Curiosity Killed The Cat: A Cat Box

Title: Misfits – The Mercury Years 1986-1990

Label: Caroline

Launched in 1984, Curiosity Killed The Cat teetered on the fence labelled pop and jazz-funk – well, jazz-funk-lite – and added boy band looks that added teeny boppy trailing screams that affected their street cred further. That said, their chart hitting Down to Earth was toe-tappingly funky, adding smooth jazz accents. It was very easily digested and was bound to be hummed while navigating the fresh food section in Tescos. Their other principle single, Misfit, was in a similar ‘variation on a theme’ vein.

These singles and more are now available in this 4CD box set that brings together the band’s entire studio output. The first two discs feature the Keep Your Distance and Getahead albums in full, with bonus tracks, including 12″ mixes, B-sides and non-album tracks. Two further CDs of rare remixes including previously unreleased versions of Down To Earth and Cascade sit next to 12 previously unheard original demos, including five songs never officially released.

All Curiosity Killed The Cat recordings have been sourced via the original master tapes at Abbey Road Studios. As for that mastering, the production values are obviously high here – it screams money and big label attention – with a large, expansive soundstage on offer. There is compression around the music but nothing too nasty and nothing that will damage long term listening too much. Upper mids move towards the edgy boundary at high volumes but, on the whole, the mastering is good with admirable midrange detail sitting nicely alongside responsive and punchy bass.

Also from Caroline are two more clamshell box sets, this time of a heavy rock nature. The first, The Mercury Years, include Cinderella’s Four albums from 1986-1994 plus live cuts. The second, The Casablanca Years, from Angel features six albums including a live release plus a rarities disc.  

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