The Cure's Greatest Hits

80's music nostalgia is rampant these days. For someone like me who graduated in the early eighties that makes sense of course. The eighties certainly saw a great variety of music. The early eighties for us cool kids meant Van Halen before Jump brought them to the whole world's attention, Bruce singing Nebraska and not Born in the USA, and of course the first last album by the who It's Hard which featured Athena and Eminence Front. The ultimate test of course is did you buy The Final Cut by Pink Floyd and if you did, did you get it?

With all that however what I find one of the more enjoyable trips down 80's nostalgia is the melancholy music of the second half of the eighties. On the First Wave satellite station it often seems between The Cure and The Smith's with a little Thompson Twins thrown in they have time for little else. And surprisingly for me, that is just fine.

Maybe it is because while I was aware of these bands the first time around they were not overplayed on my floor in college. Whatever the reason The Cure in recent weeks has certainly become turn it up music in my vehicle. My kids look at me and say " Really Dad?" It is kind of a two fold look. Not just this is awful but this is not your normal awful music. So I will be the first to admit it is a stretch.

However as the saying goes the heart wants what the heart wants. Listening to The Cure's Greatest Hits album this morning there is no doubt of my being dead on in my assessment.

I cannot listen to Close to Me without tapping my foot. The stomp beat, post Clash and the absolute unique voice of Robert Smith on Why Can"t I Be You is infectious. Now truth be told this music is not for everyone. I have a friend who I am sure would revoke my membership in the he man club if he read this but I think it is well known I am pretty open when it comes to music.

Eventually The Cure went a tiny bit more mainstream or mainstream went a tiny bit more Cure and songs like Just Like Heaven became a success on the mainstream charts. Smith's vocal is a little clearer but he still had the breathy quality you either appreciated or did not. He certainly was not going to change. The peak of the mainstream success, rightly so, came about with " Lovesong" which by any standard is a great performance.

Also on the greatest hits album is one of my favorites. Lullaby, perhaps because it does not make any effort at being liked, it is odd, and Smith's voice is the voice that we remember when he was just the hardcore groups. The Cure really never got enough credit for the cleverness of their songs, the beats, the music itself, much stronger than was thought. Smith's voice, so original, tended to dominate everything else.

One cannot neglect the poppy " Friday I'm in Love " which appeared like a bolt of sunshine in the early nineties. You had to sing along, it was infectious, but the question for most Cure fans was what the hell is this. Did Mr. Smith finally get some anti depressants. No matter the song was one of their most popular and with the contrast to previous records it certainly was original.

I have to offer however that a couple of songs are inexplicably missing. Fascination Street which featured Smith in full Smith voice and has been offered in multiple versions for the hardcore fans certainly should be on this compilation. The obviously missing song in any collection of The Cure's Greatest Hits however is not including Pictures of You. When I think of everything that makes one think of music from The Cure this song has it. When Smith sings" I've been looking so long at these Pictures of You that I almost believe that they're real" captures all the sadness and depression that good or bad encompassed so much of the music of The Cure.

This band made many memorable songs, when you look over a list, you are shocked to realize just how much music they made. With Morrisey touring to stand out reviews in the states right now one wonders if a reborn Cure might not be far behind.