Title: Join The Dots: B-sides & Rarities  1978-2001 (The Fiction Years) Release Dates:  Jan. 26th, 2004 (Europe)  Jan. 27th, 2004 (North America)  Feb. 2nd, 2004 (Australia)   Feb. 11th, 2003 (Japan)   ??? (South America) # of Discs: 4 Total running time: 300+ minutes Also included:  A 76-page book with rare photos, a  track-by-track breakdown from Robert &  Simon and original commentary by noted  U.K. scribe Johnny Black. Digitally Remastered and Produced by:  Robert Smith Released by:  Universal in Europe  Rhino Records in North America Suggested retail price: $54.98

Hair-Raising
Aqua-Net's favorite Brits offer four CDs of rare mope-rock

The Cure
Join the Dots: B-Sides and Rarities, 1978-2001
*** (3 stars out of 5)

by James Slaughter

Twenty-five years after their debut single, the Cure are an unlikely band to be celebrated as hugely influential.
Hip alt-rockers from Hot Hot Heat to the Rapture are audibly inspired by the spindly guitar and yowling vocals
Robert Smith patented in the '80s; Blink-182 duet with Smith on their latest album; and the Cure's glum 1982
opus, Pornography,  has become a set text for outré metal bands like the Deftones.
The Cure began their career in 1978 as runts of the post-punk litter.  They emerged from Crawley, a gray
commuter town south of London, offering a particularly suburban brand of angst.  As shown by the earliest tracks
in this collection -- "10:15 Saturday Night," "I'm Cold," "Plastic Passion" -- they sounded bored and grumpy
rather than angry and disturbing, lacking the metropolitan sophistication of their most obvious influence, Joy
Division.
Critics mocked the Cure, even after they developed an identifiable sound -- gothic '80s psychedelia heavy on
flanged bass, echoing guitars and acid-fractured lyrics -- but the world turned out to be full of diffident young
suburbanites who knew exactly how Smith felt, and many adopted his black eyeliner and mushrooming hair, a
model for Edward Scissorhands.
Aside from their outsider appeal, Join the Dots proved that the Cure's other trump card was Smith's
misery-drenched knack for gleaming pop melodies.  Nothing here matches the 1987 single "Just Like Heaven"
(which appears in an inferior remixed version).
Nevertheless, the best moments are not the self-conscious experiments -- the horrible squawk of "Mr. Pink
Eyes," the New Order rip-off "Harold and Joe" -- the awkward remixes (the Cure could not do funky, regardless
of which superstar DJ they drafted) or the peculiar cover versions: a trip-hop "Purple Haze" and a take on David
Bowie's "Young Americans" that beggars belief.  The best moments come on "Just One Kiss," "Signal to
Noise," "How Beautiful You Are" and "2 Late," when Smith drops the gloomy posturing and allows his pop
inclinations to run free.

Retracted farewells aside, this seminal British group have proven the most enduring of Britain's Class of '76,
tweaking their goth-punk image with alternate doses of drama and humor, and exerting an influence on several
waves of descendants. And while their hits have been repackaged on both best-of and live discs, their trove of
lesser-known material is just as intriguing -- as borne out by this four-disc box set. Join the Dots goes back as
far as the band itself, kicking off with "10: 15 Saturday Night," the B-side to the Cure's first single, "Killing an
Arab." The darkness of Robert Smith's earliest days as a writer is well documented in songs like "Splintered in
Her Head" and "I'm Cold," and the band's pulsing insistency captured perfectly on the instrumental "Another
Journey by Train." As the years progressed, the band changed tenor -- and members -- in dramatic fashion,
leaping into surprisingly upbeat pop via songs like "Hey You!!!" and "How Beautiful You Are," the latter of
which was tucked onto the back of "Hot Hot Hot." A smattering of covers -- including three versions of the
Doors' "Hello I Love You" and a pair of takes on Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" -- aren't as compelling as the
goodly number of self-revisions. Of those, a radical, previously unreleased remix of the Wish album track "Doing
the Unstuck" and an acoustic rendition of the more recent "Signal to Noise" stand out the most. The set is
packaged with an 80-page book, featuring song-by-song notes by Smith and longtime compatriot Simon Gallup,
as well as a slew of rare photos. It's a truly exhaustive chronicle of a band that has stood the test of time.

David Sprague

The Cure : Join The Dots – B Sides & Rarities

Rating: 6 out 0f 10

There probably has never been a band so recognisably helped and hindered by their image as The Cure. Robert
Smith’s fingers-in-some-fucking-big-sockets hair and lazy slash of lipstick are among the most easily identifiable
brandings in the history of music, but his darkly, wonderfully psychedelic pop spent so many years draped in
shapeless black that his cause was swallowed up almost exclusively by teenage Goths with a powerful hard-on for
Camus and crimping irons. I know because I was one. But there’s so much more to The Cure than unnaturally
pale people with ill-fitting jumpers trying to look miserable, and finally now, with a new generation of bands like
Hot Hot Heat and The Rapture singing their praises, The Cure seem destined to be appreciated as an era-defining
alternative pop group easily as important as The Smiths or New Order. This collection however, is not the place
for you to start.

The B-Sides compilation is, generally speaking, reserved for saddle-sniffing obsessives and this is –
understandably – no different. So for every burst of sparklingly dizzy gear like ‘The Exploding Boy’, ‘Plastic
Passion’ or ‘How Beautiful You Are’ there are teeth-grating experiments in noodle-doodle atmospheria like
‘Splintered In Her Head’, ‘Fear Of Ghosts’ or ‘Dredd Song’ and a few other moments like ‘To The Sky’ or ‘Halo’
that were quite nice and everything but just didn’t really cut the A-Side mustard. Ultimately though, even non
A-Side Cure is still worth ten of most other bands, especially when Smith hits his golden era between 1987 and
1992 and tracks like the wasted, wounded ‘A Chain Of Flowers’, the ridiculously perky, extended mix of ‘Hey
You!!!’, and the ‘Dizzy’ mix of ‘Just Like Heaven’ (which is unforgivably shoddy, but still a withered limb to
possibly Smith’s best ever song) reveal a man so willingly emotional, so eager to highlight the good and the
bad parts of his own life that the cold crumbs many other songwriters offer look like a sick and sad joke in
comparison.

Brilliant band then, not so brilliant boxset. Save your money for the re-issues that will no doubt appear when the
band return with a new album later this year.

Rob Fitzpatrick

he Cure
Join The Dots: B-sides & Rarities 1978-2001 (The Fiction Years)

Disco incluido el: 31/01/2004 - Redactor: Manuel Pinazo - Leida 190 veces

Llevaban muchos años anunciándolo y por fin han cumplido su palabra. 2004 empieza con la publicación de una
auténtica joya para los fans de The Cure: Join The Dots: B-sides & Rarities (The Fiction Years) nos ofrece en 4
CDs y 70 canciones, una extensa colección de caras B, rarezas, versiones y temas para banda sonora publicadas
entre los años 1978-2001.

Nadie puede negar que la banda de Robert Smith es uno de los grupos más importantes y respetados de las dos
últimas décadas. Con una carrera intachable, aunque con algún que otro altibajo (The Top (84), Wild Mood
Swings (96)…), desde sus comienzos han plagado su discografía de momentos memorables. Ahora, después de
recopilar sus caras B del período 78-86 en la versión cassete de la colección de singles Standing On A Beach (86),
se han decidido a reunir las de toda su carrera hasta nuestros días, remasterizándolas y añadiendo algún que otro
“regalo” para los fans.

Join The Dots, es un perfecto escaparate para disfrutar de todas las facetas de la banda británica. En casi cinco
horas de música pasaremos del alter punk de “Plastic Passion”, “Pillbox Tales“ o “I'm Cold” (con los coros de
Siouxsie); a las siniestras “Descent”, “Splintered In Her Head”, “New Day” o "Burn" (de la banda sonora de
El Cuervo); del tecno pop de “Just One Kiss” o “The Upstairs Room”; al pop ochentero de “The Exploding Boy”,
“To The Sky” (descarte de Kiss me, Kiss me, Kiss me (87) ), “Snow In Summer”o “Sugar Girl”.

Llegaremos a los Cure más exitosos pasando por dos de sus mejores trabajos: Disintegration (89) cuyos singles
nos dejaron perlas de la talla de “Babble”, “Fear Of Ghosts” o esa canción de pop perfecto llamada “2 Late”, y
su mejor disco en los 90, el imprescindible Wish (92), cuyas caras B no tenían desperdicio: “This Twilight
Garden”, “Play”, “Halo”, “The Big Hand” o “Scared As You” son buena muestra de ello.

De la última etapa de la banda, nos quedamos con los temas que acompañaron a los singles de Wild Mood
Swings, muy superiores al conjunto del disco (“It Used To Be Me”, “Ocean”, ”A Pink Dream”…) o los descartes
de Bloodflowers (00) (“Coming Up” y la inédita “Possession"). Aparte, no podemos olvidarnos de las versiones
de Doors, Hendrix, Bowie o Depeche Mode y alguna que otra remezcla memorable como “How Beautiful You
Are (clearmountain 7" remix)”, “Just Like Heaven (Dizzy Mix)” o “Out Of This World (oakenfold remix)”.

Los muy exigentes echarán de menos la inclusión de los cuatro instrumentales de Lost Wishes (93) o más temas
inéditos, pero sinceramente, la unión de todas estas canciones remasterizadas y el libreto de 76 páginas que las
acompaña hacen de Join The Dots, el mejor recopilatorio publicado en los últimos 15 años.

The Cure, Join the Dots: B-Side and Rarities 1978-2001 (Universal)

Adam Sweeting
Friday January 30, 2004
The Guardian

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

In their 27-year existence, the Cure have perfected a unique sound and amassed a startling number of hit
singles, platinum discs and assorted gongs. Although AWOL for the past few years, they're scheming a
comeback on a new label, iam Records. Meanwhile, this four-disc epic digs deep into the band's huge backlog
of outtakes and obscurities.

In typical Cure fashion, they've made few concessions to the non-aligned listener. If you're aware of their
history, there'll be plenty here to set your synapses tingling. If not, it won't take long before you're bemoaning
the band's whininess and saminess.

