Seventeen Seconds

Description

This second album marks a turning point in the career of The Cure, the first part of a trilogy that will take them from gray ("Faith") to absolute black ("Pornography"). Robert Smith, assisted by sound engineer Mike Hedges, is this time in charge. The tempo is slower, the bass of Simon Gallup (who replaced Michael Dempsey) rolling out its hypnotic patterns and the metronomic drums of Lol Tolhurst create a leaden atmosphere over the tracks. This feeling of claustrophobia is barely alleviated by the melancholic escapes of a minimalist keyboard (due to Matthieu Hartley, who joined the band) and the sad beauty of the melodies sung with a distant voice, drowned in echo and covered by dark and gripping music. With "A Forest," now a classic, The Cure scores its first English hit (ranked at 31st position). The album itself experiences unexpected success (No. 20 in England): rigid and cold, subtle and fascinating, it takes several listens to succumb to its charm, not obvious at first glance.