Seventeen Seconds

I've never enjoyed a Cure album, even though I'd like to because Robert Smith is an excellent grumpy goth who hates Morrissey.

This album is longer than 17 seconds! This is the most blatant case of fraudulent advertising since my suit against the film, The Never-Ending Story. The first example of the moody goth-rock that they became renowned for, and they nailed it. The fact they could pivot from this to the Lovecats in 3 years, then go back to this sound as one of the biggest bands in the world is astounding.

I feel the sudden urge to go buy some eyeliner and black clothes.

This was the perfect album to listen to while sad. Really haunting, ahead of its time. A Forest is a great single.

Very average. I know this band is capable of doing more, and this album wasn’t their best

Short and sweet. Not as psychedelic and enveloping as Disintegration, but this is really great too. The jangly, lightly distorted style is something I can always get down with. I'll definitely be returning to a lot on here. Favorite tracks: In Your House, Secret, A Forest, Play for Today. Album art: Honestly perfect. Washed out, can't quite tell what I'm looking at. Fits the music extremely well. 4/5

1980 is a shocking year for the Cure to have released what seems to be the predecessor to many modern post-rock albums.

I don't think I've ever listented to a The Cure album straight through before today. And the first time I did, I was like, that was sort of okay, I liked it a little. And then an hour later I had to put it on again because I couldn't get the sounds out of my head. It's not that they're lyrically poppy and ear-worms or anything like that, but I think I found my next rainy day album. You know the one you want to put on when it's cold and rainy outside and you don't have to do anythingand you don't WANT to be motivated to do anything. That's what this album is.

I have always had a soft spot for The Cure, but without ever listening to a full album the jury was still out on them as a complete package (from my point of view). If this album is a taste of things to come though...I’m in all the way! I absolutely love this offering. So many tracks to get the juices flowing...so to speak. To me it encompasses everything a ‘new wave’ album should be. It’s beautifully hypnotic and electronically brilliant. Man...did I say I love this album? Sounds of eighties alt pop rock ring truer than ever and you can absolutely lose yourself in these emotion filled tracks. They flow so seamlessly together, it’s like they were always meant to be. You’re truely missing out if you never at least listen to this album once in your lifetime. 5 Stars!!

This would be 5 stars just for “A Forest” and “At Night” but the rest of it is great too

Spooky/atmospheric/gothic/moody

Lonely, desolate, gloomy, depressing and dark. Like watching the windshields wipe away the rain during a long car ride. A few good songs, but mostly an experience, like a soundtrack to a monochrome movie

Great blend of gothic and electronic melancholy. The minimalist structure combined with the reverb turned up to 11 creates an intense, melodic atmosphere in the recording. It accompanies Robert Smith’s voice brilliantly. This album really shows the start of The Cure’s rise to legendary status.

I wouldn't listen to it again. Not offensive or noisy, but just kind of boring

Love The Cure, but this one is too broody for me. Didn’t have a single song I could say I actually liked, unfortunately.

Vintage Cure is always great.

I’m about to type some words I never thought I would: I really liked this record by The Cure. It’s a sparse, minimal, lo-fi record that isn’t weighed to down by ornate and dreary production or by being too mawkish. Some of the songs almost seemed [gasp] fun? This is a really great record. I’m honestly shocked I liked a Cure record this much…historically, that has not been my experience with Robert Smith & company. Who knows, if they had stuck with this sound, I might be a huge Cure fan - It feels more like a record by The Clean or The Chills than what we know The Cure to be. Fuck me, what a surprise.

I have tried to like the cure but outside of their hits I just can't get with it. There were bits of the album I appreciated but overall not for me. Maybe I am too stressed at the min lol

One of the Cures best albums and a Post-Punk classic, one of the albums that defined the early 80s Post-Punk sound. Seventeen seconds, is the Cure’s second album and the album where they found their sound following their debut “Three Imaginary Boys” Highlights: Play For Today, A Forest, M Overall a extremely consistent album with a lack of weak points in the track list, while still containing some of the greatest peaks of the early 80s, a lack of variety in the sound of the tracklist keeps it from reaching The Cure’s peak albums 9/10.

