It's easy to be snobbish about this compilation, but it's important not to forget how many great songs are included on it. If you are already a Cure fan and already have all the songs, then fine. There's probably not much here for you. The acoustic versions of some of the tracks on the second CD don't really merit a second listen, and the four later tracks on the main CD are all below the Cure's usual high standards.

That leaves the listener with 15 tracks of fantastic Cure pop songs, from their punk-pop beginnings in the 70s, right through to the more mature sound of the 90s. If you are new to the Cure, and if you have a liking for whimsical, dreamy guitar-pop, this would be a very good place to start your acquaintance. The two other compilations by the Cure, 'Staring at the Sea' and 'Galore', only cover a small part of their career. This compilation is more of an accurate representation of the band's career so far, even allowing for the fact that it concentrates almost exclusively on their pop singles, as well as for the shocking emission of one of their most beautiful songs, the sublime 'Catch'.

This compilation also hints at the Cure's darker depths, giving you a taste of the moody masterpiece 'Disintegration', with the tracks 'Pictures of You' and 'Lullaby', as well as the skeletal miserablism of early Cure, with the classic 'A Forest'. If you like those tracks, you can explore more by checking out the albums, or if you choose, you could follow the pop route and check out 'Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me' or 'Wish'.

If you are interested in the band and would like to hear some of their old songs, without necessarily wanting to buy all the albums, this would be a good buy.

Every rock fan will be able to pick this album up and find at least a couple of songs that appeal to them. Ever a versatile band, Robert Smith's voice and the underlying bass guitar riffs are the only real constants throughout this greatest hits package. 'Never Enough' is pure guitar stomp, 'Lovecats' the grooviest of white jazz, and 'Love Song' the most poignant example of Smith's lyric-writing.

What more can I say that hasn't already been said in previous reviews? Even for established Cure fans, this is a very handy condensed package which I would genuinely recommend to anyone around.

While some of The Cure faithful may feel aggrieved by the absence - 'A Forest' notwithstanding - of tracks from their gloomiest period (Faith, Seventeen Seconds, Pornography), the more casual listener will find much to enjoy here. Having had a big Cure phase in my teens, I might quibble that the Boys Don't Cry/Three Imaginary Boys era is under-represented. 'Jumping Someone Else's Train' and 'Killing An Arab', for instance, would have been preferable to some of the relatively non-descript material post-'Friday I'm In Love'. It seems odd also given how fashionable angular post-punk has been in the 00s to skimp on this early period, but ultimately you can't fault this as an introduction to the band.

What is great about this colllection is that The Cure had a habit of reinventing themselves and releasing their most resonant and accessible material as singles. This is not to say that they were a singles band - far from it, your next purchase ought to be 'Disintegration' if you don't own it already - but that this captures the band at their most varied, eccentric best. Whereas some Best-Ofs can seem fairly by-the-numbers, soulless experiences, 'Greatest Hits' is a joy for its vivid eclecticism.

Despite their reputation (not always unfounded) for bleak introspection, 'Greatest Hits' reveals Robert Smith to be one of the best pop songwriters of his generation. 'In Between Days', 'Close To Me', 'Just Like Heaven' are pop perfection, while 'A Forest' and 'Lullaby' harnesses the band's predilection for acid-spiked paranoia in a universably accessible form. Meanwhile the deranged, off-kilter pop of 'The Lovecats' and 'The Caterpillar' straddles the unlikely territory somewhere between these two poles: too saccharine to be goth, too bonkers by most pop tastes. Then you have the raw energy of 'Boy's Don't Cry' and the comparatively lush and expansive pop sensibility of 'Lovesong' and 'Pictures of You'. Thankfully, the collection is also chronological, so you get (almost) the whole Cure story - and a fantastic journey it is.

This compilation offers excellent coverage of the Cure's 23 year career and illustrates that although there are only a few genuine 'hits', there has been ample enduring quality in the bands history to make this a worthwhile venture. The standout tracks are easily apparent, ranging from the quirky alt-pop brilliance of 'Close To Me' to their biggest hit, the anthemic 'Friday I'm In Love' which sounds just as good today as it ever did. Aside from the true 'hits' we can still find real gems in the shape of the melancholic yet heartfelt lo-fi confessions of 'Love Song' and 'Pictures of You' as well as the relatively more upbeat 'Never Enough' (including Robert Smith's trademark squealing). Overall the LP strikes a good balance between the more accessible, yet utterly brilliant pop songs ('High', 'Friday I'm in Love') and the more angst driven tracks off of the less commercial LP's. This is an ideal compilation for new fans of the band and devotees alike, though those who have followed the band for a while may feel these 'Greatest Hits' represent the glossier side of an often darker overall sound.

