FEBRUARY

The month was spent writing new songs and "thinking" about a solo album for Robert, the end of the group's relationship with longtime label Fiction Records and releasing a Greatest Hits compilation. Fiction Records was actually sold by Chris Parry and pratically dissolved (except the name owned by Universal) then.

Bloodflowers was also nominated for a Grammy award in America ("best alternative music album" - but Radiohead won).


JUNE

24th
Robert Smith agreed to appear on a Ray Cokes weekend special on TV. First by phone (on the 23rd) and then in person the following day where he was the main guest. Robert Smith also brought some lingerie as a gift to Ray who ended up declaring (joking !) : "It's bad. They're expecting a Phil Collins anthology and now you come on and ruin everything."


JULY

01st
Roskilde, Festival
The Cure headlined the festival for their only proper show of the year. The main reason for accepting the invitation was simply to perform there since their show had been cancelled the previous year (due to tragic events in the audience).


AUGUST / SEPTEMBER

Olympic Studios, London
The band recorded a couple of new singles with Mark Plati producing again (of Wrong Number fame) for the upcoming Greatest Hits collection. And they also decided to record acoustic versions of the hits, in order to provide something new to the fans (as a free bonus disc for the new collection of hits). Boris Williams was invited to join the group, taking care of the percussions for the acoustic sessions.


OCTOBER

16th
Cut Here was released as a single. The lyrics refered to Billy McKenzie, the Associates' singer and friend of the band who commited suicide in 1997. The title itself represented an anagram of the name "The Cure". A sober video for the song was shot with Richard Anthony directing. Robert made sure nobody worn watches for the shooting.

26th
Paris, Le Réservoir (Music Planet 2nite TV taping)
Special live performance (invite only) in a club for the French/German TV channel, ARTE. Ray Cokes hosted the show and joined the band on guitar for Boys Don't Cry.

About the Cure's relations with the media, Robert explained to a French journalist : "We weren't able to be on VH1 'cause we're considered too alternative for VH1. Two days later, Universal went to MTV2 and they said "well the Cure's too old to be alternative". I wasn't aware until last week that I've now officially become too old to be alternative. I'm not sure what that makes me anymore. Too alternative to be old. There you go."


NOVEMBER

12th
Greatest Hits compilation was released. The tracklisting was decided by Robert and included Cut Here and Just Say Yes. That last song being quite a "departune" since it was a duet (with Saffron from Republica - also appearing in the video). Just Say Yes was actually an unreleased track from the Bloodflowers era that drastically evolved from the initial idea stage (a slow downbeat track) in 1998. Another version from 1999 (sung by Robert only) was available online at the temporary curehits website (a bonus to complement the new releases).

November was a quite busy promotional era for the band who appeared on the radio recording a few acoustic sessions in England (Janice Long session / XFM session / Simon Mayo Session) and in France (Europe 2 - recorded at la Scène in Paris with Boris Williams on percussions again).

Robert Smith also spent a Friday night in London being interviewed by Brian Molko for a French magazine (Les Inrockuptibles). A strange evening, according to the Cure's singer.


DECEMBER

Greatest Hits was released on VHS and on DVD. The DVD included all videos from the hits as well as a few hidden extras (videos for The Caterpillar, Pictures Of You, Close To Me -closer mix) and a 30-minute black and white film of the group and Boris Williams playing some of the acoustic hits at the Olympic Studios.



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