This album has an atmosphere unlike any album i’ve heard before, incredibly ethereal in a sinister, dark kind of way, it’s almost as if it’s an entirely ambient/instrumental album but with the occasional (more than occasional but does feel this way a bit) vocal interruption from Robert Smith who’s voice works so well to fit this sound and is mixed in such a way that feels like it is being drowned out a bit by the instrumentation which really adds to the atmosphere i’m talking about. The album cover as well feels perfect for that lost, distorted, dreamlike feeling. There are no skips on this album as it is should definitely be experienced as a complete run, every track belongs and each one adds to that atmosphere in a different way (even the more pop focussed “a forest” still fits with the narrative), the first song is one of the best introductions to an album i’ve ever heard, it instantly creates that tense mood with the repeated piano motif and jangly guitar which is only struck like a few times but really adds to the overall sound along with the wailing voices in the background then followed by a weirdly upbeat song in comparison but still with that kind of depressing sound with the guitar and bass. It then kind of drifts back into a more ambient sound fir the next songs. The second side also starts with an instrumental, this time a bit more atonal and confusing leading into an upbeat tone once again before then following a similar path to the first side. Honestly this album is kind of a masterpiece and has such great instrumentals with how the bass and guitars are used and changed from jangly to a clear distorted sound, there’s a lot of variety throughout but there still remains the overall sound and with Smith’s vocals it is made even better, I didn’t even mention the lyrics which also perfectly fit with the theme. Favourites: all. Overall, wasn’t expecting to give this but 10/10.

Gloomy as fuck. So much atmosphere. A Forest is a goddamned masterpiece.

Had to laugh when this came up because I swear I don't listen to the Cure often but literally yesterday I found myself deciding "A Forest" is my favorite Cure song (Spotify DJ mode had tossed it into the mix). This album provides everything I like about them - minimalist sounds, unusual riffs, paranoid vocals. It has a "small" or almost intimate sound they abandoned later, to my regret. Have you ever noticed when you're in a snowstorm in the woods and the ambient sounds are smaller or more "closed" than the same woods in fair weather? That's like the difference in production here v most albums, even 80s goth albums. You haven't heard another record like this, and yet it's an epitome of something, somehow, and I can't put my finger on it exactly but you know what I mean. Also, at some point in this review I have to make my joke that only Fred Armisen would appreciate - that the main difference between The Cure and New Order is whether every song has too much chorus effect on the guitar (Cure) or the bass (New Order). The Cure have done yeoman's work erasing Killing An Arab from the streaming platforms - fucking 'fraidy cats - but they can't erase how important it was as a disaffected teenager in the 1980s to read Camus while listening to it, preferably doing so as conspicuously and as dangerously or at least as mysteriously as possible. I will embrace the adolescent pretentiousness that I never entirely gave up and argue that Seventeen Seconds is more of a Kafka album. The riffs are unsettlingly chromatic and repetitive enough and the sounds and moods across songs are similar enough that the whole thing has a quality of a circular fever dream of a lost soul whose interactions with other people only increase the sense of loneliness and alienation. A bad trip that never ends, like Escher's stairs. The forest they are singing about is the wintry wood K is walking through as he approaches The Castle. I love this shit! Gotta go...where's my copy of The Plague?

Devoid of color yet still expressive, this album is a satisfying listen from rock's moodier, darker side.

Disappointed in this one. I like a lot of Cure songs but other than A Forest there's not enough going on here. Almost too moody and atmospheric even.

Uninspiring slow moving and repetitive. The cure albums i like have a melancholic blend with melody and great musicianship. This was too atmospheric and open, stripped back for my taste. Unfortunately I rank it low although I love the cure and Robert Smith.

