The Cure - _Seventeen Seconds_

Possibly my favourite album in the history of history. The first CD I ever bought, as I think I've said, and I did that on purpose *just* so I could one day say so with a flourish in situations like this. The entire universe should own this, end of story. Your life is not complete without it. I cannot stress this any more forcefully.

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

There are certain recent songs which capture that type of mood for me; in fact, both "Treasure" and "The Loudest Sound" leapt to mind as I was reading your post.

The understatedness, and the amount of things left unsaid, is awe-inspiring.

OTM.

great cover art on "ss" and "faith", too.

Before relistening to any album from 1980 The Cure's second longplay intuitively was my first choice. But when I had heard the three contending records (#3 was Joy Division's Closer) for a moment it was Fehlfarben's Monarchie und Alltag. I have to agree to what many German critics say about this release. That it is the best German rock album. But sometimes this is not enough. Under normal circumstances the result of a serious match England-Germany in rock music is as predictable as in football. The outcomes of those two games are quite opposite though. 1980 wasn't an exception to the rule.

Many fans consider Pornography or Disintegration the pinnacle of The Cure's art but I cannot agree. I never really got into Pornography. Too many songs which lose me. Last time I heard Disintegration I found it hadn't aged well. Something about the production repelled me. Seventeen Seconds is my favourite of theirs. For me it somehow conjures up shadows of the past. It is about the lightness of being sad. And it has the most mysterious title of all their records. I advise you to listen to it in the dark. The impact is much stronger that way.

Keyboards sounding like a jew's harp start the first track and fuse into a simple slow theme played by the guitar and the piano setting the atmosphere of the record. Dark but not heavy almost like a piano piece by an English Satie A Reflection engraves itself on the memory of the listener. A minimal opener preparing us softly for things to come.

Play for Today has already all ingredients of a good upbeat Cure song. A bass forming the base, propelling lively guitars, some spacy synthie, hypnotic drum beats and Robert Smith's unique sombre high-pitch but not whining vocals. And it is so tuneful, so pop. The Cure were the Beatles of dark wave (I don't like the term goth rock). Sounding as fresh now as then. The first highlight.

Secrets is dominated by a simple bass line and is a very rhythmic affair. An impressionist track serving as a transition to the next piece.

In Your House is very heavy, Smith sounds extremely tired. A hint to future ominous musical developments. Like pretending to be deep and profound. This is the first Cure song which sucks a little. Many more were to come later on in their career. Until there was nothing else. Until Robert Smith would sound like a ridiculous parody of himself. But even in this rather dull song there are bits which almost save it. The end is a release when there are only synthie, meandering guitar and drum machine left.

The two instrumentals (except Smith background radio voice) following are rather weird. I love them though. Experimental, almost atonal, mounting the tension and leading directly to the heart of this album:

A Forest. One of the best songs of all time. Starting slowly with the theme repeated a couple of times by the acoustic guitar with brooding synthie sounds and suddenly accelerating to an irresistible beat when the drums and finally the bass kicks in. Nobody can stop this hypnotic trip into the night. Dark power pure.

And did you ever listen to the lyrics? I did before but I never really got the meaning. It seems clear now. They are about hopelessly falling in love. Told from the point of view of the guy of course. He runs after the girl without paying attention to the outside world. He only sees her or thinks he sees her. And suddenly he realises that he is lost. In the forest. And she isn’t there. He has been chasing a phantom. He didn’t fall in love with her but with his picture of her. And now he is on his own, lost in the forest. Running towards nothing. And he will do it again and again and again and again.

It’s difficult to think of a bigger contrast to the black (without the 'and white') "A Forest" than the following song with the obscure title M. We are almost back in sunny pop country now. The guitar jangles, the synthie wooshes like the ocean waves, there is hope. Beauty still exists. And

You’ll fall in love with somebody else
Again tonight

Can there be a better succession of songs than "A Forest" and "M" in the world?

At Night is the abyss. It can’t get more desperate anymore. A weighty song which works though.

I sink in the night
Standing alone underneath the sky
I feel the chill of ice
On my face

At the end some improvisations on the theme promise a brighter future.

Seventeen Seconds is a serene finish. The world is still sad but we have accepted it. Though I didn’t get it yet:

Seventeen seconds
A measure of life

Some mysteries should remain...

!!!!!!!!

(ps: !!!!!!)

Hey, this is a good thread for me, the guy who owns only Disintegration and the two hits albums and is wondering where to go next! And this album sounds very cool from your description, so I'll check it out.

And yeah, I agree that "In Your House" doesn't suck!

I think in this way it's a counterpoint to Faith, which is about the heaviness of being sad (only "At Night" would have been completely at home on that album).

I love them both, though.

I'd forgotten I started this thread; I was about to start one almost exactly like it because I'm listening to Seventeen Seconds right now and "At Night" just came on (lol at me reacting almost exactly the same way to these songs 7 years later).

still haven't picked up the remaster of this. This is probably for me one of the cure's most frustrating release, in the sense that I always remember that album as only having 3 or 4 songs and lots of interludes (which is not the case I know but somehow that's how I think of it)

tbf that impression is not far off from reality (7 songs, one of which has a massively long prelude, and 3 interludes)

haha @ the opening description (Cure for those who wouldn't normally like the Cure)), because that fits me pretty well with this album.

I'd really stopped playing Cure albums for a long time, except the later poppy stuff for my kids. Then I dug out Play for Today and remembered how much I love this album. Indeed, I probably underestimated it as a teenager due to its stark simplicity.

this album both invents and slays the xx

the description to start this thread IS dead on, as this was the first cure album i ever liked, and i had always fancied myself immune to robert's charm.

RONG

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