Cure Greatest Hits: International Edition CD

Import edition features one additional track, Pictures of You. As Greatest Hits-and particularly the busking pavement jazz of "Lovecats"-reminds us, the best Cure singles were very often tangential exercises; halcyon playtime divergences offering a Goth-free contrast to some of the weightier studiousness of some of those early albums. Or, as smudged frontman Robert Smith says of this 18-track collection, "Songs that are sung with a smile." This wasn't always true-witness the refrigerated fogginess of the classic "A Forest", the Blair Witch Project of it's day. What this compilation does is focus attention on The Cure's perennial unpredictability-the nursery school bonkers-ness of "The Caterpillar", the breathless claustrophobia of "Close to Me", the New Order-lite of "The Walk", the brass-section embellished thrust of "Why Can't I Be You". Oddly, chart-wise, The Cure's Lost Weekend began immediately after "Friday I'm in Love", their most ebullient melodic moment and the ultimate clocking-off to kick-those-heels! Anthem. But at least the inclusion of two new songs "Cut Here" and "Just Say Yes" (with Saffron from Republica) indicate that The Cure remain a healthy ongoing concern.

1. Boys Don't Cry 2. A Forest 3. Let's Go to Bed 4. The Walk 5. The Lovecats 6. Inbetween Days 7. Close to Me 8. Why Can't I Be You? 9. Just Like Heaven 10. Lullaby 11. Love Song 12. Never Enough 13. High 14. Friday I'm in Love 15. Mint Car 16. Wrong Number 17. Cut Here 18. Just Say Yes