Anniversary — December 8, 2009 at 11:10 pm

Roger O’Donnell reconsiders posting memories of recording The Cure’s ‘Disintegration’

Roger O'Donnell, formerly of The Cure

Former Cure keyboardist Roger O’Donnell says he’s “run into a bit of a brick wall” over plans to share his memories of the recording of that band’s classic Disintegration album 20 years ago — and may scrap the project altogether.

Last month, O’Donnell —who played with Robert Smith and Co. from 1987 to 1990, and then again from 1995 until 2005 — announced plans to “put all my memories and lots of exclusive never-before-seen photos from that period together” and post them online.

Early last week he updated his site, saying the project was expected to go live by week’s end. That didn’t happen, and today, however, he posted a somewhat cryptic update, saying, “I have finished writing my memories of Disintegration, but have run into a bit of a brick wall about publishing it.”

He continues:

“As I discovered recently, you do have to break a few eggs to make an omelette, and I’m not sure if those eggs really deserve to be broken. I have already been asked to restrain it in one way before anybody has even read or seen it. It is a very interesting piece and has unlocked long-forgotten memories in both myself and the other contributors, who include (Disintegration co-producer) Dave Allen, Richard Earl and (keyboard tech) Bruno Brunning. But whether I will publish it now, I really don’t know.”

Whether or not O’Donnell ends up posting his Disintegration memoirs, he has followed through with another announcement from last month: making some of his solo albums available as free downloads. Last week he posted 1994’s Grey Clouds Red Sky, and he followed that up today with Big Buildings, a previously unreleased album he recorded in late 1994 and early 1995 just before he rejoined The Cure.

PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS

3 Comments

  1. Sounds like he’s been strong-armed by old Robert “The Don” Smith :(

  2. what’s the big secret/controversy/etc.? robert drank to excess, used a lot of psychedelic drugs and was an extremely moody dick to everyone.. we can figure that one out on our own! i’m not sure what else there is to tell, but this sudden turnaround is only making me much more curious.

  3. Seems like someone is struggling to make some $$$ because really, what can he possibly do now besides grow old and talk about his past hoping to impress a passerby?

    He hasn’t done anything worth mentioning except working for Robert and for him to stab R in the back? This reminds me of Screech writing the book about “Saved by the Bell”. It’s all about making some money cuz he’s broke and going after Robert because he’s jealous.

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