Gothtober- Looking Back in Anger at the Cure's "Seventeen Seconds"

Despite the fact Robert Smith swears they are not "goth" going back and reviewing the Cure's early work seems fitting.  The first track is more of an instrumental intro, with "Play for Today", which is, of course, a class. A great deal of this is owed to the fact that Robert Smith finds his voice on this album. The punk influence is tempered with moodiness. The instrumental "Secrets' feels like an idea he was not ready to put vocals to. "In Your House" has a solid riff that creeps it along. It also shows how the melodic nature of Smith's playing began to mature. An excellent vocal performance that serves the song while making the most of the sullen mood that would become their trademark. 

"Three' recaptures the sitting in on their band practice feel the first album had. I like that it is dark, but once again feels like something he was not ready to commit vocals to, as the vocals that do appear are mixed in the background like he was not confident in them. In hindsight, this might be due to the fact the songs he does write for songs like "In Your House" are his fully realized vision he painstakingly created, knowing he wanted to do more than just be a punk band. "the Final Sound" is just an interlude to set the stage for what might be one of the band's most iconic songs " A Forest". Even if you have not listened to this album, but have been to a "goth nite" then you have likely heard this song. It's driving, but dark with his vocals possessed by a stark desperation.  At almost six-minute it takes you on a droning trip into dark places. 

"M" is one of my favorite Cure songs, I think it's one of Smith's best lyrical moments at this point in their career. 'At Night" is an underrated goth song as it has some of the most defining elements of death rock, a burly bass line that makes the sinister groove for the haunted atmosphere to flow over. 'Seventeen Second" features a sparse electronic sounding drum beat to use minimalism to build tension over.  His vocal lines are more droning than hooky here. I will round this up to a 10 as it is the album that helped define who they were as a band.

7

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