The Cure - Greatest Hits [Special Edition]

Most greatest hits packages are contractual housekeeping. This one is a genuinely strange artefact, because Robert Smith could not leave it alone. Released in 2001 and reissued in this special edition, it collects eighteen singles spanning twenty two years, from the two minute nerve of "Boys Don't Cry" through "A Forest," "The Lovecats," "Just Like Heaven," "Lovesong" and "Friday I'm In Love," and then adds two brand new songs written specifically for it.

"Cut Here" is Smith's eulogy for Billy Mackenzie of the Associates and one of the best things he wrote after Wish. "Just Say Yes" pairs him with Saffron of Republica and is the closest the Cure ever got to a straight dance record. Neither feels like filler bolted onto a compilation, which is rare.

What makes this edition worth owning is the second disc. Smith took all eighteen tracks back into the studio and recut them acoustically, which turns "A Forest" into something almost folk and exposes just how sturdy these songs are underneath the flange and the reverb. It works far better than the idea sounds.

Two CD special edition on Polydor, compiled by Robert Smith. The single disc hits collection plus the complete Acoustic Hits companion.