It probably comes down to whether Robert Smith's I-think-I'm-going-to-cry moan makes you want to mother
him or throttle him. The best option is to cherry-pick the highlights, like the rolling, richly textured Doing the
Unstuck, the introspective Out of this World, crackling covers of The Doors' Hello I Love You and Hendrix's
Purple Haze, or the first disc's insouciant Speak My Language.

The Cure's Rx for American Success

New box set of B sides may get Brit band the treatment it deserves

Glenn Gamboa

January 27, 2004

Scrub away the teased-and-sprayed fright wig of hair, the heavy black mascara and pasty-white pancake powder
that launched a million goth boys and girls, and the red, red lipstick. What's left? The clever, memorable music
of prolific songwriter Robert Smith, better known as the mastermind behind The Cure.

Though The Cure has made impressively varied music since 1978, the British legends have never really received
the attention they deserved on this side of the Atlantic. That is about to change.

The ground is softening for one more assault from The Cure, no doubt timed to the release of the band's latest
album this spring, and will likely include a tour that will last beyond the already announced headlining gig at this
year's Coachella Festival in Indio, Calif. There's the use of "Pictures of You" in the omnipresent Hewlett-Packard
commercial. There's Smith singing on blink-182's new album. And there's the success of Cure-influenced bands
like Brand New, whose latest single, "Sic Transit Gloria," even features Smith-like phrasing for its verses.

The most convincing statement for Cure success, though, is the band's new box set "Join the Dots" (Elektra/Aslyum), which collects 70 B-sides and rarities that sound as ambitious and powerful as other bands'
greatest hits.

Broken into four CDs spanning the band's 25-year career chronologically, "Join the Dots" shows how serious
Smith was at the outset to make The Cure's B-sides as catchy as its singles. The first CD is the most diverse,
following the band through its breakthrough as a punkish upstart - in songs like "10:15 Saturday Night" and
"Plastic Passion," which put the band in the same league as Joy Division and Siouxsie and the Banshees - into
its dominance of jangly new wave, seen in "The Exploding Boy" and "A Man Inside My Mouth," which pushed
The Cure to the top of the British charts alongside The Smiths and Tears for Fears.

On the remaining three CDs, the songs become more conventional, but no less interesting, offering alternate
versions of shoulda-been smashes like "Wrong Number" and the recent "Maybe Someday," as well as the
trademark "Just Like Heaven."

That doesn't mean, however, that The Cure holds back on the surprises on "Join the Dots." "Do the Hansa"
is a giddy, nonsensical delight. "A Few Hours After This," with its majestic synths and dime-store tambourine,
shows how The Cure could make its tales of love sound oh-so-grand, while maintaining a sense of humor.

The Cure's cover versions offer cool new ways to look at rock classics. The band's "Young Americans" turns
David Bowie's model of sleek, blue-eyed soul into a squonky, lovable tangle of horns and synthesizer sounds. It
turns The Doors' "Hello, I Love You" into a silly, delirious laugh-riot, while staying remarkably true to Jimi
Hendrix's "Purple Haze."

And just think, as good as "Join the Dots" is, the band's "Standing on the Beach" greatest hits collections is
even better. ("Join the Dots: B-Sides and Rarities, 1978-2001," in stores today; Grade: A)

The Cure, Join the Dots: B-Sides & Rarities, 1978-2001(The Fiction Years) (Rhino/Fiction/Elektra)

If cheerfulness is a disease, meet...

By Will Hermes

Call Robert Smith the godfather of the 80's revival. The Rapture and Hot Hot Heat have Xeroxed his hiccuppy
warble, and on Blink-182's latest, Smith helps the pud-pulling punks get their emo on. Considering that Smith's
band has yet to release a proper box set of their hits, this four-CD B-sides collection seems like an odd move.
But ill-advised covers (Hendrix, Bowie, the Doors) notwithstanding, it's a fine survey of their ambient pop sorrow,
simultaneously pained and giddy.

(Scan of the article at Pictures of you)

Join the Dots: B-Sides & Rarities 1978-2001
Rhino/Elektra/Fiction
Rating: 4 Bunnyheads out of 5

Given the band's long and varied career, it comes as no surprise that the Cure's discography is littered with
numerous B-sides and rarities of note. This set collects four discs' worth of Cure leftovers and left-field detours,
a bonanza for fans tired of tracking everything down or dealing with bootlegs of frustratingly inferior fidelity.
Granted, Join the Dots doesn't include every last Cure rarity from the past 20-plus years -- glaring omissions
include the gloomy (even for Robert Smith) Carnage Visors EP, which will no doubt show up on a future CD
reissue. What you will find are all the early B-sides originally banished to the second side of the Staring at
the Sea cassette (remember those?), such hard to come by collectibles as the Lament flexidisc, and the mammoth
"Burn," rescued from the soundtrack to The Crow. The downside? Those awful, dirge-like covers of the Doors,
Depeche Mode, Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie (the last two should have stayed rare). But it's still great to have
songs like "A Japanese Dream" and "Harold and Joe" made easily available, and even at its weakest, it's
impressive how well this trove of castaways holds up as more than mere novelty.

-- Joshua Klein

B-SIDE COLLECTION IS GRADE A

'The Cure: Join the Dots' shows the staying power and strength of the Brit-pop band

By David L. Coddon
ASSOCIATE NIGHT&DAY EDITOR

January 15, 2004

After listening to four uneven but fascinating discs of the Cure's most curious history, this much is true:

1) 4-½ hours is a surfeit of the Cure.

2) It's nonetheless 4-½ hours well spent, given that "Join the Dots: B-Sides & Rarities, 1978-2001" (available
Jan. 27) delivers many surprises.

3) Never the Goth band it was believed to be, the Cure was, and is, one of the great Brit-pop bands of the last
25 years.

4) Frontman Robert Smith, the only member of the group who's been around the whole time, is the Cure.

5) Besides being a prolific songwriter, Smith is a tremendously underrated guitarist, one who's both versatile
and melodic.

6) Smith's range of literary influences – from Baudelaire to Coleridge, Shelley to Cocteau – may be
unparalleled among rock stars, yet he's not pretentious.

7) Not even a recent association with blink-182 (he performed on the pottymouth-punk band's last album) can
dim Smith's starlight.

That enough truth for you?

Are you ready for 71 tracks of Cure obscurities, culled by Smith from 4,000 archival tapes?

It's a long, frequently strange trip from "10:15 Saturday Night" (probably the best-known Cure B-side), which
kicks off Disc 1, to an Earl Slick drum 'n' bass reworking of "A Forest" that ends Disc Four. But at a cost of
$54.98 (hardly outrageous by boxed-set standards), it's a satisfying journey, especially for fans.

Disc 1

This boxed set is arranged chronologically, so we begin with what could be called "lotsa oddities and trifles"
from the Cure's early years (1978-1987). In addition to the aforementioned "10:15 Saturday Night" (it was the
B-side of "Killing an Arab"), the 21 offerings include two versions (one cool, one not) of  "Lament," which Smith
wrote with Siouxie and the Banshees' Steve Severin; the ethereal ballad "Happy the Man"; a dance-floor-ready
instrumental called "Another Journey By Train"; and "The Exploding Boy," which features some of Smith's
best guitar playing.

Disc 2

The highlight beneath the radar of this Cure era (1987-1992) is the stunning "To the Sky," previously heard
only on a 1989 Fiction Records sampler. Notable, too, is Smith's "How Beautiful You Are," based on a
Baudelaire short story – it certainly would have been a favorite had it been released as an A-side. "2 Late,"
the flip side of "Lovesong," is nearly (though not quite) the equal of that hit from "Disintegration," and "A
Chain of Flowers" is romance personified. The three Cure versions of the Doors' "Hello I Love You," however,
are expendable.

Disc 3

The strongest of these four discs (chronicling 1992-96) opens with the spacey B-side of "High," "This Twilight
Garden," followed immediately by the lush, rueful "Play" and the giddy love song "Halo." The ultra-rare
"Doing the Unstuck" is playful pop at its most sophisticated, and the moody jam "It Used to Be Me" is much
superior to its A-side kin, "The 13th." Studio covers of Bowie's "Young Americans" and Hendrix's "Purple
Haze" disappoint, though the live version of the latter would make Jimi kiss the sky.

Disc 4

Techno-ized remixing renders much of this disc monotonous, sapping the soul from "Wrong Number" and,
more egregious, "Out of this World," the dreamy ballad that was the apex of the Cure's last studio record,
"Bloodflowers." But a cover of Depeche Mode's "World In My Eyes" achieves damage control, and Disc
Four also features the entire set's brightest hidden gem – "Signal to Noise," included in equally irresistible
full and stripped-down versions.

An 80-page booklet with insightful, and amusing, anecdotes from Smith complement this anthology, which even
with its flaws is worthier than most of the overpackaged junk that passed for holiday boxed-set collectibles last
month. (Can you say Chicago? Neil Diamond live? Motley Crue? Queensryche?)

Despite a discography of unforgettable albums (i.e. "Faith,"  "Wish," "Disintegration"), intelligent pop hits
(including the greatest of them all, "Just Like Heaven") and fiercely devoted disciples, the Cure may never
receive its proper due. Hipster history will favor less-talented contemporaries such as Depeche Mode, and
stodgy, classic-rock-leaning archivists will see only Robert Smith's wild hair and mascara.

That probably won't bother Smith in the least. He's always been in it for the music, and it shows.

BACK STREET CRAWLEY

Four-CD box of Fat Bob's bits and bobs

*** (rated 3 stars out of a possible 5)

If The Greatest Hits represent the city centre of Curetown, lit up for Christmas and on the razzle, then this
exhaustive 70-song curiosity box mopes about its dank bus terminals and spooked back alleys. In its own darkling
way, this collection might even give you the best feel for the place. Join the dots, and, though the career might lead
you from London to Paris to LA, the songs are always obsessively mapping out the same bad dream suburb of the
sublime.

They grew up creepy in Crawley and, in a sense, they never really left. "10.15 Saturday Night" backed first single
"Killing An Arab" and put its (rive) gauche pose in perspective, locating some existential, kitchen-sink glamour in
flickering striplights and dripping taps. The first disc here follows the band's drift from a Woolworths guitar
satellite town orbiting the Buzzcocks ("Plastic Passion, "Pillbox Tales"), through a bleak estate on the outskirts of
Joy Division ("Descent", "Splintered In Her Head") before settling down in a more popular mid-'80s
neighbourhood nestled between the electric light of New Order and the Banshees' edge of darkness ("The
Dream", "Lament", "The Exploding Boy").

