This week’s new releases include ‘Almost Alice,’ the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ soundtrack with a rare solo track from The Cure’s Robert Smith, plus a new Bomb the Bass album and a new 2CD best-of from The Stranglers.

This latest installment of Vintage Video again comes from our old stash of VHS tapes: It’s the entire Dec. 23, 1990, episode of MTV’s ‘120 Minutes,’ hosted by Robert Smith, who offers a retrospective of The Cure’s videos to promote the release of the band’s post-’Disintegration’ remix disc ‘Mixed Up.’

Molly Ringwald tells Vanity Fair that the late John Hughes started work on a script based on The Cure’s 1983 single “The Lovecats” — and even assembled a hypothetical soundtrack for the film — after finishing “The Breakfast Club.”

It’s not out until next month, but — thanks to Stereogum — you can now hear Robert Smith of The Cure covering “Very Good Advice” from Disney’s original “Alice in Wonderland,” which the iconic frontman has recorded for Tim Burton’s new live-action take on the Lewis Carroll classic.

Is Steve Jobs a big fan of The Cure? Someone at Apple apparently is, since the company used an piano-based cover of the band’s 1985 single “Inbetween Days” — which attentive Slicing Up Eyeballs readers now report is performed by Ben Folds — to soundtrack its eight-minute promo video for the just unveiled iPad tablet computer. Wonder whether Robert Smith will make a pretty penny in royalties off this one?

Last week saw the release Turn Ons, the debut album from The Hot Rats, aka Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey of Brit pop-rockers Supergrass. We’d be remiss for not mentioning this album, since a.) Supergrass is a superb band, and, b.) the record features covers by the likes of Gang of Four, Squeeze, Elvis Costello, Roxy Music and The Cure. In the case of that last act, check out the clip above to see the Hot Rats perform a fuzzed-out version of Robert Smith and Co.’s 1983 single “The Lovecats” at last year’s Glastonbury Festival. It’s the grooviest thing.

[tweetmeme]A day after we learned The Cure’s Robert Smith has recorded a rare solo track for Tim Burton’s live-action “Alice in Wonderland,” the frontman posted an all-caps update on the band’s site revealing several tidbits: He’s recorded a cover for a tribute to late British singer-songwriter John Martyn; he’s got “a couple or three other [...]

[tweetmeme]Robert Smith, iconic frontman of The Cure, will make a rare solo appearance on the soundtrack to Tim Burton’s live-action “Alice in Wonderland” later this year, contributing a cover of “Very Good Advice” from Disney’s animated version of the Lewis Carroll classic.
The soundtrack, due out March 2, also includes Disney re-imaginings and other themed tunes [...]

[tweetmeme]Former Siouxsie and the Banshees bassist Steven Severin will embark on a rare but brief U.S. tour this month to perform his electronic scores to surrealist and avant-garde silent-era films in a half-dozen live performances along the West Coast and in New York City.
At four of the performances beginning Friday — in Olympia, Wash.; San [...]

[tweetmeme]Despite the dour material, recording The Cure’s epic Disintegration album was a “very happy and jokey” time for the Robert Smith-led band, recalls former keyboard player Roger O’Donnell in a new 11,000-word essay on the 20th anniversary of the recording of that classic record.
As promised, O’Donnell — who played in The Cure from 1987 to [...]