“Seventeen Seconds” by The Cure - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1980Album Chart of the Decade: 1980s1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die external-link.png

TJR says

A decisive turn to the moody and a widening of the instrumentation results in a marked improvement on record two. Lost along the way was co-founding bassist Michael Dempsey. Speaking of the departure, Robert Smith said: “I think the final straw came when I played Michael the demos for the next album and he hated them. He wanted us to be XTC part 2 and - if anything - I wanted us to be the Banshees part 2. So he left.” I'm with Smith. Replacing Dempsey was Simon Gallup of the Magazine Spies, with Matthieu Hartley (keyboards) from the same group expanding The Cure to a quartet alongside Robert Smith (guitar, vocals) and Lol Tolhurst (drums, percussion). First fruits from the new line-up arrived early in April, 1980, with the album's lead (and only) single, “A Forest”, which climbed to #31 in the UK Top 40, their first single to chart. The album, released a few weeks later, went Top 20, rewarding Smith's brave new vision.

The Jukebox Rebel
12–Nov–2016

Tracklist
A1 [02:12] 6.5.png The Cure - A Reflection (Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Matthieu Hartley) Moodcore
A2 [03:40] 7.2.png The Cure - Play For Today (Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Matthieu Hartley) New Wave
A3 [03:20] 6.6.png The Cure - Secrets (Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Matthieu Hartley) Post-Punk
A4 [04:07] 5.7.png The Cure - In Your House (Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Matthieu Hartley) Post-Punk
A5 [02:36] 5.7.png The Cure - Three (Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Matthieu Hartley) Post-Punk
B1 [00:52] 3.6.png The Cure - The Final Sound (Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Matthieu Hartley) Contemporary Classical
B2 [05:55] 8.6.png The Cure - A Forest (Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Matthieu Hartley) New Wave
B3 [03:04] 6.6.png The Cure - M (Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Matthieu Hartley) Post-Punk
B4 [05:54] 7.0.png The Cure - At Night (Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Matthieu Hartley) Post-Punk
B5 [04:00] 6.8.png The Cure - Seventeen Seconds (Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Matthieu Hartley) Post-Punk

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