The album was entirely co-produced by American producer Ross Robinson and frontman Robert Smith and spawned the single "The End of the World".

Robinson had previously worked with heavy rock bands such as Korn, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, At the Drive-In, Glassjaw and the Blood Brothers.

[citation needed] The artwork was designed by Smith's nephews and nieces: children who were unaware that their drawings were to be put on the album.

[11] Initial pressings included a bonus DVD containing a documentary of the conception of three songs from the album, titled Making 'The Cure'.

Demos of three songs recorded during the album's sessions, titled "A Boy I Never Knew", "Please Come Home" and "Strum", have leaked as MP3 files.

[12] Adam Sweeting of The Guardian described it as a "masterful performance all round", highlighting the songs "The End of the World", "Going Nowhere", "Anniversary" and "The Promise".

"[18] Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone wrote "it's the grooviest thing, it's a perfect dream", and pointed out the album's highlights as being "Before Three", "Lost" and "(I Don't Know What's Going) On".

[21] While stating that "as with Prince on Musicology, Smith allows the Cure's current lineup to become his own tribute band", David Browne of Entertainment Weekly nonetheless concluded that the "newly vibrant music looks back lovingly as well on a time when Cure songs managed to combine a throbbing, oingo-boingo springiness with the depressive angst of suburban-basement isolation".

[14] AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine was mixed in his review of The Cure, qualifying it as "the type of record that sits on the shelves of diehard fans, only occasionally making its way on the stereo".

[13] Andy Greenwald of Blender felt that the band "come off more than ever like a caricature", writing: "There are a few breaks of sunlight, including the single 'The End of the World' and 'Taking Off', a strummy echo of 1992's chart-topping Wish.

"[23] The Independent's Andy Gill panned the album as being "just as stunted musically as emotionally, the bleak chordings and grey washes barely differing throughout, whatever an individual song's outlook.