HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - A Forest
OR:
A Forest on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

"A Forest" is a song by the English
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...
. Co-produced by Mike Hedges and the band's Robert Smith, it was released as a single from the band's second album ''
Seventeen Seconds ''Seventeen Seconds'' is the second studio album by English rock band the Cure, released on 18 April 1980 by Fiction Records. The album marked the first time frontman Robert Smith co-produced with Mike Hedges. After the departure of original ba ...
'' on 28 March 1980. It was their debut entry on the
UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
, reaching number 31. The accompanying music video was first shown on
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's ''
Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...
'' programme on 24 April 1980. Recorded and mixed over seven days, along with the rest of the songs from the album, "A Forest" is representative of The Cure's 1980s
gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...
phase. The song has featured on the band's set lists for many years. Several versions have appeared on concert albums, and it was re-recorded, then subsequently remixed and released as a single from '' Mixed Up'' in 1990.


Background and recording

Mike Hedges co-produced the album ''
Seventeen Seconds ''Seventeen Seconds'' is the second studio album by English rock band the Cure, released on 18 April 1980 by Fiction Records. The album marked the first time frontman Robert Smith co-produced with Mike Hedges. After the departure of original ba ...
'' as well as "A Forest" with The Cure's Robert Smith. Hedges had first worked with the band on the track " Killing an Arab." Interviewed in 2004, he did not recall any demos existing for ''Seventeen Seconds''; the band generally played the track in the studio before laying down a backing track to which overdubs were added. At the time of the recording of the album, bass guitarist
Simon Gallup Simon Jonathon Gallup (born 1 June 1960) is an English musician and bassist with the alternative rock band The Cure. He is the second longest-serving member of the band after lead vocalist/guitarist Robert Smith. Early years Born in Duxhurst ...
and keyboardist
Matthieu Hartley Matthieu Hartley (born 4 February 1960) is an English musician born in Smallfield, England. He is best known for as the original keyboardist for The Cure. Before then he was in Lockjaw and The Magazine Spies and was in several bands after leavi ...
had been added to the band's lineup. Gallup had replaced
Michael Dempsey Michael Stephen Dempsey (born 29 November 1958) is an English musician and composer, who has played bass as a member of several post-punk and new wave bands, including the Cure and the Associates. History Early years Dempsey was born on 29 ...
, who had departed to join The Associates. Gallup and Hartley joined remaining Cure members Smith (vocals) and
Lol Tolhurst Laurence Andrew "Lol" Tolhurst (born 3 February 1959) is a founding member and the former drummer and keyboardist of English band The Cure - he left the Cure in 1989 and was later involved in the band Presence and his current project, Levinhurs ...
(drums) in late 1979 during the group's Future Pastimes tour, on which "A Forest" was one of the new songs added to their set list. Due to budgetary restraints, ''Seventeen Seconds'' was recorded and mixed in seven days on a budget of between £2,000 and £3,000, which resulted in the band working 16 or 17 hours a day to complete the album. Hedges and Robert Smith knew the song would take more work to complete than other songs on the album, and would require more overdubs. The song was one of the last tracks recorded; the backing tracks were recorded first, followed by touch-ups to the individual parts, then Smith's vocals.
Fiction Records Fiction Records is a British record label founded by Chris Parry in 1978, owned by Universal Music Group and based in the United Kingdom. It is best known for being the home of The Cure for over 20 years. It was originally a part of Polydor, ...
owner Chris Parry told Smith that the song had the potential to be a hit if they made it sound "radio-friendly", but Smith refused, stating the way the track sounded was the sound he envisioned in his head. Work on mixing "A Forest" took up much of the final day of sessions for the album.