Smith writes in his sleevenotes of his youthful enthusiasm for the lost institution of the B-side, of expecting great
flipsides from the bands that he loved, and it's the cusp of discs one and two here, from 1985 to 1989, that bring this
one to some fruition. If the early material often sounds like salvage from a band permanently on the brink of
disintegration, by the mid-'80s the songs sound like a band gearing up for Disintegration. "A Few Hours After
This", "A Chain Of Flowers", "Snow In Summer", "How Beautiful You Are" and "2 Late" make a virtue of their
dippy, wistful grandeur, poised attractively between the early bathetic gravitas and their more plainly daft essays in
pop kookiness.

But this run would undoubtedly be shown to greater effect on a more succint collection. Disc two fizzles out with
three versions of "Hello, I Love You" and a frankly pointless remix of "Just Like Heaven", and the two discs
covering 1992-2001 include the dubious distinction of two more versions of "Hey Joe", a spectacularly inept
reading of "Young Americans" and a woe-begotten contribution to the Judge Dredd soundtrack, of interest to only
the most stubbornly curious of Curators.

The final disc gathers various experiments in relocating The Cure to the 21st-century studio city of clicks and cuts
(including a drum'n'bass revision of "A Forest"), as though Smith had finally tired of the fractious business of
keeping a band together, but none of them do click - the nagging dolour of his voice seems like an odd relic, even in
these '80s-friendly times. Like a Tim Burtonised Freddie Kreuger, the best bet for Smith's continued relevance
seems to be as patron saint of haunted suburban adolescence.

STEPHEN TROUSSE

The Cure - Join the Dots: B-Sides & Rarities, 1978-2001 (The Fiction Years)

Artist / Band:  The Cure
Record Label:  Rhino Records
Release Date:  January 27, 2004

Our Review:
When one mentions the Cure, one most often thinks of Robert Smith's sloppy lipstick and electro-shock
tuft of hair. But there's much more to the British goth icons than the singer's eccentric fashion sense--the
windswept guitars, cinematic lyrics and starry-sky melodies, for starters. Since starting up in the '70s, the band
has written and recorded enough stellar material to fill out a robust back catalog of albums, and it has enough
leftovers to pull together this generous package. Spanning 27 years and 70 tracks, Join the Dots reveals that
some of the band's best material was long hidden on the back of its big singles. Among the finds are classic
B-sides like "A Man Inside My Mouth," "Fear of Ghosts" and the gorgeous "Harold & Joe." This one's
a must for fans, no matter how your hair looks today.

BAD MEDICINE
GRUELLING TRAWL THROUGH TWO DECADES OF SECOND CHOICES

The Cure
Join The Dots - B-Sides & Rarities 1978 - 2001
(The Fiction Years)

** (Rating:  2 stars out of a possible 5)

The B-side once had an important role to play in pop.  In the pre-CD era, when the 7" single was king, it was
the true test of an artist's mettle. Was an act bold enough to experiment?  Were ther hidden depths?  And
which direction were they heading in next?  The B-side was often the place to find out.

That was certainly part of Robert Smith's mindset when he and his Sussex schoolfriends signed into the
fledgling Fiction Records in 1978. Fronting a trio who had earned their spurs in front of troublesome suburbian
punk audiences, Smith revelled in the creative shelter that the B-side provided, using that space during their
formative years the hone The Cure's sound.  The twin pillars of moody, introspection and dreamy guitars upon
which the band's long career is founded were revealed not on their first single, the showy Killing An Arab, but
on its intricate flip-side, 10.15 Saturday Night.

For the next decade, Smith used his B-sides to signpost his next move. He even goes as far in his extensive
sleevenotes to this boxset to suggest the assorted B-sides and EP tracks that accompanied The Cure's trio of
breakthrough early '80s singles, Lets Go To Bed, The Walk and The Love Cats, are better than their flipsides.
Certainly, songs such as the softly psychedelic Just One Kiss and The Dream's electro-pop fare well when
compared to their famous partners.

But the B-side was never meant to bear this much relentless inspection. There are more than 70 here, including
a few new and long-lost mixes. That's four CD's of material that wasn't quite good enough to be the band's first
choice and instead of adding some light and shade the The Cure's story it rather takes the shine off things.
CD4, in particular, spanning the years 1996 - 2001, grimly reveals a gifted writer chasing his tail in ever
decreasing creative circles.

Join The Dots is The Cure's final album for Fiction and could well be the ink drying on dreaded contractual
obligation.  But that as it may, only Cure collectors need apply here."

"Normally speaking, a box set of nothing but B-sides and unreleased tracks would only be of interest to rabid
fans, but the Cure have never really been a "normal" band. While their longevity alone -- nearly 25 years -- is
certainly the most obvious clue to their uniqueness, Robert Smith's true charm lies in his ability to craft
memorable songs that inspire nothing less than emotional fervor in his and the band's fans. Over the years,
the band's singles have achieved high sales and chart placings in numerous countries, while the albums have
become icons in themselves, with thousands of ex-gloomy teenagers being able to remember things based on
when, say, Disintegration or Wish hit stores. While this successful output would usually be enough to cement a
band's place in the big picture, Robert Smith is also blessed with the ability to compile his work in a fashion that
is second to none. For example, one of the best moves that he and the band made was back in 1986, when they
decided to pad the cassette release of their 1986 singles collection, Staring at the Sea with most of the B-sides
dating back from 1978 (the remaining B-sides from the era were collected on the Japanese Whispers L.P.). Now
in most cases, this would have been a minor annoyance, pulling away from the strength of the singles (and those
singles were not only strong, but  incredibly diverse) and filling space with songs that are put on the backs of
singles for a reason. But  in this case, the Cure were just as good (and in some cases more outlandish) at
making B-sides as they were hits. Unfortunately, when it came time for the Cure to do it again in 1997 with the
Galore  collection, the B-sides were nowhere to be found. While neophytes may not have even noticed,  those in
the know were disappointed, to say the least. Where was "A Japanese Dream?" or "Harold & Joe?" or
"2 Late?" Subsequently, fans had to hunt down singles, soundtracks, and compilations for these gems, while
others were left in the dark as to what the band wasn't making readily available.

So it's a blessing that the Cure's long and happy relationship with Fiction records came to an end.  Wisely, the
band decided to start fresh upon signing with their new label by cleaning house, remastering the old albums and
bringing their fans this, Join the Dots: B-Sides & Rarities, 1978-2001. Not only is it the ultimate companion to
the official releases, but it is, in a way, the new-super-deluxe-updated version of that cassette release of Staring
at the Sea. Every B-side, in order, with cleaned up sound, liner notes, and explanations by the man who made it
all happen. All  tracks, from "10.15 Saturday Night" (the B-side to the debut single "Killing an Arab") to covers
of  "Hello I Love You," "Purple Haze," and "World in My Eyes," to entries from the Bloodflowers singles, are
an indication that while the Cure made both strong albums and singles, they were not afraid to experiment
along the way, and more importantly, they didn't let pride keep them from not making them available to those
who were willing to look for them. Their growth as a band can be fully tracked in the songs here, the wild
development on Disc One (which includes the B-sides from the Staring at the Sea cassette, the B-sides from
the Boys Don't Cry re-release from 1986, and the Japanese Whispers B-sides -- as well as the extremely rare
"Lament" (flexi-disc version)) -- is easily their strongest and most diverse era, with Smith growing artistically
and musically in leaps and bounds from track to track. The rampant growth eventually gives way to the dark
and heavy pop of the B-sides of Kiss me, Kiss me, Kiss me, Disintegration, and Mixed Up on Disc Two. While
the songs are strong on this second disc, they manage to have less of the wild, experimental abandon that Disc
One has. The Cure began to find a real niche by this point, and by Disc Three, the dream pop of the late '80's
had developed into the stadium-sized gloom and doom that characterized 1992's Wish, their critical and
commercial peak. Eventually the band's output would become more  sporadic, and the level of consistency
would be more of a trademark of the band than the experimentalism of old. Disc Four, which covers the time
from Wild Mood Swings to Bloodflowers (and the admittedly odd Greatest Hits collection), is the "weakest"
of the collection, but there are still great moments to be found, with many remixes that give the original tracks
a new interpretation.

There are those who would argue that the band grew, and other would argue that it fell apart, yet there is no
denying that the majority of work on Join the Dots is extraordinarily strong. It, admittedly, may be a bit too much
for someone who isn't quite a big devotee of the band, but it's a veritable godsend for those who've been waiting
for this for years. No jumbled, out-of-order track listings, no glaring omissions (it's safe to say that the reissues
of the albums will take care of any extra tracks, mixes, etc., lying around), its exactly what a rarities/B-sides
collection should be. Join the Dots: B-Sides & Rarities, 1978-2001 is proof that, while the band may falter from
time to time -- as most do -- the Cure has, unlike most, really been paying attention to their fans' needs over the
 years. Thank Rob for that. -- Chris True

Rating:  4 & 1/2 stars out of a possible 5"

"Join The Dots is absolutely fabulous.

The first song I wanted to listen to was Doing The Unstuck new mix. It was just handsome as I drove my car,
fast as I can, to listen the whole package in my room -- Oh so romantic !!! Doing The Unstuck in another way. I
was in paradise. And I am still listening everyday.

And the Fear Of Ghosts mastering. So cool !!!

Quite every b-sides are there. No more fuck with bootlegs or internet-waiting-to-listen. Everything's there.

Yeah, there's a lot of great pieces missing: Carnage Visors, some strange remixes like the extended versions of
Primary, Just One Kiss, Let's Go To Bed, The Love Cats, In Between Days, Close To Me. And the Boys Don't
Cry New Voice-New Mix. And the Miixed-Up b-sides, like the other Primary remix, the Let's Go To Bed remix.
And those from Wild Mood Swings. And Lost Wishes and the never released fifth piece from that ultra-rare
masterwork. As Robert mentionned it in the original pressing of Lost Wishes: "So we hit on the idea of a separate
album of purely instrumental things...the fifth one sounded like a Cure backing track without me singing. That
seemed a bit pointless so we shelved it for the moment but we'll probably get back to it." I'm so excited about this
mysterious fifth song. And A Normal Story from the Pornography era, and Winter, and...

