Review Summary: A measure of life
The Cure
Seventeen Seconds
Seventeen Seconds does not bare much resemblance to “Three Imaginary Boys” or “Boys Don’t Cry”, the American version of “Three Imaginary Boys”. Unlike “Three Imaginary Boys”, Robert Smith has a 100% say in the sound of The Cure’s albums. The tracklist and artwork for “Three Imaginary Boys” was picked out by Fiction Records without any input from The Cure. Seventeen Seconds was the first Cure album in which Robert Smith would have all of the creative freedom he wanted to create an album. This is also the first Cure album with Simon Gallup on bass and the only one with Matthieu Hartley on keyboard. Matthieu left after this album due to creative differences between him and Robert Smith. The album itself was recorded and mixed in seven days on a budget around 2000 to 3500 euros. In order to save money, the band would sleep in the studio and work 17 hour a day recording this album. Fiction Records was not satisfied with the final product because they wanted another poppy punk album from The Cure. However, they released the album with “A Forest” being the lead single off the album.
The album itself is a departure from the more poppy nature of “Three Imaginary Boys”. It is a departure also from the song structure of “Three Imaginary Boys”. All of the songs on this album are written in a poetic-like format. There are no choruses present on this album. This would become a rarity during the rest of Gothic trilogy (Faith, Pornography). The programming of drums is present on this album and found on almost every song. This is most evident in “A Forest” and “At Night”. This album also differs from “Three Imaginary Boys” in which there are instrumentals on this album. These instrumentals present a melancholic like mood, at times haunting almost. The album opener “A Reflection” is a good example of this even though it clocks in at a bare 2 minutes.
However, the post-punk roots of The Cure can still be seen in this album. This can be clearly heard in the songs “Play For Today” and “M”. “Play For Today” being the most upbeat song on this album. However, this is the first Cure album in which the band would experiment with darker sounds emerging from the Gothic genre of music. Every song on this album except for “Play for Today” and “A Forest” are downbeat. The presences of downbeat songs are more evident in “Faith” and “Pornography.
The album conveys a message of longing to replace a lost love or a feeling in life. The message of this album is not as nihilistic as “Faith” and “Pornography”. However, “Seventeen Seconds”, the title track and last song of the album does convey a more nihilistic message compared to the rest of the album.
Time slips away
And the light begins to fade
And everything is quiet now
Feeling is gone
And the picture disappears
And everything is cold now
The dream had to end
The wish never came true
And the girl
Starts to sing
Seventeen seconds
A measure of life
The overall message of the album is revealed to be about the pointless wasting of time hence the title “Seventeen Seconds”. (“Faith” and “Pornography” both have title tracks and these tracks are the final tracks on both albums.)
Any fan of The Cure or listeners of Gothic Rock or dark and depressing music should listen to this album. You will not be disappointed in the first true album released by The Cure.
5/5
