Seventeen Seconds
Encyclopedia
Seventeen Seconds is the second studio album
by The Cure
, released in April 1980 by Fiction Records
. It is the only Cure album to feature keyboardist Matthieu Hartley
, and was featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
. The album reached number 20 on the British album charts.
does not recall any demo tracks, with the band generally playing the track in the studio before laying down a backing track to which overdubs were added.
Bassist Simon Gallup
and keyboardist Matthieu Hartley
were added to the band's lineup. Gallup replaced Michael Dempsey
, which relieved Smith as he felt Dempsey's basslines were too ornate and that they weren't gelling socially. Hartley's synth work added a new dimension to the band's newly ethereal sound, although Smith and he clashed over complexity (Hartley enjoyed complex chords; Smith wanted single notes). Hartley made a departure from the group after Seventeen Seconds.
This record was repackaged in the US in 1981 (on the A&M label) with Faith as Happily Ever After
— available as a double album or a single CD. Neither album was available individually in the US until 1986.
In 2000, Q
magazine placed Seventeen Seconds at number 65 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.
, as it has grown to be a fan favorite. Common Seventeen Seconds based encores are "M", "Play For Today", and "A Forest
". "At Night" is sometimes also included; the other six songs have not been played recently; however "In Your House" appears on the 1993 Paris
album, along with "Play for Today" and "At Night", and it was also performed during a charity gig in 2004.http://www.chainofflowers.com/barfly030504.html The Cure did, however, perform the song "Seventeen Seconds" as an opener to a festival in Europe in 2003; "Secrets" has not been played since 1985, and "Three" has not seen a performance since the original Seventeen Seconds tour in 1980, but since 1981 the band sometimes closes concerts with "Forever," a lengthy, mostly improvised piece based on the music of "Three". In 2005 The Cure rerecorded "Seventeen Seconds" along with "Faith" and "Pornography" for the album 4play.
In 2011 The Cure performed the album in its entirety over two dates for the Vivid Live festival at the Sydney Opera House
, Sydney, Australia. The performances billed as The Cure: 'Reflections'
were recorded for potential DVD release.
. Disc 2 contains versions, either in demo or live form, of all 10 songs on the first disc.
There also exists a one-CD reissue. It was released on 5 September 2005 in the UK and 4 April 2006 in the US. The CD features the original album, but does not contain the bonus disc. It is also released in the standard jewel case, and not a digipak. In some countries, the "Deluxe Edition" has become a collector's item due to the phasing out of production, being replaced by the more economic one-CD version.
Side one
Side two
The U.S. Cassette (Elektra 9 60784-4), features "A Forest" on Side A and "Play for Today" on Side B. Also, the artwork is different, with some tree branches at left and a reddish blob at the bottom.
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
by The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
, released in April 1980 by Fiction Records
Fiction Records
Fiction Records is a UK label founded by Chris Parry in 1978 that is best known for being the home of The Cure for over 20 years. Formerly independent, the label is now owned by Polydor, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group.-History:...
. It is the only Cure album to feature keyboardist Matthieu Hartley
Matthieu Hartley
Matthieu Hartley is an English musician born in Smallfield, England. He is best known as the original keyboardist for The Cure, but before that he and Simon Gallup were involved in two other bands called Lockjaw and The Magazine Spies....
, and was featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die is a musical reference book edited by Robert Dimery, first published in 2005. The most recent edition consists of a list of albums released between 1955 and 2010, part of a series from Quintessence Editions Ltd...
. The album reached number 20 on the British album charts.
Overview
The record, mostly a collection of downbeat tracks, features ambient echoing vocals and minimally-treated instruments, with the album's sonic direction driven by its drum sound. Due to budgetary restraints, the record was recorded and mixed in seven days on a budget of between £2000 and £3000, which resulted in the band working 16 or 17 hours a day to complete the album. Smith stated that as a result, the track "The Final Sound" was actually planned to be much longer, but was cut down to 53 seconds because the tape ran out while recording, and they couldn't record it again. Inspiration was also very high, as Smith wrote the lyrics and music for most of the record on just two occasions. Most of the music was composed by Smith in his parents' home, on a Hammond organ with a built in tape recorder. Interviewed in 2004, producer Mike HedgesMike Hedges
-Career:Mike Hedges started as a tape-op at Morgan Studios in London in the late 1970s. Having graduated to engineer, he went freelance in 1981 and became an engineer/producer....
does not recall any demo tracks, with the band generally playing the track in the studio before laying down a backing track to which overdubs were added.
