The Cure are set to bring an acoustic bonus disc from their 2001 ‘Greatest Hits’ album to streaming services for the first time.
Dubbed ‘Acoustic Hits’, the LP will arrive on digital on platforms on August 9. A vinyl version will also be released which can be pre-ordered here.
The band have also shared black and white videos of unplugged studio performances of their classic tracks including ‘A Forest’, ‘The Lovecats’ and ‘Close To Me’, all of which you can watch below.
The LP, which consists of 18 songs, first appeared as a bonus disc on a number of international versions of their 2001 ‘Greatest Hits’ record.
It comes after the band released a reissue of their classic live album, ‘Paris’, earlier this year.
Fans continue to await news on the band’s long-awaited 14th album. Speaking to NME in March 2022, Smith exclusively revealed that the follow-up to 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream’ will be called ‘Songs Of A Lost World’.
“It’s got artwork, it’s got a running order, it’s almost done!” he explained at the time.
“I’ve been working on two Cure albums, and one of them is finished. Unfortunately, it’s the second one that’s finished. [On the other] I’ve got to do four vocals, and there are 10 songs on each album. We’re mixing next month on April 1, so I’ve got three weeks left.”
Asked about the sound of the pair of records, Smith added: “Well the first Cure album is relentless doom and gloom. It’s the doomiest thing that we’ve ever done. The second one is upbeat, and my [solo] one won’t be out until next year.”
In a later interview with NME, Smith said of ‘Songs Of A Lost World’: “Essentially it’s a 12 track album. It’s there, it’s kind of half-mixed and half-finished. It’s a weird thing. It’s kind of evolved over the last two years. It hasn’t always been a good thing to have been left alone with it. You pick at it, like picking at seams, and everything falls apart.”
During that same year, the band welcomed back guitarist and keyboardist Perry Bamonte during their world tour.
The Cure have since showcased a range of new as-yet-unreleased tracks on tour, including ‘And Nothing Is Forever’, ‘Alone’, ‘Endsong’, ‘I Can Never Say Goodbye’ and ‘A Fragile Thing’.
Elsewhere, Interpol recently spoke to NME about touring with The Cure.
Guitarist Daniel Kessler said: “It was great. Sometimes you do those tours and it sounds amazing on paper but then all the bands live very separately, but there was an amazing camaraderie. It was like a travelling circus. Everyone got along really great and hung out. There would be these really intense football matches between all the bands; just wherever made sense like behind the stage. I remember one of the guys from Muse hurt himself really bad during one of the matches and had to leave the tour.
“The Cure guys were just the best: really hospitable and friendly and welcoming.”
More recently, NewDad also spoke to NME at Glastonbury 2024 about their cover of The Cure’s ‘Just Like Heaven’ at the festival.
“There are so many amazing songs by The Cure that we could cover, but we all gravitated towards that one. It’s fun to put your own spin on a song, and hopefully we do it justice,” added vocalist and guitarist Julie Dawson.