Wow… This one captures the essense of early 80s post-punk/Indierock. Epic! Once I discovered this album some time back in 82-83 it was on a regular spin for the next 8-10 years during my high school years and some years after. Even today I listen to it once in a while… Up there with the top 3-5 best albums by the Cure

Such a non descript album cover but quinessewntially everything innocent and charming about the cure before they got massive.

Loved the “gloomscapes” (Wikipedia comes through again). The Forest is still always so good! Def the background music to dark winter dinner, book reading, and tea sipping. I listened to this three times in a row so I’m going to have to give it five stars.

Loved rediscovering this classic, as The Cure started their rise to power. Filled with brooding melodies over sparse warm electronic drums, menacing guitar leads and tasteful bass lines. Highly recommended and has aged very well indeed. Top tracks: Play for a day, At night, A Forest

This album is dark, dreary, yet has a quality to it that makes it sound very much alive. The beats are driving and prominent, and the slight echo gives a sense of space and atmosphere. The Cure are incredibly influential and it is apparent on their second album just how important they are

Very cohesive new wave/post-punk album with great atmosphere, showing the beginnings of gothic rock. 9/10

"Play for Today" is an instant post pop punk classic for me. "In Your House" and "A Forest" are good too. Title track is fantastic. A lot of chorus on the guitars. Great 8th note bass lines throughout, makes you wanna dance. Constant melody on the guitar underscored by the vocal melodies. I'm very happy I found this album.

Eerie, melodic, transcendent. I love this album in so many ways.

The most goth I’ve ever heard

I know this is going to be a mix of goth and new wave, and I'm kinda off new wave but like a bit of goth. I know I've heard "A Forest" before but can't remember anything about it beyond thinking "yep, sounds like the cure" so here goes... Ok this is pretty fuckin cool. I guess this is early goth at its best? I know it pre-dates anything else I've heard in the genre. Best comparison I can think of is the first Ministry album, but that sounds terrible by comparison. I can hear how the idea of "goth" hasn't separated from punk/new wave just yet (particularly in the singing and drums) but the guitars have that gloomy chorus/reverb/flanger quality to them that new wave never really does, and it's all... mopey, even when there's a kinda "dancey" new wave beat going on. Apart from that and a bit of a pop punk tinge to the singing there's really nothing upbeat about it. It's maybe a bit cheesy in 2021, but I can hear where tons of bands (particularly 80s rock/punk) got their chord progressions and clean guitar tones from. There's not as much singing as I expected, lots of extended instrumental sections or songs where there are only like 2 lines of lyrics, and unless he really sings a chorus it's hard to hear the words, not quite a mumble but more of a whine, and whoever produced it didn't isolate the vocal frequencies very well. This is kinda strange as I always figured Smith was a "frontman's frontman" and would've wanted to be more prominent, although maybe that came later. Honestly, this has inspired me to pick up my guitar and start writing goth melodies haha. This is a solid 4, maybe even a 5.

you naughty little boy

i really love the guitar tone and the bass across this whole album. maybe it's just from the 2006 remaster that i pulled up, but they sound soooo damn good. listened to this one twice, and i don't know if i love it on the whole as i think there are some misses, but it's short enough that it's a really enjoyable album experience. "play for today" and "a forest" are my faves. this being a 1980 release feels REALLY ahead of its time because i can hear just how much they either inspired or were copied by others. to me the energy feels very "lazy weekend afternoon" if that makes sense? it's something about the way songs feel like they are stasis that makes me think i could throw this on in the background while laying in bed and have a lovely time.

Another solid entry from them even if I preferred the other two albums. The final few tracks were a strong finish my favorite was At Night

If I was a teenager in the 80’s I would have made The Cure a big part of my personality. Grateful for this list today. 🙏🏼 Standout songs: Secrets, A Forest, M,

The one with A Forest, Play for Today and M! Some of the other songs are a little more down-tempo, so gotta be in the right mood to really embrace those Back in 1980 I played this quite a bit, and still have it in my rotation

A classic. A Forest is one of their best Songs ever. Although this album is great, the made Even better ones later on.

