The Cure

Even if you didn't like the Cure, listening to this collection is still interesting, just to hear the band's evolution from jittery Post-Punks to gothic miscreants to pop music innovators. The one Cure album to own, this collection trims the fat, giving you a sample of some of the finest singles made in the '80s.

Caught in his least lugubrious moments, Robert Smith stands revealed as a guy who gets a lot of skin because he believes he can live without it. He just won't play the "stupid game" that hooks the definitive "Let's Go to Bed," with its rotating I-don't-if-you-don't challenges--care, feel, want it, say it, and of course play it (and now let's go to bed, it's getting late). Guys who don't make passes because they wear glasses hate him for this, as do guys who don't get laid despite their muscular bods and heads. Above the fray, I think he's kind of amusing myself--a real cool type. (Grade - B+)