The Cure have no shortage of greatest hits compilations, but 2001’s Greatest Hits was probably the most comprehensive, what with the band not really having anything you could call a hit after it came out – none of Bloodflowers, The Cure, or 4:13 Dream really tore up the charts.
First pressings of Greatest Hits came with a companion disc called Acoustic Hits which was an almost track-for-track unplugged version of the compilation – it has “The Walk” in place of “The Caterpillar” and omits “Pictures Of You”) – especially recorded for this release. And while Greatest Hits has been available on streaming services forever, Acoustic Hits was never digitized for streaming until now, although it was pressed on vinyl as its own release in 2017 for Record Store Day, alongside Greatest Hits.
To help build anticipation, the band have been releasing the in-studio videos of the recording of these acoustic tracks, which were originally released on some DVD and VHS versions of the compilation. The late ’90s and early ’00s were an expensive time to be a completist, I’ll tell you that.
And as one more part of their promo campaign, the band have been soliciting acoustic covers of their songs from fans and posting them on their website on the Covers Wall. The link comes without endorsement; honestly it sounds like a dorm room from hell, but have at it if that’s your thing.