Bassist Simon Gallup
Simon Gallup
Simon Jonathon Gallup is an English musician and bassist of the post-punk band The Cure.-Early years:...
and keyboardist Matthieu Hartley
Matthieu Hartley
Matthieu Hartley is an English musician born in Smallfield, England. He is best known as the original keyboardist for The Cure, but before that he and Simon Gallup were involved in two other bands called Lockjaw and The Magazine Spies....
were added to the band's lineup. Gallup replaced Michael Dempsey
Michael Dempsey
Michael Dempsey is a bassist from England, who has performed as a member of several post-punk and New Wave bands including The Cure and Associates.-Early years:...
, which relieved Smith as he felt Dempsey's basslines were too ornate and that they weren't gelling socially. Hartley's synth work added a new dimension to the band's newly ethereal sound, although Smith and he clashed over complexity (Hartley enjoyed complex chords; Smith wanted single notes). Hartley made a departure from the group after Seventeen Seconds.
This record was repackaged in the US in 1981 (on the A&M label) with Faith as Happily Ever After
Happily Ever After (The Cure album)
Happily Ever After is a compilation double-LP comprising The Cure albums Seventeen Seconds and Faith; it was a U.S.-only issue by A&M Records...
— available as a double album or a single CD. Neither album was available individually in the US until 1986.
Reviews
The album's songs are described by critics as bearing vague, often unsettling lyrics and "dark", spare minimalistic melodies. Some reviewers felt that Seventeen Seconds represented a far more mature Cure, who had come very far musically in less than one year. The album was lauded by some critics, and panned as a "collection of soundtracks" by others. One reviewer described the album as a "sad Cure, sitting in cold rooms, watching clocks". Despite the mixed reception, the band was featured in several lengthy articles with numerous photos of a slender Smith, without makeup, whom one critic called "alarmingly handsome", and the album was relatively successful when released, reaching number 20 in the UK. There was controversy concerning the band's "anti-image", established by the cover of Three Imaginary Boys, which this album contributed to by blurring the photos of the band's members and the cover art. This is the first Cure album Smith was able to choose the art for.In 2000, Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
magazine placed Seventeen Seconds at number 65 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.
Live performances
During concerts, songs from Seventeen Seconds are typically grouped together and only played during the encoreEncore (concert)
An encore is an additional performance added to the end of a concert, from the French "encore", which means "again", "some more"; multiple encores are not uncommon. Encores originated spontaneously, when audiences would continue to applaud and demand additional performance from the artist after the...
, as it has grown to be a fan favorite. Common Seventeen Seconds based encores are "M", "Play For Today", and "A Forest
A Forest
"A Forest" is a single by the English rock band The Cure, released on March 28, 1980 as the only single from their second album Seventeen Seconds. It was their first chart single in the UK, reaching #31; the song was also a hit in the Netherlands, reaching #26. It was also their first single to be...
". "At Night" is sometimes also included; the other six songs have not been played recently; however "In Your House" appears on the 1993 Paris
Paris (The Cure album)
Paris is a live album recorded by The Cure at Le Zénith de Paris, in October 1992 during their Wish tour, but released in 1993.Paris was released at the same time as Show, which was recorded in the United States. The album features more cult classics like "The Figurehead" and "One Hundred Years"...
album, along with "Play for Today" and "At Night", and it was also performed during a charity gig in 2004.http://www.chainofflowers.com/barfly030504.html The Cure did, however, perform the song "Seventeen Seconds" as an opener to a festival in Europe in 2003; "Secrets" has not been played since 1985, and "Three" has not seen a performance since the original Seventeen Seconds tour in 1980, but since 1981 the band sometimes closes concerts with "Forever," a lengthy, mostly improvised piece based on the music of "Three". In 2005 The Cure rerecorded "Seventeen Seconds" along with "Faith" and "Pornography" for the album 4play.
In 2011 The Cure performed the album in its entirety over two dates for the Vivid Live festival at the Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
, Sydney, Australia. The performances billed as The Cure: 'Reflections'
The Cure: 'Reflections'
The Cure: "Reflections" refers to a set of shows in which The Cure played their first three albums Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds and Faith in full at the VividLive festival at the Sydney Opera House on 31 May and 1 June 2011...
were recorded for potential DVD release.
