Plot the path of The Cure, and you’d find one of the most prolific and imaginative careers in the past 30 years.

-Join the dots, and you’d unearth an odds-and-ends box set that reaches beyond the love/hate relationship with critics and music fans.

The box, fully titled “Join The Dots: B-sides & Rarities, 1978-2001,” compiles 70 deep cuts from the band’s vast catalogue.

Broken down chronologically, the four-disc set contains mostly B-sides, yet it also includes live recordings and tracks originally on compilations or soundtracks.

With 10 songs released for the first time and another 25 never before on CD format, “Dots” best suits Cure enthusiasts and the avid collector. Casual listeners would be better off engulfing themselves in the masterpieces “Boys Don’t Cry,” “Disintegration” and “Wish.”

Though it’s convenient to have gems like “Burn” (from “The Crow” soundtrack) and “2 Late” (the B-side of “Lovesong”) in the same collection, it is also gratuitous. The two different versions of Robert Smith interpreting “Purple Haze” better represents the 45-year-old’s experimental and indulgent nature.

It seems even more hedonistic, considering the band already released a 12-disc set in 1991, a singles collection in 1997, another box set in 2000 and a greatest hits in 2001.

“Join The Dots” is proof that even the best bands can falter. The Cure just had enough sense to save its weaker moments the first time around and neatly package them together for this passage.