All of these songs will, I reeaaaaalllyyyyy want so, be released on bonus discs. So let's cross our fingers...

But there's also Ariel. I'm not sure that this one will ever be released by The Cure. Robert always said it was a
personnal track for his solo-album. But one day, he'll finally do it. Robert isn't a pathetical liar, he just see things
a long long time before they happen."

- Rudy Chiasson

"The new Cure sequence of songs must be "out of this world" which reminds me of "Lullaby" on the Mixed Up
Album. It has that Spring-like sense of a new beginning. You could see Springtime evolving sometime soon. Then
you get "Possession" which brings a newer sense of darkness.Its like the Industrial sounding Cure.  The song is
enhanced at nighttime, but also sounds good during daytime. "Coming Up" is similar. These are my two new
favorite Cure songs. It has that industrial sense of urgency. Robert Smith describes the whole female/darkness
theme so well. Its like women represent that whole other sense of darkness that makes them so appealing. You
have strive and yearn for that eternal feminine darkness, otherwise it has no meaning. Robert Smith has
successfully replaced Kierkegaard, Nietszche, and Sarte. There's no need for the circular existential movement.
You find the necessary meaning in Cure songs. It's like Wittgenstein ended philosophy by discovering that
metaphysics is contained in the grammar of language, not outside. Robert Smith replaced existentialism.

"To The Sky" made me think differently of the Cure. I love the whole child-like feeling expressed. He found a
new sense of rhyme/meter with "oh to heaven" followed by "oh forever". Also with "in my dreams I was a child"
followed by "and in my mouth and in my eyes". I think this is what he says.

Disc-1 is great. You get the beginning and middle of the Cure. You get the Plastic Passion, Pillbox Tales, Do The
Hansa sequence. Do the Hansa is the best punkish Cure song. His voice is redone again. The B-sides of Standing
on the Beach mixes well with Japanese Whispers. Both have that eastern feel to them. After listening to Standing
On Beach B-Sides you get that "transfixed not fixed" feeling of like where the hell  am I. You feel like your
somehow lost. Where the hell am I? Japanese Whispers has that same sort of eastern vibe, like I'm not in
Western society anymore. But it feels good because I have no desire to be anywhere in particular. I only have
the "desire to inspire" but to never go home.

Really I'm only interested in the Cure's Mixed Up set of albums. The fact that he's starting with Boy's Don't Cry
really does show he's somewhat demented. This is a pretty ambitious project. I'm guessing he didn't want to limit
the Mixed Up versions to the Trilogy Albums because it would just be redundant. His intuition is perfect. He
should capture a whole new crowd of Cure fans. Non-Cure fans just need something to be inspired by.  The Mixed
Albums are exactly what they need. Even Cure fans will be shocked. There's no correlation between the regular
albums and the Mixed Up versions. There just totally different.You could listen to one and the other, and just feel
totally different. I look forward to Seventeen Seconds, Faith, Pornography, and Bloodflowers mostly. He could do
some great things to 17 seconds. The Second Side of Pornography, with its heavy texture, will be mixed up to
death."

- Rich Loewy

"To me, the thing that stands out the most is the ridiculously better sound on some of the songs. For example,
"Lament" sounds so much better now. The part that struck me was that I could actually tell that he was playing a
whistle. It didn't sound like a keyboard anymore. Little things like that make the cd's worth the money to me. As
for all the people who are getting down on the set for not including certain songs, or including some that might be
seen as unnecessary...just remember... to someone out there, however bad a particular song might be to you, they
like it and are happy to finally have it in their collection. I must admit that I'm a little disappointed in some of the
choices, but I have faith that they will show up on the bonus discs. I remember reading someone's comments that
the "Maybe Someday- Acoustic Mix" was crap. I wouldn't agree with that, but I have a particular fondness for
the radio edit from a few years back. As most all of us, The Cure has become a sort of soundtrack to my life...and
I was dealing with various issues at the time. That song seemed to come out of the speaker at just the right
moment. So, I certainly hope the edit will somehow show up on the Bloodflowers bonus. Other than that, I think
the box set is really something we should all be happy about.
As I recall, though he has said it before... it wasn't very long ago that we weren't assured anything more from The
Cure. Let's all just try to enjoy it."

- Erik Andrew

"I'd first like to point out that everyone should stop complaining about the exclusions from Join The Dots.  As it
has been repeated before, most things like Pirate Ships, Lost Wishes, Canage Visors, etc., will be on the
remasters, for which we only have to wait a couple of more months.  I also think it's a bit unrealistic to expect
everything with Robert Smith has been associated to be on these four CDs.  I read complaints about no Cogasm
or Reeves Gabrels, but no-one is bitching about Lockjaw or Fool's Dance or even Thompson Twins and
Psychidelic Furs being left out.  Just calm down.
That out of the way, on to what is actually on the box set.  The remastering is simply amazing.  Of course the
first cd will benefit the most from remastering (especially Killing An Arab, which seems like a new song), but even
the Maybe Someday remix and Signal To Noise sound improved upon.  The superior sound quality only makes me
salivate at the thought of the remastered albums due out soon.
I also think the set is a great, concise package of The Cure's progress and prowess over the years.  Join The
Dots does point out, however, that even Robert Smith can commit musical felony (please, someone burn that
Young Americans disgrace!).  And while I think some of the remixes (i.e., Just Like Heaven and Wrong Number)
are superfluous at best, it's a nice thought to have included them.  I was also surprised to like the Earl Slick 'A
Forest.'
My only real disappointment with Join The Dots is I feel the exclusivity of its photography and commentary
contents was overstated.  We've seen all but a couple of the pictures, and most of the commentary is nothing new,
but, to be fair, that's not why I bought it.
    In all, a wonderful appetizer to a several course meal sure to satiate all of our Cure needs."

- Steven Aguilar

"My love affair with the Cure began when i was twelve.  Like so many of us in our early to mid-30's, "Let's go to
bed" was my first introduction to the group, and i was hooked from the start.
As has already been mentioned ad infinitum, yes, most of us have the bulk of these tracks already in other
formats.  But the thing to be considered is, for the casual listener, these tracks are a godsend of previously
unheard music.
Becoming interested in a group with such a long and convoluted history, like the cure, is always a labor of love,
and also a daunting task at the same time.  For the obsessive-compulsive out there, beginning a love affair with a
group that has many rare and obscure tracks can be a costly endeavor.
So, for those of you who are dissappointed with the tracks selected for this box set, remember:  if you were a new
convert, these are the songs you would have most likely heard about; and having this as a "jumping off" point, you
could look forward to the REAL rarities on the reissued cd's.
Join the dots?  It's a good primer for the uninitiated, and a chance for the older fans to develop a new love affair
with an old flame.

- DJTimm

"Sorry, but the B-Sides collection disappointed me. There are too many useless and boring remixes, while songs
like: Yesterday's gone, Ariel, Pirate ships, Spilt milk and a Sign from God are missing.
They had more reason to be there than songs like Purple haze, Young americans (sometimes Smith could forget
his admiration towards Bowie) and The world in my eyes...Just my opinion, though."

- Deepwaters

"When the track listing was released for the Join The Dots box set, I was a little disappointed. The Cure have
a lot of songs they could have  included without having to give us remixes and multiple versions of the same song.
But, then I realized that not everyone has all of these songs and would probably like to hear and have them. Also,
I now know that the rarer songs will be included on the bonus discs of the remastered cd's.

 I really enjoyed the first disc a lot. Like most Cure fans, I wore out a couple of SOAB cassettes listening to the
B-Sides. Hearing them remastered like this was a joy. Throw Your Foot and A Few Hours After This never
sounded better.

The second disc highlight for me was Breathe. I always liked this song, but this was truly amazing. I feel in love
with the song all over again. A Chain of Flowers, To The Sky and Fear of Ghosts also sounded wonderful.

What can I say about the third disc. It includes my wedding song - Halo. My wife and I walked into the church
to the opening of Plainsong and walked out to Halo. It's our song. It's great to have all of the Wish b-sides
together on one disc like this.

Disc four was a little disappointing, but A Pink Dream is fantastic and it's good to have the Just Say Yes remix
on there. I'm still unsure what I  think of Possession. I need to listen to it some more before I give my final
opinion on it.

If you haven't bought it yet, go get it. And to any new Cure fans, it's a great alternative to the Hits. Most of
the songs on this collection could be another band's Greatest Hits package. The songs are that good."

