The Cure: 17 Seconds vs. Faith, Closes June 17

Two excellent albums, but I pick "Faith" because of "Other Voices" and "The Funeral Party". Both among their best songs.

faith. it's one of my all time faves simply put

Argh, "A Forest" versus "All Cats Are Grey"...

http://images.wikia.com/uncyclopedia/images/3/3c/YOUR_HEAD_A_SPLODE.png

I guess I'll go with Faith for now.

I'm surprised, Geir, that you enjoy 'Faith' that much. It is not particularly melodic, is it? Very much based on dron-ish repetition.

Dunno. The backing tracks are kind of ostinato-based at times, but once they get too repetitive there is some bridge/middle-eight loosening up a bit. "Other Voices" is a great example of this.

Faith.

Seventeen seconds - In your house has that bassline which has been stuck at the fringes of my memory for years, and you have to love the spaceship door opening sound that is all over that record. shwhisssssh.

...say, whatever happened to the reissue program, anyway? It's been about a year since the last batch with no announcement of new titles yet...

It took ages between the first and second batch too.

Never cared much for 17 Seconds besides "A Forest" and "In Your House." Faith has a couple weak tracks but it's overall a much stronger and more cohesive album. And I prefer the murk of "All Cats Are Grey" and "The Drowning Man" to the weirdly clean-lined yet distant production on 17 Seconds.

There are a bunch of fantastic songs on Seventeen Seconds but it doesn't work as a cohesive album. Conversely, there are a bunch of fantastic songs on Faith AND it works as a cohesive album.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. I really love most of the songs on 17S, but when I think of that album, I always think of a few songs with some instrumental breaks here and there, but not a real ALBUM.

I think I thought the choice was easy, that Faith wins, but upon playing these back to back, I'm really not sure. In any case, I really wish modern music sounded like that, production-wise.

i think 17s works perfectly as an album. it builds up nicely towards a forest, especially with the instrumentals before. probably the most appropriate album to listen to at night in a dark cellar in winter. it's more intense than faith. the atmosphere is gloomier. the contrast between a forest and m is phantatstic. from the english fog to the north african sun. or something like that.

"M" is great.

i'm down with the last two posts.

voted Seventeen Seconds, my fav. Cure album

"M", "At Night", "In Your House", "A Forest" and "Play For Today" are all brilliant but they don't really sound like they should be on the same album, mostly because there's no flow between the songs. The sequencing on Faith is utter genius in terms of pacing, mood-shifting and pattern (both halves follow the same general "opener" - "aggressive" - "pensive" - "reflective" pattern).

the flow is in the head of the listener and it is in mine, dan. maybe it is exactly that what i love so much about 17 seconds. the songs are entities in themselves. they are individuals. all very different from another. but so much more sparkling than the songs on faith. and their succession has engraved itself into my brain. i know exactly what you mean about the more perfect flow of faith but i don't give a damn. i heard 17 seconds much before faith. maybe my preference also has to do with familiarity.

I get that; it does seem that most of the people I know who vastly prefer Seventeen Seconds to Faith heard it first. One problem I have with establishing "flow" with that album is that it came in two versions, where "Play For Today" and "A Forest" swap positions depending on which version you have. I think the one with "Play For Today" as the second song on side 1 is supposed to be the "official" version but I heard the one with "A Forest" in that position first, and, as a result, the ordering of that album just doesn't feel right to me.

on my version play for today is the second song and a forest is the one before m, at night and seventeen seconds. the sequencing sounds on the money to me. i remember there was some discussion on the song order on my blog entry on 17s.

rereading the last bit i commented on that blog post i cannot refrain from writing down what i thought for a second what seventeen seconds could mean when i discovered this thread. "seventeen seconds / a measure of life" could refer to the period in between penetration and orgasm. obviously from the pov of the guy who is having sex with a woman. and who is coming way too early. this interpretation doesn't seem to go too well with the rest of the lyrics. the other idea involving the statistic that every 17 seconds someone kills himself (which i saw mentioned on songmeanings) would probably fit better. but it'd be too blatantly obvious for my liking.

I think the one with "Play For Today" as the second song on side 1 is supposed to be the "official" version but I heard the one with "A Forest" in that position first, and, as a result, the ordering of that album just doesn't feel right to me.

Wow, really? I've never heard of such a version. I think this is a good explanation on why you may have soured on the album. The first time I came across this stuff was the double LP "Happily Ever After" which compiled both albums, but even there I recall Play For Today being the second song.

I'm touched that someone is sticking up for 17 Seconds.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I too prefer the version of 17 Seconds that has "A Forest" as the second song. I think it was the cassette version, which was probably modified for side length reasons. That's also the one I heard first.

Mine was definitely a cassette version.

I too prefer the version of 17 Seconds that has "A Forest" as the second song.
i do not understand the use of the word "too" in that sentence.

Why? I thought Dan said he preferred that version upthread.

he heard it first. that's all. but that is no argument whatsoever for that version having a better flow. i find a forest is much better placed at position 7 after the instrumentals. the tension mounts slowly before it and is resolved after with m. check also the ilm thread with my review <a href="In praise of ... Seventeen Seconds by The Cure;>here</a>.

sorry, here is the link to that thread.

I didn't explicitly say it but I do prefer that cassette version.

but why?

The buildup and unwinding of "A Forest" provide a perfect bridge between "A Reflection" and "Secrets". Meanwhile, the abrupt fade of "The Final Sound" launches that first kick-snare hit of "Play For Today" into high gear and that energy is carried straight through into the opening guitar riff of "M".

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I'm surprised at these results, to say the least.

whoa

ILM is crazee!

Justice has been served.

That's right bitches, Seventeen Seconds wins.

And the thing is, I sense this has occurred because folks might have felt the urge to rebel against the canonical, obvious favourite, just as I did. With some polls I have felt this urge, but until now I've never seen it bear any fruit. If I'm off base here, let me know. Or merely remain silent voters, as you will. It's all fine with me. I'm proud of ILM right now.

I'm not so disturbed that Seventeen Seconds won (I love it!) as much as the bizarre ire directed towards Faith that I'm getting from this thread

i dont believe 17S won. Faith is relentlessly miserable. how could it not win?

This doesn't surprise me as much as it makes me sigh.

I voted for Faith and I'm not ashamed!

whoah. despite having missed this poll, it's gratifying to see the best man won. 17 seconds is not only my favourite cure album, it's probably my favourite album, end of.