jlr29's Full Review: Greatest Hits (Double CD) by The Cure
I've never fully understood why The Cure has always been labeled such a gloomy band. I have heard some of their more experimental stuff, but that side of them is not reflected on too much on this greatest hits collection. Songs about life's misery are underrepresented, and most of the songs on this records are the poppier ones, Robert Smith's odes to delirious love and lust.
I realize Smith is the heart and soul of the band, and he writes really good songs, but I must say, he's also the problem. I don't like him as a singer, his shrieking and sighing and weird vocal sound effects get on my nerves. Nonetheless, The Cure have one of the most enduring legacies out of Britain's "New Wave" bands, and though some of the band's artsier fan base may cringe to read this, they wrote some good pop songs.
Part of the reason I bought this record is that it's two CDs for the price of one. There's a second CD with all the same songs done acoustic. Unfortunately, for the most part the electric CD is much stronger, and some of the acoustic versions are a pathetic shadow of the originals, such as "Close to Me". Exceptions to this rule include "Friday I'm in Love" and "The Forest" (whose strong bass line is accentuated in the unplugged version). Some acoustic songs don't sound that different from the originals, because The Cure never was a band that relied on a lot of electric distortion in its music.
The best songs on the electric collection include "Just Like Heaven", "Wrong Number", and the brand new "Just Say Yes". Weaker ones include "Lullaby" and "Cut Here". The bass lines to "The Walk" and "Never Enough" are troublingly similar.
In closing, I do reccommend this album. The Cure were a good band and an important band, and I'm glad to have this album, even though it fell a little short of my expectations.
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