норм, по звучанию очень похоже на кино, понравилась только песня про лес.

Standard The Cure faire, until "A Forest" which is perhaps the best The Cure song.

I'm nearing the end of this challenge, and it makes my little black heart happy to see The Cure on here again. While not my favorite album of their goth years (that goes to Pornography) this album deserves praise. Those droning and moody guitars along with Smith's sad wails makes for a fantasticly dark 80s album.

No esperaba que me gustara la verdad, pero supero mis expectativas, en general muy bien solo que la voz del vocalista a veces me molesta Rating:8,5

4 compared to the last week this shit is fire

The music is pretty calm and laid back, yet dark and creepy at the same time. I was already familar with A Forest (which is my favourite Cure song before getting this, but after listening I've gained new interest for the album and its cuts including Secrets and Play For Today. Have to also appreciate Robert Smith's guitar and vocals on this as it's not flashy and tame, yet intriguing. The drumming and the bass fit the same quota too. The only real complaint I have is with the keyboards, which for the most part feel like background noise to the main action. It should've either been turned up and played more of a prominent role, or abandoned all together. Also the instrumental tracks were pretty boring.

The forest is so good

Super goth and dark, but also reminded me of modern dream-pop-y bands with the chorus tone on the guitar. Yes, I realize the Cure came first, but that's just what came to mind. A Forest is really good.

Call me a goth, love this, especially A Forest

Ah, more Cure to sooth the ailing teen angst. But I'm very appreciative that this is a relatively brief album, and *very* appreciative that we didn't get this album as part of the US double-album release "Happily Ever After" (combining this album with "Faith"). It's well-produced and very much in The Cure vein, which I'm sure scores points with their fans, although it seemed even starker and more spare than the other albums in this collection (amybe that's the appeal). I'm not sure there were any tracks that really stood out aside from their semi-hit "A forest", although it was funny to read that "The final sound" was intended to be much longer, but their incredibly small budget and tight recording schedule meant that the recording ended at 53 seconds and they literally didn't have more tape to record more....

This collection of funeral dirges has an unfinished feel to it.

Edgar Allen Poe ahh music

Да Кино кое что у них утащили, но не все

Boring.. Just boring..

Creepy. Depressing. Flat. Dull. Probably won't ever listen to it again

This is such a fantastic album: lyrics, bass lines, and excellent singing. Its not quite Disintegration but its close enough to get a 5 from me. I am sad that I dont have any more Cure albums left on the list. I will have to look forward to 6 more Costellos. 3 Dylans and probably 2 or more Tom Waits.:(

This album is a masterclass in atmospheric minimalism, functioning like a psychological landscape that strips away all musical clutter to reveal something skeletal and haunting. The production is deliberately thin and refrigerated, creating a sense of isolation that feels both physical and emotional. The cold mansion imagery is a perfect fit for this record. The instrumentation—those tight, metronomic drums and the chorus-heavy, spindly guitar lines—echoes through the tracks like footsteps in an empty, unfurnished room. It captures a specific type of domestic haunting where the protagonist isn't just alone, but is navigating a space where the memory of someone else still lingers in the air. The voices of a loved one leading nowhere is central to the album’s tension. In tracks like "In Your House" and the title track, there is a feeling of time slipping away or being frozen. Robert Smith’s vocals sound distant, as if he’s calling out from the end of a long hallway, chasing a presence that is perpetually out of reach. It’s a study in the empty spaces that remain after a state of mind has fractured. You are right to feel that glimmer of hope at the end. While the album is famously bleak, there is a catharsis through endurance. The music doesn't necessarily become happy, but it becomes more solid. The hope lies in the clarity of the conclusion; the protagonist has stopped searching for ghosts in the forest and has accepted the silence. There is a strange kind of peace in reaching the bottom of that emotion—once the seventeen seconds are over, the panic subsides and leaves a quiet, open space for whatever must come next.