- Joe Rodriguez

"Disc one

The beginning seems like a good place to start. So here we go from disc one. "10:15 Saturday Night" kicks
things off here. We all know this one but it serves as a good starting point for the rest of the set. Next up is
"Plastic Passion", our first of the rarer items included. Very typical early Cure this one. Some nice drumming
from Lol and some jerky type guitar from Robert but not the most, well, memorable song ever written. "Pillbox
Tales" is next. Placed next to "Plastic Passion" you can't help but notice the similarity in these two songs. Lol's
drumming is almost identical if slightly faster. One of the more punk inspired Cure numbers this one. On to
"Do the Hansa". Some bizarre vocals on this one, very bizarre. As it says in the book accompanying the box
set, there was mention of drunken behaviour in the studio whilst this was being recorded. After listening to it,
I think that it must be true.
"I'm Cold" follows with a nice guitar intro to it and some distorted vocals to boot. Consequently I can't make
out a word Robert is saying. "Another Journey by Train" is next with some nice bass on it but little else. The
lack of lyrics to this makes it feel like a novelty to me. That's just my opinion of instrumental songs. I don't
like them. I feel as though it's half a song, something that they couldn't be bothered to finish. Perhaps this was
left as an instrumental because if any lyrics were put down, it would have sounded exactly the same as
"Jumping Someone Else's train". "Descent" , another instrumental, follows which just sounds like a bad jam
session put down on tape. "Splintered in Her Head" comes along next with a spooky atmospheric intro
and some tribal drumming. Somewhat reminiscent of the track "Pornography" from the album of the same
name. Roberts vocals seem to float over the top of the backing track with little to meld them together.
However, this is a good thing. It appears we are entering darker territory now.
The Flexipop version of "Lament" gives us the fist glimpse of the more keyboard based Cure. This version
is not remarkably different from the version on "Japanese Whispers", but somehow seems darker. Oh, and
there are some dodgy flutes on it too. Speaking of "Japanese Whispers", we get 5 tracks lifted straight from
it up next. Those being "Just One Kiss", "The Dream", "The Upstairs Room", "Lament", and "Speak My
Language". Quite why these were included is a mystery to me. Most people who buy this box set will have
these already. The re-mastering is nice and all but I think that they could have used this space for some other
stuff instead of this which 95% of people buying this set will already have. Anyway, after the "Japanese
Whispers" era is dealt with, "Mr Pink Eyes" follows. A jazzy upbeat number with some nice piano and
harmonica on it. The song seems to self combust near the end with frantic piano work and all manner of mayhem
before reverting to it's jazzed up nature. A marvellous song all in all. The first really strong contender on here.
Next up is "Happy the Man" which is somewhat reminiscent of "Lament" and has Robert whispering and
squeaking at us quite a bit. A strange one. "Throw Your Foot" arrives next. It seems by this point in time
that the band are really firing on all cylinders. Despite what Robert say’s about being half mad by this point,
it seems to produce the best in them. "Throw Your Foot" is three and a half minutes of pop perfection and before
you know it the songs over and you just want to play it again and again. And if you are like me, you will do so.
With "New Day" a much needed change of tempo arrives and, again, it is fabulous. The eerie vocals and
screeching seems more reminiscent of the "disintegration" era to me and there are some nice almost tribal
backing vocals throughout. Of course it is at this point whereby my CD decides to start skipping for some reason
and I begin to worry. With that crisis over, "The Exploding Boy" leads us into the "Head on the Door" era.
Reminiscent of "Just Like Heaven" this one should have definitely been on the album especially seeing as
"Head on the Door" was a rather short affair with 10 tracks. "A Few Hours After This" rumbles on next
sounding like a slightly upbeat "Plainsong" with lovely strings (although they sound like they are made on a
cheap keyboard) and a subtle drum and tambourine backing track.
"A Man Inside My Mouth" resembles the earlier more electronic "Japanese Whispers" type stuff. However it
must be said that it is a marvellous pop song. In my opinion this part of the first disc is the best bit. I can't help
but think that the best material is produced when Robert pretty much works on his own. And finally on disc one,
we have the last track appropriately titled "Stop Dead", which is yet another glorious pop song. In the booklet
Simon mentions that Robert didn't like this song as the lyrics didn't fit in properly. However, I think it works
just fine.
So there you go, that's the end of disc one. I will try to go through disc 2 shortly and hopefully it wont take me
so long to write it all out next time. Final comment on disc one though is that the re-mastering has made a lot
of difference making some of these great songs even better. Also the packaging and the accompanying book
are tip top stuff. "

- new art preacher

"Well this is great, it even comes close to the trilogy dvd !!! I really like this box set !!!
Everything on it is great, what a sound !!!  Despite the fact that i have every song in my cure collection, it is still
great to have the songs in real stereo !! The booklet is great, the cover is great, the songs a well choosen. What
more can a cure fan wish for? I hope this year will be a great cure year, and it started perfectly with this f#ck#ng
awsome box set !!! It is worth every penny i spent on it, i paid double if i had to."

- Marco

"I don't think there's much more I can say about the B-Sides that everyone else hasn't already said.  But I'll try
anyway!!  I've had all the B-Sides for a very long time, either on official release (i.e. Standing On A Beach for
the "up to 1985" stuff), on actual singles (from Disintegration onwards), and well dodgy bootleg CD's recorded
from vinyl for the Kiss Me B-Sides.

They've always been tremendous songs, its just fantastic to finally have everything on CD at last.  The
remastering on some of the songs is simply awesome, but to really appreciate it I honestly think you have to
don a pair of large headphones to really hear the difference.  10:15 for instance is much improved from
remastering, the guitar solo sounds un-fucking-believable through headphones, and you also get to hear mad
little background noises such as random noises on the guitar when strings are being muted, etc, that you
normally could never hear.  Seriously, please have a good listen on headphones !

The only slight puzzle posed by any song (which is really nothing at all) is why has the little accoustic guitar
strum from the beginning of It Used To Be Me (as heard when it was on The 13th single) been chopped off ?
The song just starts straight off with the bass and drums now.  That always puzzles me, why bands leave little
bits off songs when they are re-released.

I know a lot of people, includng myself, are getting pissed off with all the confusion over this box-set, such as
people wondering why certain things are missing, but if truth be told it HAS been badly titled.  It should really
be "The B-Sides and SOME, but not all rarities".  That might sound daft, but Lost Wishes for instance IS a
rarity that WAS officially released.  The information given out about the forthcoming reissues is that they will
contain previously unreleased material.  Surely a rarity is something that has been released but is hard to find
and therefore rare?  Which would therefore suggest Lost Wishes should be included on this box-set !!!!!

Personally I'll be buying all of the reissues anyway, so I'm not really bothered by what is missing from this
collection, but that won't be the case for everyone.  Plus, I must admit I don't really want 20 minutes of the
Wish bonus CD to be taken up by Lost Wishes, which I've had in my collection since it's release 10 years
ago.  Having said that, after all the comments about it being missing from Join The Dots there will be absolute
hell to pay if it doesn't appear on the Wish bonus CD !!!

I know some people have strong feelings about the supposedly "negative" comments that have been made
about Join The Dots, but you only have to ask why have a LOT of people been making these comments...?  I
haven't heard too many people saying it's a good thing that certain material is missing !!!

Anyway....what of the rarities that HAVE been included?  Oh for so long have I been waiting for a CD quality
version of the Virgin 1215 version of Purple haze !!!  For years I've had a crummy cassette copy - just wondering
how many other people taped it from the same show with the DJ Tommy Vance cutting in towards the end
saying "Good to hear that again, The Cure having a little bit of fun!!!!" and then Into The Valley by The Skids
comes on !!!!

Hearing it on this CD really made my "brain take a step backwards" (to steal a Robert quote) because the
cassette I had taped it on obviously wasn't too good and for years I've thought the song was a little bit faster
than it actually turned out to be !!!!  Hearing it on Dots it sounds slowed down, but that's obviously just the fault
of my old tape recorder !!!!!

As for the other stuff, it's very nice to hear the three film soundtrack songs in the same place for the first time,
and again a nice version of Dredd Song as I only ever had the Judge Dredd OST on cassette.  I'm perhaps not
the best person to comment on stuff like Hello I Love You or World In My Eyes cos I've had all that stuff for
some time and it's not really that fresh even to hear them on a CD.

The remixes present....? Hmmm.....I'm usually not a big fan of remixes full stop.  I don't believe you'd gain
anything by throwing speck of yellow, red and pink paint at the original Mona Lisa just to see what you thought
of it with different colours added, so to hear such a beautiful song as Just Like Heaven completely bastardised
is just sad really.  The Wrong Number remix is indeed far too long and boring, although it has a fantastic saving
grace in the part where most of the music stops and you get to hear that excellent bass-guitar part where it rises
up the scale really slamming away!  The other remixes don't mean much to me at all and I've never really got
over the Wild Mood Swings era when The Cure seemed content to bang remix after remix onto their singles,
the Gone! singles (CD1 and CD2) are especially appalling, the b-sides consisting solely of remixes.  And they
sometimes wonder why their singles don't sell....

I certainly don't understand Robert's comments that the This Is A Lie remix should have been chosen as a
single.  In the past he's stated songs like A Letter To Elise have been poor choices for singles, for not being
catchy enough or having a hook....and yet he'd have chosen this as a single?  Each to his own I suppose !

So, my summary is that I can take or leave the remixes, I've got most of the "rarities" on other things that I
often listen to anyway, but the collection was well worth the money so I could have all of the REAL b-sides on
CD and in the same collection at long last.

Even if the stuff I don't care for was removed that would still leave 3 CDs of some of the best music ever made,
so I can't really say anything other than buy it now if you already haven't."

- Dave Ace

"Join the Dots could have been a brilliant album, it is just a good one. Why ? Because some pathetic remixes
are included. Seriously, is there any normal music-lover (I don't meen cure fan), who is able to listen to "lament
(flexipop version)", "just like heaven" (dizzy mix), the psychedelic mix of "hello I love you" (whereas the
regular cover is quite good), the pure crap P2P mix of "wrong number", curve mix of "Just say yes", and the
awfull mark plati mix of a forest ? And I was quite sad to hear this version of "Out of this world", wich is
supposed to be one of Robert's favourite songs; "Maybe Someday" mix sucks too. I can't listen to them, it is
too hard. They are so bad, let's face it. And it makes me angry because the rest is so good. But I don't exacty
get why Robert put on this album songs that already appeared on regular albums. OK, they are B-sides. But
"Join the dots" other title is "B-sides and rarities"; and almost whole japanese whispers is re-released here. It
is not rarity.

I was so happy to buy this new cure album. And because I love the band so much, I am quite angry becuse of
there lack of "what-our-fans-really-want-to-listen-to" sense on this very album.

There are 70 songs on JTD : 8 are shit; 10 are useless. That is in fact 52 songs (a lot I admit, and good ones)
that are released. We can be that critical because it is not a real new album; we knew what was the possible
material. We would have made this JTD album much better. Give away these 18 songs. A release of "Pirate
ships", of "Spilt milk" and of "Love will tear us apart" would have been great. Add Forever, it is brilliant.
Add Carnage Visors, it is terrific. Add the lost wishes, it is amazing. Add one rare live song, it is pure genius.

The Cure have missed there chance to have one of the best places in History of music. They are at a good
rank, but not on the podium."

