Throughout their two-decade career, the Cure have always made music for lonely hearts, so it’s only fitting that frontman Robert Smith be alone for once.
Smith hopes to begin recording his first solo album in January or February, once he’s through promoting the Cure’s Greatest Hits, which includes two new songs and acoustic renditions of fan favorites. The pale-faced misanthrope said he started fostering ideas for the LP after finishing the Cure’s last studio album, 2000’s Bloodflowers, and it’s been an on-and-off endeavor ever since.
“I was just at the point of coordinating it all earlier this year when the greatest-hits project was suggested, and I went along with it,” Smith said. “And so that took the Cure back into the studio to do all the new songs and the acoustic stuff. And that’s followed by promotion, so I had to shelve my album again for another few months.”
The staccato pacing of production might seem debilitating, but the breaks in Smith’s work schedule don’t seem to be posing a problem.
“It’s alright. I mean, I just wanted to do it. I wanted to enjoy the making of it – the process of making it – as much as the idea of getting it finished and getting it out there. So I’m not that bothered really. I’ll just pick it up again after Christmas.”
Greatest Hits, due November 13, features such Cure classics as “Boys Don’t Cry,” “Lovesong” and “Just Like Heaven,” as well as two new songs. An accompanying home video, also titled Greatest Hits, will be released November 27.
