***1/2 The Cure

GALORE: THE SINGLES 1987-1997

(Elektra)

These 18 songs capture the Cure as an arty-party band and, with the new tune "Wrong Number," modern rockers subtly pushing the envelope via loops and guitar noise courtesy of Boston's Reeves Gabrels. If you want to hear the grand early radio hits from the period when leader Robert Smith battled Morrissey sigh-for-sigh for mope rock's crown, you'll need to pick up the 1986 collection Standing on a Beach: The Singles (Elektra). Here we start with the perky funk of "Why Can't I Be You?", continue through the zippy celestial angst of "Just like Heaven" and on past the sadly poignant "A Letter to Elise" and recent percolating remixes of "The 13th" and "Strange Attraction" (both from '96). This compilation's an easy answer to questions concerning the Cure's greatness. Smith's voice is wholly original; the textural plotting of the arrangements -- rich and sweet in their mix of acoustic and electric guitars, synthesizers, and strings -- is brilliant; the hooks and melodies are generous; the drums slam hard on all the uptempo numbers. These songs are such obvious rock-and-roll pleasures that anyone who denies them is deaf or bound by dogma.

-- Ted Drozdowski