- J-Baptiste Dusseaux

"I bought the box set on the day of its release at FYE at "The Gardens" Mall in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
for $54.99. There were a few hands full of songs in the box set that I did not already own and had never heard
before. So, being a Cure collector it had to be mine. Some of these songs were "Chain of Flowers", "Sugar
Girl","To the Sky","Dredd Song", "Possession", and "Signal to Noise". I was thoroughly impressed with all of
them but my favorite by far was "A Chain of Flowers"....it was the first time since listening to "Out of This
World" for the first time back in 2000 that a Cure song had brought me to tears. "A Chain of Flowers" is the
perfect combination of dreamy keys and strings that make what I consider a perfect song. It is like dreaming in
"another world" as Robert sings... thinking of the love we hold so dear that can slip from our lives. The imagery
in this song is incredible. "Dredd Song" as Robert describes in the book is very grand.  This is the anthemic
music of epic scale that I would love to see performed live at an outdoor concert...a huge sound that is very
seducing. "Signal to Noise" takes a step into The Cure's ability to boast its talent in melody. The intersecting
strings and words fit together so perfectly to create such an impressive sound. Like all of The Cure's releases
it has left me wanting more and more Cure forever. I don't know where I would be without their music in my life.
"Join the Dots" is a must for any admirer of versatily, passion, atmosphere, and shear talent in music. "

- Scott Virano

"Finally got my copy on 28th in a Rotterdam record store for 57 euro (but what the ....) and it's great!

I started with disc 4 because it's supposed to be the "weakest", and here's a few thoughts for the review
section.(if they're relevant)

It sounds really huge. I had it blasting out of my car-stereo 1 minute after purchase.

Wild mood swings could have been a much stronger album having a couple of songs replaced by these great
B-sides.

To my opinion "Possession" is not bad at all!!. I definitly hear a marriage between "disintegration" and
"pornography" (the songs) and the guitar fills starting at 3'45'' seem to come straight from the trilogy live
DVD. I think you can hear Robert trying to go back to the 1982 mood and giving it an electronic edge, and it's
very interesting to know how this evolved to "Bloodflowers".

I'm really thrilled to move on to disc 1,2,3!!!!"

- Luuk

"Just picked up the box set at Newbury Comics in Woburn MA for $39.99.  There were 5 copies in the
store...someone else bought a copy at the same time...Also picked up the Record Collector magazine with Robert
on the cover.  Read that article while also going through the booklet in the box set. Robert mentions in the
magazine article that he has seen mutterings on the Internet about fans complaining about what wasn't included
in the box set(I'm guilty of this in a prior email to COF!). But alas, I am not complaining...just wanted to give my
review.  The sound quality is great as is the booklet.  Noticed that some of the quotes were pulled from the 10
Imaginary Years biography (mostly Chris Parry's) but there were some really interesting new and honest insight
from Robert and Simon.  Makes me appreciate the songs even more. As for the songs, the one's that stuck out
to me were (from Disc 1): "Plastic Passion"...it just sounds so much better remastered...like listening to a new
song. "Splintered in Her Head" also sounds so much better now as does "New Day," "Stop Dead" and "Mr.
Pink Eyes."

For Disc 2: "HBYA" was great...I have not heard this version in such a long time and the remaster
is excellent. Never really cared for the "Just Like Heaven (Dizzy Mix)"...the original is just too good! Also glad
to have the remix of "Icing Sugar" as well.

For disc 3: I though "This Twilight Garden" sounded different...
slower or something.  I love this song, have listened to it God knows how many times and if I do ever get
married, this WILL be the wedding song. Anyway, after listening to the remastered version 3-4 times, it sounded
different to me...I can't put my finger on it but I think I actually prefer the version on the Japanese import CD
single...Did anyone else notice any difference? Maybe it is just me. It was nice to have all the "Wish" B-sides
together on one disc. I think collectively, these are the strongest Cure B-sides compared to the other album
B-sides. I also liked the radio version of "Purple Haze"...had not heard that one before.

As for the end of Disc 3 and Disc 4: Other than "It Used to Be Me" I think the WMS B-sides are collectively
the groups weakest. It's just that nothing really stands out to me with those songs, although now that I've
listened to "A Pink Dream" for the first time in a while, it is better than I remember so maybe it will grow on me
more. I don't care too much for the version of "Wrong Number"...too long.  I thought the remix of "Out of this
World" was excellent. This version would have been an excellent single. Always liked "Coming Up" and I
thought "Possession" was great  as well since it was the first time hearing it. When I saw there was going to be
a remix of "A Forest," which is my (and so many others) favorite Cure song, I doubted I would like it...but I
really thought it was excellent.  I keep playing that one over and over.

As for the booklet, again, there were, as promised, many unpublished photo's and it was excellent reading.  This
package is very similar to the Echo and the Bunnymen box set that came out last year (content/form, etc).  Also
similar between both bands is the re-release of the studio albums remastered with bonus tracks. EATBM have
already released all the remastered albums (I actually picked up the remaster of the "Ocean Rain" CD
yesterday as well-I think that most Cure fans are also fans of EATBM) Ok enough about them.  Anyway, what
more can I say?  These discs will get worn out in my CD player...  I eagerly await the remastered albums!
PS...GO PATRIOTS!!!"

- Mike G.

"I received my copy today and I just have to say that is amazing, thesound is fantastic, the book have nice
pictures and nice information about the band...My birthday is tomorrow and this is my best birthday's gift
ever...thank you Robert."

- Sixto

"I would have liked to be in a twilight garden, with lots of beautifull women around...  making love on giant
pillows,  playing guitar to the sky  or floating around with drunken fishes... while listening to this for the first
time.   But instead I was in my room,... alone, as nobody seems to love The Cure but me. The closest I could get
to it was making it all very dark. So I was pretty glad when I found a book with pictures in it to lay my eyes
on. I find it is better than looking at the woofer!

I really met The Cure when I bought the Bloodflowers album. At that time I began to play guitar and gradually
discovered all the other albums.  With each one I could sense a particular colored feeling, which I naturally
associated with things of my own world.  And all those colours and emotions formed a really nice and absorbing
tale, which is the history of the Cure.

I read lots of interviews, saw them live. But somehow, the only video I remembered of was Lullaby, Close to Me
and a Forest, until a month ago I discovered them on the Hits DVD! That's why, I think, the thing I really like
about the Cure is not what most people have seen; but rather all those musical emotions of each album and of
the concerts The Cure have created through their career.

Though, the videos are nice, and give a more detailed interpretation of the song. And discovering those images
after knowing the songs for so long was something special.  I'd like to see the rest of them to have a complete
idea.

The funniest of all, for me, was LoL! I really laughed when I saw him play trumpet painted in black, and when
he dances on Let's Go to Bed.  That was subtle and great contribution.  Those two videos and the walk one made
me better understand why they were put on the greatest hits.

Besides, I'm not gay, but a favourite video is the Caterpillar, where Robert looks the most handsome. He also
has more authenticity than in the High video. Well, it's a nice way to listen to music,... and play guitar along the
way.

And, seeing videos of other bands, I think singles do not always have to be short PoP songs....

So concerning Join the Dots, I think the songs, and the order was really well chosen because it illustrates very
well the whole history of the Cure and the evolution. The pictures match perfectly with the songs. And with the
songs I recognised the particular atmosphere present on each album. It actually enhance the albums, joining the
dots. That Book Set thing really makes sense as it is about going through a history ('cause I've seen other Long
boxes with few pages which is stupid). I think it would be a bad idea to throw all the remixes in it, the set would
lose its dynamic.

I think it is better to hear it yourself before reading other people's opinions. Here is mine:

Singles:  The singles I liked immediately at first hearing  (=very good popsongs) :

Boys Don't Cry, A Forest, Inbetween days, Close to Me (a night like this),hothothot!!!, just like heaven, lullaby,
lovesong, friday I'm in Love and Mint Car.

(I remember getting Galores, when I thought it was a bestOf. I was struggling with memories and thought a song
I really liked was missing. I was actually searching for Inbetween Days not knowing it. Then I listened more
carefully to High and thought: "This must be a slowed down mix of it!" and I liked it.  Much later I was glad when
I came accross Standing on the sea... )

B-sides:

I first heard "Twilight Garden" , "Halo", "Play" which I liked a lot. And, strangely, Wish is my favourite period
or mood... but it is not my favourite album... It's more the atmosphere around it; and those b-sides are part of
it.

JoinTheDots:

-Do the Hansa: vaguely heard before, not knowing it was Cure. It was a surprise. With Pillbox Tales I thought it
showed more guitar ability.
-Splintered I H H: I like.
-Flexipop Lament: It joins the dots, and it's good...  But for "The Dream" and some of the (oneFingerStyle)
KissMe B-sides, I think you better be a fan.
-The Exploding Boy: That one's easily good at first hearing, it gives satisfaction.
-HowBeautifulYouWere: idem, could be part of the first list.
-Babble: reminds me of the realThing by FaceNoMore, but I prefer.
-HaroldAndJoe: It has that same NeverEnough,MixedUp mood of 90.
-Purple Haze RadioMix : Good!! It really Grooves!!
-Doing the Unstuck: I can hear what he's actually playing in the solo!!
-BigHand: the "Porl"Style.
-YoungAmericans: Would have liked to hear the acoustic version.But WellDone.
-Ocean: Could have replaced Treasure. Must have been weird to chose the songs for WildMoodSwings.

All the electronic stuff, I really like, but I'm glad it went on to something else. Maybe it could be representative
of the solo work.
//About the Solo: I'd LIKE it to include, why not, Jeff Beck, David Sylvian, Sakamoto, Elisabeth Fraser... or
Robert working with Massive Attack... or dancing with Michael Jackson!!

And "A Forest", it Rock's!!  Still, I prefer "The Kiss" live.

Thanks a lot!!  I was very thankfull to read that report from the britten kitten girl recently. It was like she
experienced it for all the other fans. She was so kind to share it.   In the same way, Robert's leading a kind of
life that I would badly like to begin but that I haven't chosen for. Well, when I had read and heard Join the Dots,
for a moment I thought: "Robert's done it in my place. And he's done it very nicely, properly and  completely.
Therefor, I can go an other way. Do something completely different... Enjoy unknown passions...  work hard on
my studies, seek perfection where it's good, intending to have children, shape my life, and care for others, with
or without God.  ... And maybe in the end, it won't be so different!"

