising seven vinyl records plus additional media in a box set configuration, covering the albums Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds, Faith, and Pornography, each presented here in full.

Beyond the four albums, the tracklist includes a substantial body of bonus material distributed across the remaining sides. For Seventeen Seconds, sides E and F present live versions of most of that album's tracks alongside a home demo of "Secrets" and an alternate studio mix of "Three." The Pornography portion of the set is similarly expanded, with sides M and N carrying live recordings of several tracks from that record, as well as two additional pieces listed as "Temptation Two (AKA LGTB)" and "Airlock / The Soundtrack." Faith is accompanied by the side-long "Carnage Visors / The Soundtrack" on side I, along with a separate side, J, containing "Charlotte Sometimes" and four additional titles.

The genres assigned to the release — goth rock, new wave, pop, post-punk, and rock — reflect the breadth of the period covered, which stretches across recordings associated with the band's earliest phase. The set's catalog number and label place it within a period of renewed vinyl interest and archival reissue activity in the late 2000s, though no further production or annotation details are available from the verified data on hand.