2005 re-release
Seventeen Seconds was reissued in the UK 25 April 2005 (26 April in the U.S.) as part of Universal's Deluxe Edition series. The new edition featured a remastered version of the album on the first disc, while the second contained demo and live tracks. The master tapes for the album were reported to have been ruined by a washing machine, so this remaster was sourced from vinyl, unlike the rest. On the rarities disc, four of these rarities are recorded by the one-off Cult Hero, a group that featured Smith's postman Frank Bell as lead singer and which performed 70's style rock along the lines of Easy CureEasy Cure
Easy Cure were a British punk rock and post-punk band from Crawley, Sussex formed during the late '70s by former members of Malice. Easy Cure went on to fame when, after several lineup changes, they became The Cure.-History:...
. Disc 2 contains versions, either in demo or live form, of all 10 songs on the first disc.
There also exists a one-CD reissue. It was released on 5 September 2005 in the UK and 4 April 2006 in the US. The CD features the original album, but does not contain the bonus disc. It is also released in the standard jewel case, and not a digipak. In some countries, the "Deluxe Edition" has become a collector's item due to the phasing out of production, being replaced by the more economic one-CD version.
Track listing
All songs written by The Cure (Smith/Gallup/Hartley/Tolhurst).Side one
- "A Reflection"(Instrumental) – 2:09
- "Play for Today" – 3:39
- "Secrets" – 3:20
- "In Your House" – 4:07
- "Three"(Mostly instrumental) – 2:36
Side two
- "The Final Sound"(Instrumental) – 0:53
- "A ForestA Forest"A Forest" is a single by the English rock band The Cure, released on March 28, 1980 as the only single from their second album Seventeen Seconds. It was their first chart single in the UK, reaching #31; the song was also a hit in the Netherlands, reaching #26. It was also their first single to be...
" – 5:55 - "M" – 3:03
- "At Night" – 5:54
- "Seventeen Seconds" – 4:02
The U.S. Cassette (Elektra 9 60784-4), features "A Forest" on Side A and "Play for Today" on Side B. Also, the artwork is different, with some tree branches at left and a reddish blob at the bottom.
Disc two
- "I'm a Cult HeroI'm a Cult Hero"I'm a Cult Hero" is a single released by an extended lineup of The Cure under the name Cult Hero.-History:The single was conceived by Robert Smith and Simon Gallup as a way to test their musical compatibility...
" (vinyl single by Cult Hero) – 2:59 - "I Dig You" (vinyl single by Cult Hero) – 3:40
- "Another Journey by Train" (instrumental home demo) – 3:12
- "Secrets" (instrumental home demo) – 3:40
- "Seventeen Seconds" (live in Amsterdam 1/80) – 3:59
- "In Your House" (live in Amsterdam 1/80) – 3:32
- "Three" (alt studio mix) – 2:45
- "I Dig You" (Cult Hero live at the Marquee Club London 3/80) – 3:36
- "I'm a Cult Hero" (Cult Hero live at the Marquee Club London 3/80) – 3:21
- "M" (live in Arnhem 5/80) – 2:56
- "The Final Sound" (live in France 6/80) – 0:26
- "A Reflection" (live in France 6/80) – 1:39
- "Play for Today" (live in France 6/80) – 3:46
- "At Night" (live in France 6/80) – 5:37
- "A ForestA Forest"A Forest" is a single by the English rock band The Cure, released on March 28, 1980 as the only single from their second album Seventeen Seconds. It was their first chart single in the UK, reaching #31; the song was also a hit in the Netherlands, reaching #26. It was also their first single to be...
" (live in France 6/80) – 6:28
Band
- Robert SmithRobert Smith (musician)Robert James Smith is an English musician. He is the lead singer, guitar player and principal songwriter of the rock band The Cure, and its only constant member since its founding in 1976...
- guitars, vocals - Matthieu HartleyMatthieu HartleyMatthieu Hartley is an English musician born in Smallfield, England. He is best known as the original keyboardist for The Cure, but before that he and Simon Gallup were involved in two other bands called Lockjaw and The Magazine Spies....
- keyboards - Lol Tolhurst - drums
- Simon GallupSimon GallupSimon Jonathon Gallup is an English musician and bassist of the post-punk band The Cure.-Early years:...
- bass
Production
- Producers: Robert Smith, Mike Hedges
- Co-producers: Chris Parry, Simon Gallup, Laurence Tolhurst and Matthieu Hartley
- Engineers: Mike Hedges, David Kemp
- Assistant engineer: Martyn Webster