- Tanguy in Brussels

"i just wanted to write in with my quick thoughts on join the dots...i had a chance to go trough it all and
totally dig it from start to finish...although i for better or worse had the bulk of this collection less like 3 songs
already on scattered media, i love having it all in one place now...so here are my thoughts:

packaging: awesome, well done in size layout color graphics etc...
booklet: i think this is so cool...a lot of this is available in the books out already, but the "color commentary" is
what makes it...knowing that different events/literature.substances effected various songs is what makes
everything so real to me...i love knowing that "a foolish arrangement" was done in australia, that "the big hand"
was a favorite of porl and therefore has a direct link to the wish cover and how "speak my language" was an
opening line or two followed my just a stream of lyrics...that to me is what makes this...the pictures and album
covers and artwork too are great...the real bonus is that this booklet is large and not small...perfect

disc one: really great to see how things progressed...i have a "boys dont cry" single from a hundred years ago
and "do the hansa" has always been a fav...so many great tunes..."stop dead" always gets me going too and
"a few hours after this" always makes me "think" i can waltz dance yet i am fairly sure i have no clue...
"lament" in both forms is a great tune...

disc two: this one (in my opinion) probably has/had the greatest effect from the remastering...this disc exploded
through my speakers to the point where i had to turn it down to avoid neighbor conflict!!!..."to the sky" sounds
amazing in its "proper" form..."hey you", the psychedelic "hello i love you" and ALL disintegration tracks are
highlights to me...

disc three:an era i love and means a lot to me..."this twilight garden" is such a gorgeous song..."a foolish
arrangement" is still one of my favs..."burn" is so aggressive...too much good to name there...

disc four: very interesting to read "walking in my shoes" was the "band" depeche mode contribution that went
south and turned into robert doing "would in my eyes"...and i think this is a killer version of this
song..."possession" after first listen made me want to go again and again...now i am so digging that song...
"coming up" i had already but i love its aggression and the drone of the guitars during the verse makes it so
ethereal...

all in all this set should be a cornerstone to any cure fan collection...new or old...i am so jazzed about it i am
going to go home and listen to it now!!...hahah...not a bad way to ring in my 30's!!...have a good one man...

now i cant wait for the remasters and the new album..."

- Jeff Bayard

"I was exposed to the Cure since the early 80’s and 90’s through family and a close friend - but was not hooked
until I picked up “Show” in 1994 used a local record store, my first exposure to live Cure. Since then, I’ve never
looked back, fervently collecting and scouring the Internet for every release I could find over the past 10 years.
Although in possession of many of the b-sides and a few covers on “Dots” I’m so very happy to finally have the
entire collection, cleaned up, remastered, and officially released.  Particularly the “Staring At The Sea” b-sides,
which for so long have been on cassette only.

The box itself was very well done – and many of the tracks and their histories are discussed in impressive detail,
revealing unique insight into the band’s history. You can tell that Robert and the band put a lot of work into this,
as the quality of the finished product (to me) is probably the most eagerly anticipated and best box set I have
ever purchased.

This is a MUST HAVE for any of you fans reading this still on the fence, and you will find “Dots” worth every
penny spent."

- Michael Cooper

"Dream come true, to have the B-side collection, and to read all the commentaries in the book is incredible.
The only song that I never heard was possession which I was not easy to listen to. It sounded like Robert was
experimenting and did not get the vibe he wanted. But that's OK because a song like HOME just stole the
show. It just stood out for some reason. The song is new too many again, its like I never heard it before."

- Ignacio

"This collection is the stuff dreams are made of, there really are some classic songs in this boxset! I finally got
my copy yesterday and the first surprising thing for me was the packaging, I expected an Integration-style 4 disc
package but was pleasantly surprised to see it was actually like a hardback book with the cd's and booklet
attached inside, how refreshing! Its a beautiful package and my hopes we raised right from the word go. As I had
very little time to listen to it last night, I flicked through the first cd just to get an idea of how these earlier tracks
had faired with the remastering, I'm Cold certainly stands out among the very early stuff, however the track I was
most looking forward to hearing in its new remastered form was A Few Hours After This - a quite beautiful song
and in my opinion one of the best if not thE best Cure b-side around. Listening to this song again was pure bliss,
couldn't wipe the smile from my face as it came blasting out of the speakers! It sounded marvellous...grand even!
Of course the rest of CD1 is equally brilliant, highlights Another Journey By Train, Happy The Man, Exploding
Boy (could have been a hit single in its own right) Man Inside My Mouth and New Day. Its just so nice to hear
these songs again on cd, the sound so fresh.  I have not had time to listen to CD2 and CD3 but I did listen to
most of CD4, primarily so I could hear Posession. My first impressions of this song are mixed, it seems similar
in feel to Coming Up but less noisey and Roberts vocals lower down in the mix, it gets louder as the song
progresses and seems somewhat disjointed however the ending is pretty cool. It will definately take a few more
listens to appreciate, as do most new Curesongs. I have a feeling I will love this song after a few plays. There
are one or two interesting remixes on CD4, the best ones This Is A Lie (the ambient mix from Strange Attraction
cd single) is quite stunning, one of the best Cure remixes ever done, and Wrong Number (from uk 12") is
mental, I hadn't heard this for years! Robert actually states in the booklet he would have prefered the This Is
A Lie remix as a single over Gone...I would tend to agree, it would have made a nice single. Its a shame The
Cure haven't really released many slower songs as singles...I think songs like this and One More Time,
Treasure or To Wish Impossible Things could have done well...anyway i'm getting off the point! Even the Out
Of This World remix can be forgiven on here, it actually sounded alot better as opposed to my MP3 version, I
hated what Oakenfold did to this track..its like messing around with perfection (one of my all time favourite
Curesongs) but it doesn't seem entirely out of place. Alot of reviews in the music press have stated that this
collection deteriorates on CD4 which I am inclined to think is just lazy journalism, there are some real gems
on this cd, in particular Home and Pink Dream which I have always loved. Maybe it does not 'flow' the same
as cd1 perhaps (mainly due to the remixes) but in my opinon the songs are just as strong now as they ever were.
Its great to listen to this collection knowing that The Cure are currently in the studio recording something new,
this is just a prelude to the main event in my opinion! Sill, I can't wait to listen to the other 2 cd's! Thank you
Robert for putting this together. "

- Tom Johnson

"I purchased my copy yesterday at Best Buy.  LOVE IT!!!!!  It sounds amazing and the packaging is one of the
best I’ve seen for a box set.  The only disappointment for me was on a couple of pictures Robert gets stuck in the
crease, but other than that, it’s beautiful.  It’s too hard to pick just one favorite, but if I had to choose just one it
would be “Plastic Passion”."

- Marissa Lapp

"I live in Fred-neck (Frederick), MD.  It is snowing and all icy. However, that did not prevent me from
trecking all over this forgotten place to my my dots fix.  Everystore, even the trendy Hot Topic was of no help.
At last, after sliding on the roads and averting accident after accident, I found my Holy Grail at Circuit City.
Only one copy in this po-dunktown.  Ironically I went through the same journey for the Trilogy dvd, without the
snow of course.  Anyone that is critical of this set needs to consult with a therapist.  It is incredible.  Some
disappointments in the past were explained, and now I'm all peachy.  The only downside (and this might just be
my copy) is that you can still hear static/crackling, even though faint, on Breath and A Chain of Flowers.  WTF?!
The Unstuck remix has to be the stand out track! If you don't have it,  get it!  Can't find it, go on a Monty
Pythonesque quest and get yours!  Enjoy! "

- Joshua

"The remastering is excellent, and the first disc is by far my favorite, though I am very glad to finally have "To
The Sky" on CD.  My only regret is that I wasted all those hours transferring the Standing On A Beach B-sides
from cassette to CD. Twice.  Oh well, I still have my Curiosity CD, and since Robert has publicly expressed his
disdain for "Heroin Face," maybe it wasn't all in vain."

- Brad Hood

"[i apologize for the mindless outpouring in this, my so-called review, but when you hear "a few hours after
this..." for the millionth time in a row, typing seems irrelevant.....]

i don't even want to touch it (for fear it'll disappear), and yet i have this overwhelming need to get right into it.
become it even. i bought "join the dots" this afternoon and finally, six hours later, had the opportunity to
delicately remove it from its shrink-wrap. i stared at it and couldn't imagine a cure fan who would not love this.

(i doubt mine is the only one glowing...)

it is just gorgeous...the packaging, the colours, the book and, of course, the deeply intoxicating music. i am
falling so wondrously all over again.

such bliss as this i have not felt in quite some time. but i would be lying if i said it doesn't kind of hurt, too.
listening to their music packaged as it is pulls me full force into so many vivid memories, and reliving even the
good ones somehow aches.

at least i have the cure to grow old with... :)

many thanks to the cure for releasing this. many thanks to you, the reader, for keeping pace with my neurotic
rambling this evening."

- Rayna

"Oh my gosh!  I'm so happy!  This is fabulous!  All of the songs you go searching for from record to tape to CD,
all in 4 CD's!  So much I've never heard.  So many new versions!  It makes every song, like you've never heard
them at all before.  I really must say that when I played "Hello I Love You / unreleased psychedelic mix", my
mouth opened and all that came out, was "Wow".  That version is absolutely amazing!  The Doors version is
great, but this blows it away.  It's very rare that a remake is better than the original.  But else would you expect
from Robert and the boys.  I'm in heaven.  Can't wait to see the show and all of the amazing fans on May 2nd!!!"

- Kate

"Fantastic! A must have for any cure fan. New and old. To have all these gems put together in a book style box
set incredible! So get up, get out, and get gone and grab a copy or two. listen, read, and enjoy."

- GiLbErT

"Just wanted to say I am very pleased with picking Dots up at my local Best Buy for only $39.99 - you can't beat
that price with being able to just drive 2 miles down the road - not having to wait for a web order to shave a
couple bucks off.

I've been a loyal Cure fan ever since I started listening back in '85 with The Head On The Door.  All the songs
on this box set represent so much time and effort that I put into looking for singles, bootlegs and even mp3
downloads in the past - I can now forget about all that and enjoy remastered, clean versions.  I must say I have
never been on the receiving end of a band (that I like) giving so much value to their fans as with this set.  While
I knew what to expect with the tracklisting (thanks to your site), I was blown away by the book/packaging.  Now
to figure out how to fit this into my CD cabinet. A happy camper indeed."