Composition and lyric

"A Forest" and its parent album ''Seventeen Seconds'' are representative of The Cure's
gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...
phase in the late 1970s and 1980s. The song has also been described as a
post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...
track. Cure biographer Jeff Apter refers to "A Forest" as "the definitive early Cure mood piece" and argues the song is the centrepiece of the album. Smith's intention with "A Forest" was to make a song that was "really atmospheric". He has stated it was a pivotal recording for the group, representing "the archetypal Cure sound".Apter, p. 116 "A Forest" is performed in the
key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...
A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats and no sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: : Changes ...
.Rooksby, p. 98 Initially only the synth, guitar and drums are heard, followed by the introduction of the bass guitar and a second guitar part. The song initially follows an Am–C–F–Dm progression. Later on the track, its bridge contains a B–C–F#m–C–B–C sequence, which ends with a chromatic movement to the F chord before returning to Am. Following the echoing repetition of the word "again", a guitar solo appears which avoids string bends and moving in a
pentatonic A pentatonic scale is a musical scale (music), scale with five Musical note, notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale). Pentatonic scales were developed ...
manner. The single version of the song fades out at around four minutes, while on the longer (album) version the instruments exit one by one, concluding with the sound of the bass guitar at 5:46". The sound of Smith's guitar was a departure from that prevalent in the 1970s. Mike Hedges favored the use of
flanging Flanging is an audio effect produced by mixing two identical signals together, one signal delayed by a small and (usually) gradually changing period, usually smaller than 20 milliseconds. This produces a swept comb filter effect: peaks and not ...
at the time, and he estimated that there were seven flanger devices used on "A Forest." Rikki Rooksby said that the slow phase effect heard on the guitar in "A Forest" "almost became a Smith trademark for a while". Simon Gallup said his playing on the track was intended to be reminiscent of the bass work in the music of
The Stranglers The Stranglers are an English rock band who emerged via the punk rock scene. Scoring 23 UK top 40 singles and 19 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have origina ...
, whose bassist
Jean-Jacques Burnel Jean-Jacques Burnel (born 21 February 1952) is an English musician, producer and songwriter, best known as the bass guitarist and co-lead vocalist with the English rock band The Stranglers. He is the last founding member to remain in the band. ...
was a major influence on him. Smith has given varying explanations of his lyric for "A Forest." He has said the lyric was based upon a dream he had as a child where he was lost in the woods unable to escape, but later denied it and stated, "It's just about a forest."


Release and promotion

"A Forest" was released as a single on 5 April 1980. Its B-side was "Another Journey by Train," an instrumental remake of The Cure's "
Jumping Someone Else's Train "Jumping Someone Else's Train" is a song by English rock band The Cure. Produced by Chris Parry, it was released on 2 November 1979 in the UK as a stand-alone. It later appeared on the US version of the band's debut album, '' Boys Don't Cry'' (1 ...
." The single received a mixed critical reception, though commercially its sales were an improvement for the band. In early 1980, it spent eight weeks in the
UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
, peaking at number 31 on 12 April.Cure
OfficialCharts.com. Retrieved 27 January 2013. It was the highest they had placed on the chart by that point in their career.Apter, p. 122 In the United States, the song reached number 47 on the ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
Dance Music/Club Play Singles Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...
chart.The Cure – Awards
Allmusic.com. Retrieved 27 January 2013. The version included on 1986 compilation '' Standing on a Beach/Staring at the Sea'' is neither the album version (which was also on the 12" single) nor the 7" single edit (which removes a few bars between verses and fades out part-way through the guitar solo ending). Andy Anderson, who later became The Cure's drummer, said "A Forest" was the first song he heard by the band. He was taken by both the music and vocals, and was especially drawn to Smith's guitar work and the keyboard melody, which he described as "haunting". He described the spare and simple 4/4 drum pattern as straightforward: "all that is needed".