Before Pornography took them into darker, more depressing territory, The Cure made goth look cool on Seventeen Seconds. I love the brooding energy and how creepy this feels. However the energy is still quite high.

wow

Another very enjoyable Cure album. Shorter songs and quite accessible. Not a weak track on the record.

I can not believe this was the first time I’ve heard this album as an album! I am impressed. Not that Robert Smith cares what I think. But wow. This one deserves a 5. It’s fully composed! I have to listen again- but I know it. Ending with 17 seconds was powerful.

good for background music while studying and stuff.

Great album. Every song is good. Early 80’s new wave. Definitional.

My knowledge of The Cure can be best summed up as "The band with the one song". Similar to Blur and Song 2, this often leads people to having a pretty big misunderstanding of the bands style, and yeah that's true here. This wasn't what I expected in a pretty good way! Post-Punk and Goth-Rock as a genre combination is always going to be something I'm pretty interested in, and yeah, this delivers! The more experimental songs like "Three" which I really enjoy, are short enough that they never wear out their welcome. Meanwhile the soundscape is varied enough here that the album never feels like it's repeating itself. All this usually would result in something that feels as if its rushing, indeed it is very compact. In actuality, the pacing on this album is truly top notch. Instrumental sections give songs just enough time to breath, like the building intro to "A forest". This feels like an album that is very aware that it's going to be listened to as an album experience, and so its perfect for something like this list.

perfect album to play whenever I want to be moody and British or haven't brushed my hair in a while

Perfect

Wonderful

Love

Seventeen Seconds is the third album by The Cure I’ve listened to as part of this challenge. I previously scored Pornography and Disintegration very highly, so I went into this expecting more of the same. After a few listens today, this might actually be my favourite Cure album. It’s dark, moody, and haunting, and feels way ahead of its time. As a complete piece of music, it’s brilliant. The album moves between goth and a kind of electronic melancholy. The sound is minimal, built on reverb and space, simple on the surface but with real depth underneath. It creates this intense atmosphere that runs through the whole record, and the lyrics fit that mood perfectly. Robert Smith’s voice is made for this kind of music. Favourite tracks: A Forest has always been one of my favourite Cure songs. On its own it’s epic, but within the album it feels even bigger and more powerful Least favourite tracks: Every song on the album is brilliant Album artwork: Love the cover, it perfectly matches the mood of the album

a great album. i love how concise it is.

I love this album and am so happy it made the list. This album and the 'Faith' album were on repeat for years.

SO GOOD

Melancholyc and deeper sound. Happy+ sad= the cure

Really really good album. I listened to it a couple of times and I found it to be very atmospheric and able to carry an eerie soundscape while also being laid-back. It felt surreal at times and it reminded me of Twin Peaks. First album I listen to by The Cure and I'm intrigued to check out more by them.

lo escuche un domingo lluvioso a las 4 de la tarde, después de dormir con la ori, grata experiencia

I liked this one so much i listened to it twice. And the next day

So good! Very chill.

Dreamy

its difficult to go into early cure divorcing urself from the knowledge of the more layered, baroque direction they would eventually go...pornography is just two years after this, and it sounds less like the ice sculpture songs here than it does an unholy wall of sound. it kind of drives home that for all the cure records ive heard, the unified strength is just how well every player and every sound locks together...and its perhaps easiest to appreciate on this relatively unadorned record that nonetheless proves the fact that the band's central sound and songwriting are so vivid that they can create feeling and image and atmosphere even in their most direct form. records like pornography and disintegration are often so overwhelming in their effect that i struggle to hold them all in my ears...theres something comforting ab how digestible this record is, how it scratches my ears in such an immediate and honest way. all while still being obviously masterful enough to have tracks that clearly have to rank among their best material ever. getting more into this band is a priority for whenever im receptive to listening to albums that arent just my daily one lol

