On the first half of this compilation, The Cure manage to successfully cover a lot of different ground while still sounding very much like The Cure. The latter half of 'Galore' sounds more like The Cure doing a parody of The Cure. And, while that's sometimes not bad, it's sometimes not that engaging either.
On 'Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me' and 'Disintegration', The Cure were still very much at the height of their powers; something that almost all of the first 8 tracks included here (with the exception of the funky sounding but ultimately irritating "Hot Hot Hot! ") bear out.
There's the lightweight, infectious pop romance of "Why Can't I Be You" and "Just Like Heaven", and in "Catch", there's a wonderfully quirky love song. "Lovesong", while lyrically straightforward, is emotionally straight and true as an arrow and, together with the brilliantly unsettling, driving song that is "Fascination Street", ranks as one of their best post-'Staring At The Sea' singles.
"Lullaby" is still enjoyable in a kind of comic-book horror sort of way, and still sounds distinctive enough to set it apart from the more mediocre material which follows after "Pictures Of You". "Never Enough", for instance, could be a b-side; and the "Close To Me" re-hash is easily eclipsed by the original.
Other, later songs, such as "High" and "Strange Attraction" for example, lack the distinctiveness of earlier material. "A Letter To Elise", a kind of remake of "Pictures Of You", while pleasant in its way, also plods along interminably. "The 13th" sees The Cure experimenting with a more tropical, jazzy sound and the result is something bordering on unlistenable ("Gone", though unremarkable, is perhaps more successful as an attempt to experiment with a more jazzy sound).
"Mint Car" is buoyant enough, but it's also "Friday I'm In Love" revisited. In the opinion of this writer, it is only in the lyrically throwaway, yet shimmering pop of the latter that the band manage to again recapture something special.
The new track, "Wrong Number", is interesting and gets feet tapping along to its slick 'alternative techno'sound, but, at the same time, is probably more enjoyable than it is memorable .
'Galore' is worth investigating for 7/8 of the first 8 tracks plus "Friday I'm In Love" and "Wrong Number". It's also worth noting that, because of remastering, the earlier songs on "Galore" also sound a lot brighter and clearer than they do on the original albums.
The Cure have been doing so many things with so many genres. First they started out with late '70's British pop-punk and suddenly after came the slower and sometimes mad goth style. Then there was a lot happier and giddier sound with Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, then they switched back to goth. Then they mixed goth with giddiness. They kept their giddiness through the late 90's, and then switched back to goth for last two albums. They have 3 different genres, and they switch around a lot.
This is the Cure's second singles collection they came 11 years after their first one entitled Staring At The Sea. This contains all the tracks that had made singles and even some that were tanked. Cure fans should be very thankful for this because some of this material appear to be lost LPs.
The first four tracks of this disc are from 1987's giddy "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me." All four songs have a hint of romance.
1. Why Can't I Be You?
This track is the giddiest song the Cure ever made, and it is also the giddiest song I've ever heard. Some people would consider this psycho, but it's actually a pretty good song. Hot, Hot, Hot!!! is sort of like a companion track to this.
2. Catch
This song has a lot of romance in it. It's very slow with violins with Robert Smith singing slightly sadly about a girl. This isn't exactly crazy like some of the other tracks from this part of the collection, but it still belongs with it.
3. Just Like Heaven
Sort of like Catch but a little faster and a ultimately better beat, with Smith singing about a girl again, this time telling "what happened" when he was with her. Exceptional.
4. Hot, Hot, Hot!!!
Very silly just like Why Can't I Be You? As I said, this is almost a companion track to that track, but it's not exactly about a girl. It's supposed to sound "eletric" and it really does. It has a pounding beat and a psuedo-rap theme.
The next four tracks are from 1989's Disintegration. Disintegration had a darker goth theme to it. This selection here is quite eerie.
5. Lullaby
Eeerie crawl that will send a chill up your spine. So will the lyrics. This is the creepiest song the Cure has ever done, and the music video is also very, very creepy. Listen to this song and you'll agree with me that it's...snakelike.
6. Fascination Street
Very gothic and sort of like a getaway place. You can tell from the beat that it's goth, and the lyrics that it's a place to get away. One of the better tracks on this collection.
7. Lovesong
This song is dark but has romance in it. Smith talks about aging and how this girl makes him feel young again. Like Fascination Street, highly decent.
8. Pictures of You
The best track on this collection, better than all the others even the ones on this part. This is a big hit, and I'm definitely not surprised that it made many different types of singles.
The next song Never Enough was never on an album but made a single itself. It's not exactly a b-side, just a non-album. A remix was featured on 1990's Mixed Up.
9. Never Enough
Very crazy and has a strong rock beat to it. A decent track in my opinion. Some might consider it kind of ill but it is a hit.
