| Standing on a Beach (vinyl title) Staring at the Sea (CD title) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greatest hits album by The Cure | ||||
| Released | 6 May 1986 | |||
| Recorded | 1978 to 1985 | |||
| Genre | Post-punk, gothic rock, alternative rock, New Wave | |||
| Length |
45:44 (Vinyl edition) |
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| Label | Fiction Records (UK) Elektra Records (U.S.) |
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| Producer | The Cure | |||
| The Cure compilations chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [1] |
| Blender | [2] |
| Robert Christgau | (B+)[3] |
Standing on a Beach (titled Staring at the Sea in CD format in some countries) is a singles compilation released by the British rock band The Cure in May, 1986, marking a decade since the band's founding in 1976. The album's title is taken from the opening lyrics of The Cure's debut single "Killing an Arab".
The "New Voice - New Mix" of "Boys Don't Cry" (released as a single little over a fortnight before Standing on a Beach) is not featured on the album, making the album only span singles from 1978 to 1985. The same mix has never been released since onto a compilation album.
Contents |
The album was released in three formats, vinyl record, compact disc and audio cassette.
The vinyl edition is a collection of all thirteen of The Cure's commercially released singles up to that point in chronological order. "10:15 Saturday Night" is dropped though, possibly because it was only released in France.
The CD edition features the same tracks as the vinyl edition, but also includes an extra track from four of the band's albums. The four songs, although not released as singles, all had music videos made for them.
The cassette edition features the same tracks as the vinyl edition, but also contains all of the band's b-sides that had, to that point, not received a long-play release. This excludes "10:15 Saturday Night" from the "Killing an Arab" single, which was released on the Three Imaginary Boys album, "Plastic Passion" from the "Boys Don't Cry" single, which was released on the Boys Don't Cry album, and the five b-sides from the "Let's Go to Bed", "The Walk" and "The Lovecats" singles, which were released on the Japanese Whispers compilation album. However, the b-side "Mr. Pink Eyes" from the 12" version of "The Lovecats" was omitted from Japanese Whispers, and so was included on this release.
These releases were accompanied by a VHS and laserdisc release, a music video collection named Staring at the Sea: The Images with the same setlist as CD version of the album.
All the b-sides on the cassette edition were also later released on the first disc of the Join the Dots compilation in 2004.
The album has been certified 2x platinum in the U.S.
Also missing is the special "Lament" 'Flexipop' single from 1982, as this was not a proper single, and "I'm a Cult Hero" from 1979, probably because it was released under a different band name, Cult Hero.
Presented here is a comparison showing in what format each of the twenty nine songs on the album can be found, with the position number of that song on that particular format.
| Song | Vinyl LP | CD and VHS | Cassette |
|---|---|---|---|
| "10:15 Saturday Night" | 2 | ||
| "A Few Hours After This" | 22 | ||
| "A Forest" | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| "A Man Inside My Mouth" | 23 | ||
| "A Night Like This" | 17 | ||
| "Another Journey By Train" | 15 | ||
| "Boys Don't Cry" | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| "The Caterpillar" | 11 | 14 | 11 |
| "Charlotte Sometimes" | 6 | 9 | 6 |
| "Close to Me" | 13 | 16 | 13 |
| "Descent" | 16 | ||
| "The Exploding Boy" | 21 | ||
| "The Hanging Garden" | 7 | 10 | 7 |
| "Happy the Man" | 19 | ||
| "I'm Cold" | 14 | ||
| "In Between Days" | 12 | 15 | 12 |
| "Jumping Someone Else's Train" | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| "Killing an Arab" | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| "Let's Go to Bed" | 8 | 11 | 8 |
| "The Love Cats" | 10 | 13 | 10 |
| "Mr Pink Eyes" | 18 | ||
| "New Day" | 25 | ||
| "Other Voices" | 8 | ||
| "Play for Today" | 6 | ||
| "Primary" | 5 | 7 | 5 |
| "Splintered in Her Head" | 17 | ||
| "Stop Dead" | 24 | ||
| "Throw Your Foot" | 20 | ||
| "The Walk" | 9 | 12 | 9 |