Great album

Ik heb the Cure ooit op Pinkpop gezien. In 2012 denk ik, met Stijn en Joran. Geen idee meer wat zij er van vonden, maar ik was onder de indruk. In mijn onvolwassen leven had ik een paar leuke bandjes gezien, maar boy dit was pas muziek maken. Hoe the Cure een bak geluid over de weide in Landgraaf blies was echt waanzinnig. A Forest was het enige nummer dat ik destijds kende. Nu, bijna 14 jaar later, laat een random generator mij weer naar the Cure luisteren. Ondertussen ken ik heel wat meer van hun muziek, maar blijft A Forest nog altijd een weergaloze post-punk track die wat mij betreft ver boven de rest uittorent. Niet gezegd dat de rest niet van kwaliteit is. Integendeel. Het bijzondere van Seventeen Seconds is de heerlijke sfeer/vibe die ze neerzetten, maar het verzand daar niet in. Na het uitgesponnen A Forest volgt M. Gedeeltelijk hetzelfde geluid, maar veel directer, puntiger. De kickdrum in At Night is een mooie voorbode voor alle new-wave platen die in de jaren na Seventeen Seconds zullen volgen. The Cure is uniek en helemaal mijn straatje (moody goth rock?). Seventeen Seconds vind ik één van hun beste en gebalanceerde platen. En omdat het zo lang is geleden dat er 5 sterren zijn uitgedeeld... 8,5/10 Highlights A Forest M Seventeen Seconds

Not family with much of The Cure beyond the hits. So this was great to hear.

The Cure has been one of my favorite bands for years. Though this album isn’t their best, it still has a fantastic haunting, smoky atmosphere and stands much taller than most post punk albums, so it is still getting a 5.

I love this album, listened to it twice yesterday. I had never heard it before and was more familiar with their later more pop goth stuff which I also like. This album was something I always wanted and didn't know existed.

Excellent

That’s a strange Cure album in a sense it might not be as polished and fancy from the production perspective as their later albums, but at the same time it’s more..coherent and wholesome, even more than Disintegration (which itself is a peak). And it’s certainly a fav of mine, the exemplary Cure’s post-punk sound.

The bass is amazing in every song

This might be 5/5 for me. I vibed with this album HEAVY. Tipicamente no soy fan del 80s sound pero cada instrumento y arreglo musical me estimularon mucho. Sentia que todo el album tenia un vibe “spooky”. In Your House personal fave cause that guitar groove is just peak. Followed by Three que tiene un real Gorillaz vibe, Im sure que The Cure es un influence. Really Great!

The gothic groove is unmatched

Very peak. The sound is soooo good

nunca le había dado una oportunidad a the cure hasta ahora

Fantastic perfection

You can feel imediatly the first drops of rain falling on a cloudy day as soon these guitars starts to play. The 80s The Cure is 5 stars, always.

Aah Cure. Forest ihan 1000/5 biisi. Curen tuotannosta vähän jännempää ja jytämpää mut ihanaa!

Man, this might be the only "post punk" album I've really enjoyed. My goth heart rejoices. 5/5

ME ENCNATOOOOO

the cure ist eine meiner lieblingsbands, wenn nicht sogar meine nr1, ich find auch seventeen seconds gut. im ins gesamten ist es jedoch sehr instrumental, das hört sich ned schlecht an, aber ich fänds mit bisschen mehr Gesang besser. es hat aber trotzdem mehrere hits auf dem album von daher 4.75 sterne.

Jeg har vippa mellom 4 og 5 i over en måned. Livet er for kort til å spikke flis. The Cure er based, hva vil dere ha av meg?

The Cure er kult ass. Herlig minimalistisk og tilbakeholdent med god selvtillit!