Seventeen Seconds (studio album) by The Cure

A Forest is one of their best tracks, but other than Play for Today the rest of the album is really boring and there's very little of note. Yet another disappointing Cure album, their discography is pretty much a 50/50 chance of getting a great album or a dud. And this is a dud.

From HoldenM 09/07/2023 01:07

If Three Imaginary Boys shows The Cure as a band capable of writing decent post punk, Seventeen Seconds shows them galvanizing their strengths, leaning into moody, gothic atmosphere, darker songwriting, and consistent quality across the board. If it's not a masterpiece, it's their first exceptional record.

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This is the album where the group found direction and knew what sort of music and band they were going to become. This leads to a bit of a scatted album that can be bare in places but it is still packed full of amazing moments and potential that drag the quality up. There are 2 or 3 filler cuts that take up about 6 or 7 minutes of the run time but all of the rest is pure Cure classics. The highlights for me being M, A Forest and Play For Today. However, the song that steals the show for me every time is At Night with its dark atmosphere and brilliant lyrics that make for a tense listen. This is the first time we get a full record of Robert Smith's stunning writing as well with Three Imaginary Boys lyrics being a bit all over the place and it elevates this album so much. Overall, this is the first time the group demonstrate everything they have to offer with the atmosphere, song writing, vocal performance, instrumentation and cohesiveness of the songs all coming together on here and laying out the structure for their future releases making it a pivotal moment in their careers as well as an elite level record.

From Brandon8 12/23/2022 03:23

The band took shape on this album and is the 1st of a trilogy including Faith and Pornography. Play for Today and A Forest are among their best work and the album is cohesive throughout. At Night is a great deep cut.

This album shows The Cure creating their own style and evolving from good but formulaic new wave on Three Imaginary Boys to darker sounding album like this one.
There are to standout tracks for me: Play For Today and A Forest

sparse, vacant, devoid new wavey

Album Rating: 84.67
(762/9)

The Cure’s ‘Low’ moment.

Side A

1. "A Reflection" - 76
2. "Play for Today" - 95
3. "Secrets" - 79
4. "In Your House" - 81
5. "Three" - 72

Side B

6. "The Final Sound" - N/A
7. "A Forest" - 98
8. "M" - 89
9. "At Night" - 84
10. "Seventeen Seconds" - 88

Very atmospheric - one of their best for me. Love A Forest, Play for Today, Secrets and the title track.

This album shows the cards of what later would make albums like "Pornography" and "Desintegration" so great.