Legacy

"A Forest" has become the song most performed by the Cure, with over 1,000 live appearances. A live version of "A Forest" appeared on a four-song edition of '' The Hanging Garden'' released in July 1982. It was performed with a "rough, punk-edged" sound on the 1984 live album '' Concert: The Cure Live''. A performance appears on the live video ''
The Cure in Orange ''The Cure in Orange'' is a concert film by British rock group The Cure. It was shot on 35mm film at the Théâtre antique d'Orange in the French countryside (Orange, Vaucluse), on 8, 9, and 10 August 1986. Band members Robert Smith (Vocals & g ...
'', highly regarded by AllMusic reviewer Ned Raggett, while other live versions of the song appear on the concert film '' Show'', and on disc one of the live album '' Bestival Live 2011''. In 1990, the track was re-recorded (as the original master had been lost) and remixed by Mark Saunders for The Cure's '' Mixed Up'' album, which presented new remixes of classic Cure tracks. The "Tree mix" version of "A Forest" was released as a single on 6 December 1990, a few weeks after the album release on 20 November. The song was redone for the second time on the '' Join the Dots'' box set, this time remixed by
Mark Plati Mark Plati is a New York–based musician, record producer, and songwriter, best known for his work in the 1990s with David Bowie. Plati also has worked with Spookey Ruben, The Cure, Duncan Sheik, Hooverphonic, Robbie Williams, Joe McIntyre, D ...
and featuring
Earl Slick Earl Slick (born Frank Madeloni in Brooklyn, New York, October 1, 1952) is a guitarist best known for his collaborations with David Bowie, John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Robert Smith. He has also worked with other artists including John Waite, Tim ...
on guitar. This version was described as "awful" and "instantly dated" by reviewer Chris Ott. An acoustic version was recorded and released on the bonus disc that came with some copies of the 2001 ''
Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...
'' CD. Robert Smith supplied vocals for a
Blank & Jones Blank & Jones are a German electronic music duo, consisting of the members Jan Pieter Blank (born June 15, 1971), known as Piet Blank; René Runge (born June 27, 1968), better known as DJ Jaspa Jones; and the producer Andy Kaufhold (N*D*K) (born ...
cover version of the song, which appeared on their 2004 album ''
Monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...
''. The song was also featured in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (2006) on a new wave themed radio station Wave 103.


Music video

The promotional video for "A Forest" was the first that featured the band visually. It was created by David Hiller, who mixed footage from the band's 24 April 1980 debut appearance on BBC TV's ''
Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...
'' programme with a forest montage. Smith said the group "came across looking very morose and disinterested" in the video because that is how they felt at the time; he "hated" ''Top of the Pops'' as he was "really anti-pop" during this period. He recalled he had been in pain at the time of the shoot as he had broken his thumb trying to change a tyre a few days previously. Smith's bandaged left thumb can be seen in the video.


Track listing

7" – Fiction/Polydor (UK) (1980) # "A Forest" – 3:54 # "Another Journey by Train" – 3:03 12" – Fiction/Polydor (UK) (1980) # "A Forest" – 5:55 # "Another Journey by Train" – 3:00 CD/12" – Fiction (UK) (1990) # "A Forest" (Tree Mix) – 6:55 # "A Forest" (Original) – 5:56 # "Inbetween Days" (Shiver Mix) – 6:24


Personnel

* Robert Smith – vocals, guitar *
Simon Gallup Simon Jonathon Gallup (born 1 June 1960) is an English musician and bassist with the alternative rock band The Cure. He is the second longest-serving member of the band after lead vocalist/guitarist Robert Smith. Early years Born in Duxhurst ...
– bass *
Matthieu Hartley Matthieu Hartley (born 4 February 1960) is an English musician born in Smallfield, England. He is best known for as the original keyboardist for The Cure. Before then he was in Lockjaw and The Magazine Spies and was in several bands after leavi ...
– keyboards *
Lol Tolhurst Laurence Andrew "Lol" Tolhurst (born 3 February 1959) is a founding member and the former drummer and keyboardist of English band The Cure - he left the Cure in 1989 and was later involved in the band Presence and his current project, Levinhurs ...
– drums


Charts


Certifications


References

* Apter, Jeff. ''Never Enough: The Story of The Cure''. Omnibus Press, 2005. * Rooksby, Rikki. ''Inside Classic Rock Tracks''. Backbeat, 2001.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forest, A 1980 singles The Cure songs Songs written by Robert Smith (musician) 1979 songs Fiction Records singles Song recordings produced by Mike Hedges Songs written by Simon Gallup Songs written by Lol Tolhurst Songs written by Matthieu Hartley