Of all of the Cure albums pre-2000, this is probably my least favorite. Dressing Up is good, Caterpillar is good, and the b-sides aren't too bad. But, I could never really grasp the rest of the songs. They just didn't do it for me. The melodies were chaotic and unattractive, the mixing wasn't the best, and the track arrangement left a lot to be desired.
I had this one on cassette forever before I finally got it on CD. It was the last Cure album I purchased on CD when I was converting my collection (probably 1995). I only got it on CD to complete my digital Cure set. So sad.
When the deluxe sets came out, I was hoping for some better material hiding in the bonus disc. But, alas, not hardly anything we didn't already have. I mean, what sort of title is Sadacic? How do you even pronounce it? You Stayed... wasn't a bad track, but the rest of the material was weak.
This collection eliminates the demos of the album tracks and intermixes the b-side and unreleased song demos into the actual album, in a sad attempt to fix it. Doesn't help.
Don't forget the bonus post, just below this one!