After teasing its release, Noel Gallagher has released The Cure‘s Robert Smith‘s remix of High Flying Birds‘ ‘Pretty Boy’.
The remix – which you can listen to below – features on the deluxe limited-edition of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ upcoming album ‘Council Skies’, due for release on June 2 via Sour Mash.
“I was surprised and delighted when Noel asked me to remix this gorgeous song, and I had a lot of fun slowing it down and spacing it out,” said Smith. “Cure drummer Jason Cooper gave me a great vibey drum track to play along with – and the rest just phased into place under the starry sky of my distant moon…”
The deluxe edition of ‘Council Skies’ will be available in triple vinyl and 2CD formats featuring a BBC Radio 2 session version of ‘Live Forever’ and a Pet Shop Boys remix.
All versions of album pre-orders via the official store will come with a printed handwritten lyric sheet of ‘Council Skies” title track. Pre-order your copy here. Check out the complete tracklist for the deluxe edition of ‘Council Skies’ below.
Disc 1:
- ‘I’m Not Giving Up Tonight’
- ‘Pretty Boy’
- ‘Dead To The World’
- ‘Open The Door, See What You Find’
- ‘Trying To Find A World That’s Been And Gone’
- ‘Easy Now’
- ‘Council Skies’
- ‘There She Blows!’
- ‘Love Is A Rich Man’
- ‘Think Of A Number’
Disc 2:
- ‘Don’t Stop…’
- ‘We’re Gonna Get There In The End’
- ‘Mind Games’
- ‘Pretty Boy’ (Instrumental)
- ‘Dead To The World’ (Instrumental)
- ‘Council Skies’ (Instrumental)
- ‘Think Of A Number’ (Instrumental)
- ‘I’m Not Giving Up Tonight’ (David Holmes Remix)
- ‘Think Of A Number’ (Pet Shop Boys Magic Eye 12” Remix)
- ‘Pretty Boy’ (Robert Smith Remix)
- ‘Council Skies’ (The Reflex Revision)
- ‘Flying On The Ground’ (Radio 2 Session, 08.09.21)
- ‘You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere’ (Radio 2 Session, 08.09.21)
- ‘Live Forever’ (Radio 2 Session, 08.09.21)
The original version of ‘Pretty Boy’ featured Johnny Marr and arrived last November. In January, Gallagher shared that Smith’s remix “sounds exactly like The Cure”.
“‘Pretty Boy’’ as it was unfolding became reminiscent of the golden age of The Cure. And it was just one of those crazy ideas that one tends to have in the middle of the night, thinking, ‘I wonder if Robert Smith [would] get involved. I wonder if I can get hold of him,’ Gallagher recalled.
“I asked if he’d get involved and sent him the track and he loved it. He did the remix. And I loved it. I’d never met him before. I’d never conversed with him.”
Following the release of ‘Council Skies’, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds will tour the UK between July and September 2023. You can purchase any remaining tickets here.
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds UK shows this summer are:
21 Jul – Buckinghamshire – Pennfest
23 Jul – Nottingham – Wollaton Park Splendour Festival
28 Jul – London – Crystal Palace Bowl
30 Jul – Brighton – On The Beach
05 Aug – Saffron Waldon – Essex Audley End
19 Aug – Monmouthshire – Caldicot Castle
20 Aug – Sedgefield – Co Durham Hardwick Festival
24 Aug – Somerset – Taunton Vivary Park
26 Aug – Manchester – Wythenshawe Park
27 Aug – Dublin – Royal Hospital, Kilmainham
01 Sep – Sheffield – Rock N Roll Circus, Don Valley Bowl
The Cure meanwhile, who recently completed a lengthy UK and European tour with a string of acclaimed shows at London’s Wembley Arena, are expected to soon announce release details of the long overdue ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ – the group’s first new album since 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream’.
Having long teased the albums – after telling us that two new records were on the way at the NME Awards 2020 – Smith revealed to NME earlier this year that one of them would be “real very soon” and would be called ‘Songs Of A Lost World’. Discussing the themes and character of the long-awaited album, Smith said that it “doesn’t have very much light on it” and that it sounds “more like ‘Disintegration’ than ‘Head On The Door’”.