- Phil Vieth

"Simply Amazing! These discs have audiophile sound quality. I was checking some of the track times to see if
these are matching tracks, just remastered... and some of the times don't match up. Which means that these are
brand new mixes (?) Whatever! Just another marvelous production by Robert Smith... his regard for us as fans
is amazing. If the reissued albums sound as good as this set i will be even more psyched! Can't wait (and there's
that new album out there too!!!!)   As others have said THANK YOU Robert! "

- Morris

"I've been a Cure fan for 14 years now, and one of my biggest concerns was that the band's brilliant B-Sides
would never get the presentation that they deserved. Before the Internet, I had to jump through hoops to capture
rare songs like "To The Sky" or "A Chain of Flowers." Sooner or later I'd track them down in different seedy
record stores across the country and the records would cost me an arm and a leg in the process. But I didn't
care, because the songs were well worth the effort. Few bands put as much effort into songs that were never
intended for albums or concerts.

I often wondered, would "Breathe" or "Splintered in Her Head" ever appear on CD? As the years went by, it seemed less and less likely. I'd gather up all my scratchy records and hissy cassette tapes and make compilation
tapes for road trips and daydreams. Now I have them all, well most of them, in a compact set and they sound
better than ever!

My only gripe is that the liner notes don't include a breakdown of who played what instruments on each song,
that would have been really informative.. To bring me back to my original point, I'd happy that the B-Sides and
Rarities are finally getting the exposure that they deserved and that more people can discover what I've known
all along and have telling anybody who would listen: The Cure is one the greastest bands you'll ever have the
fortune of hearing."

- Richard W.

"Got my Dots at Dimple in Sacramento at list price cause Best Buy was out-- and they only had 2 on back order.
Dimple still had 3 copies (as of Tues)...  The packaging is top-notch but the book was binded so tightly it squishes
Robert's face on some pictures.   Sound quality is great, listening to Breathe and To the Sky brought tears to my
eyes.  Possession is interesting, the OOTW remix really is "cool" as Robert says, and the Forest remix will take
some time getting used to.  But, surprise of surprises!, Doing the Unstuck (which was never a favorite of mine)
keeps running through my head, again and again and again and again...

Can't wait for the remastered/bonus disc reissues-- bravo, Robert!"

- curedtigger

"While the whole set is a work of art, disc 1 is the real treasure for me. I already own all these singles. They're
all on vinyl though (which has it's own charm, but isn't very good for listening on the go) or the Standing cassette.
The tracks I have managed to compile on cd came from MP3, and haven't been the best representation of the
songs. These new remastered tracks all sound outstanding, without losing the feel of the original recordings. The
flexipop version of Lament is new to me, but lives up to my expectations, and the upright bass in Speak My
Language can still make me Stop Dead. (pun intended) And just think 12 more discs + the new album still to
come. Thanks Robert et al."

- Charles Hein

"Early Tuesday afternoon -during a break from work and between unforgiving rounds of Pennsylvania winter- I
walked into the local Best Buy to purchase my copy of "Join The Dots" for $39.99. It didn't matter that I had to
pull the funds from cash I had been saving for an entirely different purpose. This was a CD collection I simply had
to have. As I perused the CD box set section, imagine my disappointment as "Join the Dots" is nowhere to be
found. I reach a point where I'm ready to head to the local Tower Records to seek out a copy when what do I see
but an aisle-end display, well, displaying about 10 copies of "Join the Dots." But when I pick it up I find the price
to be 10 dollars higher than advertised. Rather than thinking through the situation and having it price checked, I
ended up traveling to the local Tower anyway to see if the don't have it cheaper. I find it there for 54.99 and do
decide to have it price checked. Of course Tower is charging too much so I head back to Best Buy where it rings
up for $39.99.

Little did I know that by the time I had finished the second disc I would have decided that this may have well
been the best $39.99 I've ever spent. As soon as the CD began and the remastering revealed that faint vinyl
hiss that I had never heard before on my downloaded versions that I was in for something special. And it didn't
end there. It was like being reunited with dear old friends as I continued listening.

In my teenage years I probably wore out the old Cassette of "Standing on a Beach" just as quickly by listening to
all of the B-Sides as I did by listening to the Singles side. And they were all there but made fresh by the
remastering and by a track order that was changed to include such treasures as the Flexi-Pop Lament and the
Walk EP B-Sides which I listened to so many times on my copy of Japanese Whispers. And throughout the other
three CDs I was able to rediscover so many old friends through beautiful remastering and a CD format.

Should I also apologize to the song "Chain of Flowers," which only ever disappointed me before today? With the
new mastering, it suddenly came alive and may soon be one of my favorites.

As wonderful as it was to hear my old friends remastered, it was a rare treat to hear new ones for the first time.
The new version of "Hey You" was welcome, especially considering I was expecting the album version sadly left
off of the CD due to time constraints. And extra versions of "How Beautiful You Are" in my CD player. And what
to say about the "Psychedelic Remix" of  "Hello, I Love You?." It sounds simply incredible and completely new
to my ears. Even without the vocals there's something about this track that just screams to me. What an interesting
mix of "Doing the Unstuck?"  Not sure if its working for me and so far the only track on the set that leaves me
unsure. Unsure, but still glad to have heard it. "Doing the Unstuck" has always been one of my happiest guilty
pleasures, so an alternate version is definitely worth at least one listen. Now its confession time. I can't say
I've ever heard Jimi Hendrix' original version of "Purple Haze" in its entirety, but I've certainly listened to the
"Stone Free" version ad infinitum. I have a feeling the Virgin Radio version is a bit closer than the original and it
certainly Rocks! Although I can't imagine a better version that the Stone Free version.

I haven't reached "Posession" yet and maybe a couple of remixes but I think its safe to say this is a road I'll be
traveling down on many more ocassions. There will soon be a point when I am familiar with every bump in the road
and know every turn like the back of my hand. That's somewhat sad for me to consider, but not so bad when I have
such a year to look forward to. Remastered albums? Extra rarities? A new album and live performances? There are
trips we can still look forward to.

And this wonderful collection just serves to remind us why The Cure will always be under-appreciated. Its music
that simply makes it good to be alive. There's hardly a situation that one goes through in life that a song from The
Cure's canon won't fit. The same goes for this collection. Let me put it another way, if you are now, ever were, or
think you ever may be a Cure fan, this should be the next purchase you make. This is a B-Sides collection that
rates above almost any other collection you'll find by any other artist: B-sides, album tracks, singles or otherwise.

- Andrew Griffith

"I have been a big fan of the Cure for a long time.  I have several of these songs on different recordings. But to
have this box set collection is a true treasure, all of the songs sound great!  One of the photos in the booklet
made my day.  I have seen the Cure live 7 times.  I live in Dallas.  The first time that I saw them was in 92 at
Texas Stadium.  The picture on page 49 is of Robert wearing an Emmitt Smith #22 jersey with "Smith" on the
back from that show.  I remember thinking that was so cool at the time, LOL.  OK OK, I still think it is pretty
cool 12 years later ....

More than half of my Cure collection is on cassette tape from back in the day.  I have been wanting to get all of
the albums on CD, I have a few already.  With all of the re-releases and bonus CDs accompanying them, I will
definitely do it.  I can hardly wait ..."

- Rich

"Hey I'm in California and I just received my Join The Dots today(two days earlier than they expected it to come
and I preordered) and needless to say, I'm stunned. The whole book look is magnificent, the cover is enigmatic,
the art inside the 75 pages is beautiful and I have yet to read all the text in it. Now on to the CDs, they are simply
perfect, I'm currently on disc two and trying to keep from exploding my pants...DO YOURSLEF A FAVOR AND
GET THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T YET!"

- Cy

"I received my copy of 'Dots' yesterday (thanks to Virgin for sending them out to arrive on release day!) and it
really is rather marvellous.  I'd never purchased one of these boxed-set type things before, but the presentation
instantly struck me as excellent - not to mention that it's all lovely and compact.  This would be fairly irrelevant
if the music wasn't up to scratch...  but, of course, it is!

A few people have already mentioned how good the remastering sounds.  I'd heard quite a few of the tracks
before thanks to the wonders of mp3 (unless the RIAA are reading, in which case I heard them by..  err..  magic)
and the cd sounds noticeably better.  Even more so than the obvious cd improvement from mp3.  There's more
'space' between instruments on tracks like '10:15', somehow.  Some real effort went into making this collection
quite special!

Of the songs I hadn't heard before, I really love the 'Purple Haze' radio version.  The guitar work is superb -
really drives the cover along.  'Possession' hasn't really grown on me yet, but I need to give it a few more listens
before I can make a full judgement.  The remixes, which I  wasn't expecting to be thrilled by, are actually pretty
decent.  Most of  all though, it's just great to have classics like 'Burn', 'To the Sky' and  'This Twilight Garden'
gathered together in one place.

Cheers to all at Cure HQ! :-)"

- Peter Parrish

"what a package! the whole thing is VERY nicely done. i'm impressed. they could've really cut corners on this.
i'm really surprised it even came out in the states to begin with. aside from the cover - which is nice, just not
entirely original  -and that pic of robert at the back - as if it was only his band - the booklet is great. do you
think the international versions are the same hardback book as the us version?"

- Brian Callahan

"Having received my 'dots' today I just want to comment on how CAPTIVATING it is, the remastering is
amazing breathing new life into songs issued on vinyl, the booklet , the packaging, great stuff.....Its been a
long time coming but unbelievably worth the wait, each song evoking so many colourful memories - I wonder
what the chances are of hearing any of these 'treasures' on the next tour? THANKYOU ROBERT!!!!! "

- Angela Birtwell

"Just got my copy, you requested reviews from new fans. before robert smith musically i wasn't complete then
in january 2002 i bought the greatest hits album & i never looked back. to hear "10:15 saturday night"
remastered was such a pleasure i played it twice. i loved hearing siouxie in "i'm cold" wailing away like a maniac,
"do the hansa" is a riot!!! i loved "breathe" & "a chain of flowers" all the ones from disintegration were killer.
i'm starting the 3rd disk when i get home from work. can't wait to hear the depeche mode cover, because i've
recently discovered them. i love the booklet & i'm really gonna get into it tonight. this is just great, being a newer
fan i've never heard about 97% of the stuff on here. it's like 4 new cure albums!!! like i said before the
voices i turned to before were trent reznor, marilyn manson, & billy corgan. when i found robert smith he just
filled that empty space & i'm so happy he continues to be relevent & not sell out like so many others. thanks
Robert!!! "

- Scary Matt