The Cure Greatest Hits 320cbr (Big Papi) 2001 Elektra New Wave Post-Punk

Chances are, if you're on amazon.com looking at the Cure's Greatest Hits you're either:
a. Someone who's interested in getting into the Cure
or
b. A longtime Cure fan, seeing if the chosen songs are worthy.

As a result, this review will have two sides: "New to Cure" and "Cure veteran"

New to Cure:

Ok, here's the deal with the Cure:
1. The band has two sides. Light, poppy, and somewhat happy is one side. Dark, complex, and miserable is the other.
2. Every one of the Cure's albums falls into one of these two categories; there is no gray area.
3. The band's best work is really on their dark albums (i.e. Pornography, Faith, Disintegration), which primarily contain long, drawn-out, complex, beautiful, dark, depressing mood pieces.
4. However, long, complex mood pieces don't tend to make good radio singles, so this Greatest Hits collection is composed almost entirely of their lighter, poppier, happier songs.
5. If you're interested the Cure because you've heard songs like "Boys don't cry", "Close to me", "Just like heaven", "Love song", and "Friday, I'm in love", this collection is perfect for you. It's chock full of irresistibly catchy, poppy, and danceable tunes.
6. However, if you want to see the Cure at their absolute best, pick up the albums Disintegration, Pornography, and Faith. They take repeated listenings to really get into, but trust me, it's worth the effort.

Cure veteran:

If you're like most Cure veterans, you're probably all set to go off on a rant about how this collection basically only contains their poppy stuff and hardly has anything from their darker albums. Well, to that I say, what did you expect? This is a GREATEST HITS collection, not a "best of.

Even if you are a Cure veteran, I still say this is a wise buy. There's far too much filler on their happier albums, like Kiss me kiss me kiss me and The head on the door. This Greatest Hits collection, however, gives you a great overview of the best of their lighter side without any of the filler. But, if you have either Staring at the Sea or Galore, I'd recommend skipping this one over and saving your money for the box set. ; )