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Greatest Hits |  | Artist: The Cure
Label: Polydor Group
Category: Music
List Price: £8.99
Buy New: £4.91
as of 21/11/2009 22:13 GMT details
You Save: £4.08 (45%)
New (36) Used (10) Collectible (1) from £3.45
Seller: all your music
Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 376
Format: Extra tracks
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 4.9 x 0.4
UPC: 731458943525
EAN: 0731458943525
ASIN: B00005RD9B
Release Date: November 11, 2001
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Boys Don't Cry | | • | Forest | | • | Let's Go To Bed | | • | Lovecats | | • | Caterpillar | | • | In Between Days | | • | Close To Me | | • | Why Can't I Be You | | • | Just Like Heaven | | • | Lullaby | | • | Love Song | | • | Pictures Of You | | • | Never Enough | | • | High | | • | Friday I'm In Love | | • | Mint Car | | • | Wrong Number | | • | Cut Here | | • | Just Say Yes |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
As IGreatest Hits/I--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 IBlair Witch Project/I 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. I--Kevin Maidment/I
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 27
 Something For Everyone October 24, 2004
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
Every rock fan will be able to pick this album up and find at least a couple of songs that appeal to them. Ever a versatile band, Robert Smith's voice and the underlying bass guitar riffs are the only real constants throughout this greatest hits package. 'Never Enough' is pure guitar stomp, 'Lovecats' the grooviest of white jazz, and 'Love Song' the most poignant example of Smith's lyric-writing.pWhat more can I say that hasn't already been said in previous reviews? Even for established Cure fans, this is a very handy condensed package which I would genuinely recommend to anyone around.
If you're new to The Cure, this is the place to start. July 1, 2002
crazeetaxi
16 out of 20 found this review helpful
As with the majority of bands, if you are new to them and they've got a greatest hits album that's usually the best place to start, and with the myriad of styles displayed here this is certainly true of The Cure.pThe album kicks off with The Buzzcocks-esque Boy's Don't Cry (1979), a song which seems to be gaining in popularity again due to being continually namechecked by bands such as The Strokes and The Hives. A Forest (1980) comes next and is arguably the song that created the goth movement, although The Cure would not thank you for saying so. It has easily the most memorable bassline of any song ever, one which has been stolen by quite a few bands such as Fields Of The Nephilim, and is an appropriately spooky tale of being "lost in a forest all alone...".pThat A Forest should be quite a scary affair makes the following song, Let's Go To Bed (1982) all the more peverse. Basically think Master And Servant by Depeche Mode, think Mad World by Tears For Fears (sped up a bit) and you have Let's Go To Bed. It's pure pop for the next 6 songs, through The Lovecats (1983) a fantastic jazz singalong which REALLY should be picked up by Disney someday if they ever make another Aristocats-type movie, The Caterpillar (1984) which is a Marc Bolan-esque accoustic ditty without the cheesy glam edge, Inbetween Days (1985) which is 100% pure New Order (not them again!!!) although for a couple of years it was hard to tell who was ripping off who, Close To Me (1985) which to me is a bit of a pop parody of a sped-up Green Onions (Booker T and the MG's) !!!! which features Robert's craziest singing yet, Why Can't I Be You (1987) is another mad slice of pop with crazy trumpets and funky guitars and they even stole the drumbeat from I'm Walking On Sunshine" (or whatever it's called), Just Like Heaven (1987) is another return to the New Order sound (not them again!!!!) although this time it was actually The Cure who were ripped off when the guitar riff from this track was used on a 1989 New Order song.pLullaby (1990) is a return to the early goth sound with it's plain spooky orchestral sounding keyboards and lyrics about being eaten by a giant spider ! Lovesong (1990) is driven by a catchy organ riff and a complicated bassline (Lovesong shot to number 2 in the US singles chart, kept off number 1 only by Janet Jackson which was quite an acheivement considering her popularity at the time, and it won an award for being the most played song on US radio in 1990), Pictures Of You (1990) is an edited version of the album track and brings a bit of extra energy and urgency to the song although it's at the expense of the much longer album versions emotion. It still gives you a good idea of the bands ability to sound quite poppy and breezy even when tackling serious subject matter and the three singles of Lullaby, Lovesong and Pictures Of You should be enough to convince you to immediately purchase Disintegration, the album they are taken from (and described by one of the South Park characters as "the greatest album ever made" !!!).pNever Enough (1990) was at the time of it's release the