The Cure - Join the Dots - 4CD - 2004

The Cure - Join the Dots - 4CD - 2004

If you were a diehard fan of the Cure and wanted to listen to their b-sides and rare tracks, you had mainly two options: listen to the original vinyl/CD single or grab the "Standing on a Beach" cassette, which had a bonus selection of early b-side cuts. "Join the Dots" now makes things easier for the fan who's got to own every hard-to-find release by the Cure. On 4 CDs, the band covers their 23-year discography of rarities, and all the tracks are digitally remastered under the supervision of Robert Smith. The first disc is a virtual trip down memory lane and it's easily the best, featuring songs that trace back to the Cure's punk roots. Notable gems are "I'm Cold," "Another Journey by Train," the orchestral "A Few Hours After This," and "Throw Your Foot." The second disc covers 1987-2002, and by this point, the band found a mainstream audience in America. Its twin peaks are the poppy "2 Late" and the dark and atmospheric "Fear of Ghosts," which stands as good a track as anything off their 1989 album "Disintegration." Another highlight is a respectable cover of the Doors' "Hello, I Love You," and three versions of this song are found. Disc 3 covers 1992-1996, with some good tracks ("Play" and "This Twilight Garden") and some notable misfires, such as a cover of Hendrix's "Purple Haze" and a not-bad-but-pointless cover of Bowie's "Young Americans." The fourth disc, which covers 1996-01 finds the group experimenting with electronica with varying degrees of success. It's not a bad disc, and much of the stuff on here is good, but it's my least favorite among the four. Tracks that make it worth the trip are the Palmer remix of "This is a Lie," the Oakenford remix of the "Bloodflowers" cut "Out of this World," an acoustic version of "Signal to Noise," and the beautiful "More Than This" (which, by the way, is NOT a cover of the Roxy Music classic). All in all, "Join the Dots" is a no-questions-asked must buy for Cure diehards like myself, but first-timers who are green to the band should start with the band's studio albums first. For those who have been longing to get these tracks on CD, this is more than a box set. It's also an answered prayer.


Disc: 1
1. 10:15 Saturday Night
2. Plastic Passion
3. Pillbox Tales
4. Do the Hansa
5. I'm Cold
6. Another Journey by Train
7. DeScent
8. Splintered in Her Head
9. Lament (Flexipop Version)
10. Just One Kiss
11. The Dream
12. The Upstairs Room
13. Lament
14. Speak My Language
15. Mr Pink Eyes
16. Happy the Man
17. Throw Your Foot
18. New Day
19. The Exploding Boy
20. A Few Hours After This...
21. A Man Inside My Mouth
22. Stop Dead

Disc: 2
1. A Japanese Dream
2. Breathe
3. A Chain of Flowers
4. Snow in Summer
5. Sugar Girl
6. Icing Sugar (Weird Remix)
7. Hey You!!! (Kevorkian 12" Remix)
8. How Beautiful You Are (Clearmountain 7" Remix)
9. To the Sky
10. Babble
11. Out of Mind
12. 2 Late
13. Fear of Ghosts
14. Hello I Love You (Psychedelic Version)
15. Hello I Love You
16. Hello I Love You (10sec Version)
17. Harold and Joe
18. Just Like Heaven ('Chuck' Remix)

Disc: 3
1. This Twilight Garden
2. Play
3. Halo
4. Scared as You
5. The Big Hand
6. A Foolish Arrangement
7. Doing the Unstuck (Saunders 12" Remix)
8. Purple Haze (Virgin Radio Version)
9. Purple Haze
10. Burn
11. Young Americans
12. Dredd Song
13. It Used to Be ME
14. Ocean
15. Adonais

Disc: 4
1. Home
2. Waiting
3. A Pink Dream
4. This Is a Lie (Palmer Remix)
5. Wrong Number (Smith Remix)
6. More Than This
7. World in My Eyes
8. Possession
9. Out of This World (Oakenfold Remix)
10. Maybe Someday (Hedges Remix)
11. Coming Up
12. Signal to Noise (Acoustic Version)
13. Signal to Noise
14. Just Say Yes (Curve Remix)
15. A Forest (Plati/Slick Version)


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