Like Never Enough, this next track was released as a single. It is a remix of the hit Close To Me on 1985's Head on the Door. We should be very thankful that it's on here because this was ONLY an LP and is now impossible to get, but you need to because of this miracle.
10. Close to Me (Closet Remix)
One of the better songs. Unlike the original Close To Me, it has a lot smoother beat and not that pop beat. Not to be confused with the CLOSER mix on Mixed Up which was about 5 minutes long, this song is like a short version of that. It is about 4 minutes long. And instead of CLOSER on Mixed Up it is CLOSET with the 't'. Remember that!
These next three tracks are from 1992's Wish, which was pretty good. All three of these songs deserved to be singles.
11. High
One of the best tracks from the collection. It has an awesome beat and is the most enlightening song I have ever heard. The lyrics are so graceful and the music is so enlightening...if you're sensitive enough it might change you a little (this is a good thing).
12. Friday I'm in Love
The best on the album along with Pictures of You. It is very enlighening just like High. High and this song will give you wonderful daydreams and possibly even dreams when you're in bed.
13. A Letter to Elise
This song is remarkable with pleasant basslines and lyrics, along with very careful and precise drumming. This definitely deserved to be a single.
All of the next four tracks with the exception of Mint Car are not really deserving in my opinion of being singles. They're all from 1996's Wild Mood Swings. They are sloppy choices, but don't get me wrong they won't raise 5 stars down to four on this collection because they surprisingly help set the mood a little!
14. 13th (Swing Radio Mix)
All I can say is this is not very good, because they are experimenting with Latino drums and tropical noises with these horns. Not very impressive, but helps set the mood for the rest of the tracks.
15. Mint Car (Radio Mix)
Thank God this is on here, because it is one of the best along with the previous tracks I've commended. I'm glad they included the radio mix because the album version is not as good.
16. Strange Attraction (Album Mix)
This is horrible is all I can say. It takes the earlier tracks and breaks them in half. This should not have been a single, the only thing good about this is that it goes along with Gone! which was passable for an OK song.
17. Gone! (Radio Mix)
Passable. For only being OK, as I mentioned in Strange Attraction. There's not much to say about this, but it's jazzy and sounds like Wild Mood Swings.
The final track on here is awesome. It is a new track and it is a "better" song.
18. Wrong Number
This is better. I love this when I first heard it, it is about 6 minutes long. A long of techno and rock!
-End-
Well that was the Cure's second singles collection. A little off at the end, but that doesn't make it four stars! It's five stars because they made a great effort with experimentation. I recommend it for you if you're a Cure newbie or a long-time fan (I'm surprised if you don't have then).
Overall Grade: 9/10
This is a simple breakdown of the cure's greatest/most popular songs. Period. I would reccommend it for people who are interested/enjoy the Cure but dont feel the need to listen to all the "other" songs on their albums. Plain and simple, but this CD, listen to it in the car, and smile at where you were when you first heard these excellent and well-written tunes.
Thanks to the recent TV commercial for HP Digital cameras, I found myself really wanting to have some Cure in my life again and went looking for "Pictures Of You." Yes, at one time I had almost all the Cure CD's in my collection, but time and economics had weeded them away. And "Disintegration" was never really my fave Cure album. But "Galore" offered me an opportunity to get the single song I wanted plus a batch of others I remembered with fondness.
As dark and morose as The Cure's image had always been, their records after "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me" frequently found them making dazzlingly brilliant singles. That's where "Galore" picks up, with the singles "Why Can't I Be You" to the absurdist "Mint Car" from "Wild Mood Swings." There's even a pretty good new track with "Wrong Number." Hard to believe it, but Robert Smith was just as pop song smart as any New Romantic period hit maker, and in songs like "Lullaby," he showed the kind of playfulness ("the spiderman is having you for dinner tonight") that many of his fans didn't always "get." He never had any probelm with playing against preconceived notions of what a Cure song should be; I doubt a rapping Robert ("Hot Hot Hot") was in any goth fan's must hear list.
I also found it ironic that "Standing On The Beach" image of an old man was mirrored by the baby with the ice cream on "Galore." If you wanted to read more into it, you'd almost suspect Robert Smith was gently trying to remind listeners that he didn't mind playing to his more childlike nature when making music. While there has yet to be a comprehensive single disc collection of the Cure's best, a purchase of "Galore" and "Standing" will at least put all the singles at your fingertips.
The songs themselves are as good as everyone says, however, there's a major problem with the mastering on this collection! Some songs (e.g., "Close to Me") are so soft that I have to crank up the volume on my headphones to make out the words, and then when louder songs come on (e.g., "Friday I'm in Love"), my ears get blasted and I have to rush to turn it back down again. Not a fun listening experience, despite the brilliant tunes! I'd be interested to hear if people buying the CD version have the same problem or if it's just the mp3 album.