As with the majority of bands, if you are new to them and they've got a greatest hits album that's usually the best place to start, and with the myriad of styles displayed here this is certainly true of The Cure.

The album kicks off with The Buzzcocks-esque Boy's Don't Cry (1979), a song which seems to be gaining in popularity again due to being continually namechecked by bands such as The Strokes and The Hives. A Forest (1980) comes next and is arguably the song that created the goth movement, although The Cure would not thank you for saying so. It has easily the most memorable bassline of any song ever, one which has been stolen by quite a few bands such as Fields Of The Nephilim, and is an appropriately spooky tale of being "lost in a forest all alone...".

That A Forest should be quite a scary affair makes the following song, Let's Go To Bed (1982) all the more peverse. Basically think Master And Servant by Depeche Mode, think Mad World by Tears For Fears (sped up a bit) and you have Let's Go To Bed. It's pure pop for the next 6 songs, through The Lovecats (1983) a fantastic jazz singalong which REALLY should be picked up by Disney someday if they ever make another Aristocats-type movie, The Caterpillar (1984) which is a Marc Bolan-esque accoustic ditty without the cheesy glam edge, Inbetween Days (1985) which is 100% pure New Order (not them again!!!) although for a couple of years it was hard to tell who was ripping off who, Close To Me (1985) which to me is a bit of a pop parody of a sped-up Green Onions (Booker T and the MG's) !!!! which features Robert's craziest singing yet, Why Can't I Be You (1987) is another mad slice of pop with crazy trumpets and funky guitars and they even stole the drumbeat from "I'm Walking On Sunshine" (or whatever it's called), Just Like Heaven (1987) is another return to the New Order sound (not them again!!!!) although this time it was actually The Cure who were ripped off when the guitar riff from this track was used on a 1989 New Order song.

Lullaby (1990) is a return to the early goth sound with it's plain spooky orchestral sounding keyboards and lyrics about being eaten by a giant spider ! Lovesong (1990) is driven by a catchy organ riff and a complicated bassline (Lovesong shot to number 2 in the US singles chart, kept off number 1 only by Janet Jackson which was quite an acheivement considering her popularity at the time, and it won an award for being the most played song on US radio in 1990), Pictures Of You (1990) is an edited version of the album track and brings a bit of extra energy and urgency to the song although it's at the expense of the much longer album versions emotion. It still gives you a good idea of the bands ability to sound quite poppy and breezy even when tackling serious subject matter and the three singles of Lullaby, Lovesong and Pictures Of You should be enough to convince you to immediately purchase Disintegration, the album they are taken from (and described by one of the South Park characters as "the greatest album ever made" !!!).

Never Enough (1990) was at the time of it's release the heaviest track the band had released. It's got a very similar feel to Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze, the whole song is loose and funky with some well cool wah-wah guitars.

High (1992) took the band back to the jangly pop of the Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me album and was neatly followed up by Friday I'm In Love (1992) a Beatles-esque piece of great songcraft which became their highest charting single (to date at the time of writing this). Mint Car (1996) does not follow on very well after Friday I'm In Love as it is essentially the same song with different lyrics and not quite as good ! If you have never heard Friday then you'd probably like this song a lot, but it really should have been left off as Friday serves it's own purpose quite well enough, plus Mint Car wasn't a "hit" anyway......

Keeping up that theme, after Friday I'm In Love there aren't anymore "hits" on this album.

Wrong Number (1997) was a stab at what Americans like to call "electronica", which features some quite tough guitar by special guest Reeves Gabrels (ex-David Bowie band). Unfortunately it has been subsequently revealed (in the sleeve notes) that Robert Smith (vocals) and Jason Cooper (drums) are the only Cure members to play on this song. It was okay on it's release but it already sounds really dated. It's alright as a bit of a different style on here but it's easily one of The Cure's weakest songs. My advice to them would be to erase all of the drum machines and sequenced bass on this song and play some real instruments on it, then we'd be in business.

The last 2 songs Cut Here (2001) and Just Say Yes (never released - which again means it doesn't qualify as a "hit"....) are another attempt at returning to their classic pop days and while Cut Here is very good, both are a bit worn and Just Say Yes sounds like a Black Grape tribute band !!!

Anyway, start your Cure collection here !!!!!