The Cure: Galore: The Singles 1987­p;1997

Standing On A Beach, a 1986 distillation of The Cure's first 10 or so years, marked the beginning of the band's success in the mainstream pop world. From 1987's Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me up until last year's underwhelmingly received Wild Mood Swings, The Cure's music had little trouble feeding off that success, becoming increasingly commercially accessible while finding more radio airplay than anyone could have imagined in the early days. Galore, which documents The Cure's hitmaking second decade, compiles the band's catchiest material, from the magnificent 1987 breakthrough "Just Like Heaven" through 1989's smash ballad "Love Song," through the impossibly peppy hit "Friday I'm In Love." Fans who haven't pulled out a Cure record in a while will be stunned by how many great, temporarily forgotten hits the group made: the slithering, sinister "Lullaby" (from 1989's Disintegration), the glistening ballad "Pictures Of You" (ditto), the college-radio staple "Close To Me" (from the 1990 remix album Mixed Up). Not all of this material is essential: The album was somewhat underrated, but the four songs from Wild Mood Swings pale next to the earlier material here. And though the obligatory never-before-released song, the album-closing "Wrong Number," is a worthy, surprisingly aggressive entry in The Cure's canon, it's not the reason to pick up this hits package. The reason is the amazing songs. If you haven't revisited them recently, Galore presents an ideal opportunity.