This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
THE SKINNY: Too many retrospective box sets punish fans by soaking them for dozens of tunes they already own. British post-punk goth icons Robert Smith and The Cure avoid this problem with their sterling four-disc set Join The Dots.
You won’t find any hit singles or old faves here — but you will find 70 B-sides, remixes, unreleased tracks and rarities culled from the first 25 years of their career and presented chronologically. We doubt even the most fervent fanatic could have collected them all — until now, that is.
THE OLDIES: The only chart-toppers here are surprisingly strong covers of Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze, The Doors’ Hello I Love You, David Bowie’s Young Americans and Depeche Mode’s World In My Eyes — although there is a remix of Just Like Heaven.
THE GOODIES: There are a couple dozen gems scattered here, from the tightly wound 10:15 Saturday Night (the B-side of 1978’s Killing An Arab) and the dark epic Burn (from 1994’s Crow soundtrack) to newer fare like 2001’s Signal To Noise and Paul Oakenfold’s remix of 2000’s Out Of This World.
