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Rating: The Cure's third studio album is probably one of the most important in their intense career. Already with "Three Imaginary Boys," they had helped launch the dark movement that was introduced by the timeless Joy Division (whose singer Ian Curtis committed suicide at that time, on May 18, 1980) and which was later accompanied by fundamentally essential bands such as Bauhaus and Sisters Of Mercy.
"Seventeen Seconds" was released in April 1980, introducing keyboards for the first time into the band’s sound. Splendidly accompanied by the new bassist Simon Gallup, Robert Smith embarks this time on a true inner search, trying to analyze and reproduce all aspects of his pain, focusing primarily on the melodies and putting aside the typically punk spirit that had accompanied the previous works. All the tracks on the album are wonderful, starting from the instrumental "A Reflection" and moving to songs like "Play For Today" and "Secrets," which highlight not only the now-achieved maturation of the band but also Smith’s profound nihilism, which he tries in every way to emphasize with his instruments. "Three" and "The Final Sound" are two more instrumentals that precede what, in my opinion, is the best song the Cure have written. No, maybe not; but it is probably the one that best expresses their conception of music and makes their charm tangible. I'm talking about "A Forest": it’s the bass, accompanied by Smith's voice, that dominates, with a hypnotic and enveloping gait, while the atmosphere the notes manage to evoke, dark and decaying, combined with the fascinating lyrics ("Suddenly I stop but I know it's too late, I'm lost in a forest all alone") truly manage to evoke in the listener the sensation of finding oneself in the dark in a forest, alone and disoriented.
"Seventeen Seconds" is a seductive and enchanting album, clearly showing the group's influences (Joy Division and Siouxsie above all) but even more so showing the maturity of a band that had already, even back then, managed to establish itself in the world of dark music. Fundamental.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Play for Today (03:41)
It's not a case of doing what's right
It's just the way I feel that matters
Tell me I'm wrong
I don't really care
It's not a case of share and share alike
I take what I require
I don't understand...
You say it's not fair
You expect me to act
Like a lover
Consider my moves
And deserve the reward
To hold you in my arms
And wait...
For something to happen
It's not a case of telling the truth
Some lines just fit the situation
You call me a liar
You would anyway
It's not a case of aiming to please
You know you're always crying
It's just your part
In the play for today
03 Secrets (03:20)
Secrets
Share with another girl
Talking all night in a room
All night
Everything slowing down
I wish I was yours...
Strangers
Nobody knows we love
I catch your eyes in the dark
One look relives the memory
Remember me
The way I used to be
04 In Your House (04:07)
I play at night in your house
I live another life
Pretending to swim
In your house
I change the time in your house
The hours I take
Go so slow...
I hear no sound in your house
Silence
In the empty rooms
I drown at night in your house
Pretending to swim
Pretending to swim
07 A Forest (05:55)
Come closer and see
See into the trees
Find the girl
While you can
Come closer and see
See into the dark
Just follow your eyes
Just follow your eyes
I hear her voice
Calling my name
The sound is deep
In the dark
I hear her voice
And start to run
Into the trees
Into the trees
Into the trees
Suddenly I stop
But I know it's too late
I'm lost in a forest
All alone
The girl was never there
It's always the same
I'm running towards nothing
Again and again and again
10 Seventeen Seconds (03:59)
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
Seventeen seconds
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Other reviews
By Mariaelena
‘Seventeen Seconds’ is the most fertile masterpiece of morbid and paranoid sanguine vision of a perverse yet true and transcendental love.
Robert shaper of the very and absolute Self, this is the story of the true love of ‘Seventeen Seconds’ that will soon continue with Faith.
By Rocky Marciano
The Cure with their third album dove into dark atmospheres for the first time crafting their first masterpiece.
The dreamlike and chilling sound of the synthesizers that open 'A Forest' mixes with hypnotic guitar phrases, a cold drum, and a sinister, shadowy guitar line.