heaviest track the band had released. It's got a very similar feel to Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze, the whole song is loose and funky with some well cool wah-wah guitars. pHigh (1992) took the band back to the jangly pop of the Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me album and was neatly followed up by Friday I'm In Love (1992) a Beatles-esque piece of great songcraft which became their highest charting single (to date at the time of writing this). Mint Car (1996) does not follow on very well after Friday I'm In Love as it is essentially the same song with different lyrics and not quite as good ! If you have never heard Friday then you'd probably like this song a lot, but it really should have been left off as Friday serves it's own purpose quite well enough, plus Mint Car wasn't a "hit" anyway......pKeeping up that theme, after Friday I'm In Love there aren't anymore "hits" on this album.pWrong Number (1997) was a stab at what Americans like to call "electronica", which features some quite tough guitar by special guest Reeves Gabrels (ex-David Bowie band). Unfortunately it has been subsequently revealed (in the sleeve notes) that Robert Smith (vocals) and Jason Cooper (drums) are the only Cure members to play on this song. It was okay on it's release but it already sounds really dated. It's alright as a bit of a different style on here but it's easily one of The Cure's weakest songs. My advice to them would be to erase all of the drum machines and sequenced bass on this song and play some real instruments on it, then we'd be in business.pThe last 2 songs Cut Here (2001) and Just Say Yes (never released - which again means it doesn't qualify as a "hit"....) are another attempt at returning to their classic pop days and while Cut Here is very good, both are a bit worn and Just Say Yes sounds like a Black Grape tribute band !!!pAnyway, start your Cure collection here !!!!!
9/10. 'Just Like Heaven' July 21, 2007
Demob Happy (London / Grenoble)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
While some of The Cure faithful may feel aggrieved by the absence - 'A Forest' notwithstanding - of tracks from their gloomiest period (Faith, Seventeen Seconds, Pornography), the more casual listener will find much to enjoy here. Having had a big Cure phase in my teens, I might quibble that the Boys Don't Cry/Three Imaginary Boys era is under-represented. 'Jumping Someone Else's Train' and 'Killing An Arab', for instance, would have been preferable to some of the relatively non-descript material post-'Friday I'm In Love'. It seems odd also given how fashionable angular post-punk has been in the 00s to skimp on this early period, but ultimately you can't fault this as an introduction to the band.
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br /What is great about this colllection is that The Cure had a habit of reinventing themselves and releasing their most resonant and accessible material as singles. This is not to say that they were a singles band - far from it, your next purchase ought to be 'Disintegration' if you don't own it already - but that this captures the band at their most varied, eccentric best. Whereas some Best-Ofs can seem fairly by-the-numbers, soulless experiences, 'Greatest Hits' is a joy for its vivid eclecticism.
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br /Despite their reputation (not always unfounded) for bleak introspection, 'Greatest Hits' reveals Robert Smith to be one of the best pop songwriters of his generation. 'In Between Days', 'Close To Me', 'Just Like Heaven' are pop perfection, while 'A Forest' and 'Lullaby' harnesses the band's predilection for acid-spiked paranoia in a universably accessible form. Meanwhile the deranged, off-kilter pop of 'The Lovecats' and 'The Caterpillar' straddles the unlikely territory somewhere between these two poles: too saccharine to be goth, too bonkers by most pop tastes. Then you have the raw energy of 'Boy's Don't Cry' and the comparatively lush and expansive pop sensibility of 'Lovesong' and 'Pictures of You'. Thankfully, the collection is also chronological, so you get (almost) the whole Cure story - and a fantastic journey it is.
great introduction to a great band January 11, 2005
9 out of 13 found this review helpful
What is striking about the Cure's greatest hits is that there is not a weak track on despite containing an extremely eclectic mix of songs. fantastic.
A CD Collection Must-Have July 16, 2004
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
I have not owned or listened to a Cure album before, although I have liked their music for a while. If you want to own some Cure music this is excellent value, with 19 tracks, and you are guaranteed to like it. This album has it all - a track for every mood. You cannot help but be addicted to this collection of great songs, even after one listen - you will not want it to end. The Cure's Greatest Hits will permanently be in my top 10 recommended albums. A true classic. Buy it now!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 27
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