The Cure Seventeen Seconds

As people always spoke about the dark ambience of the Cure’s music, I thought I knew what they were talking about. I was wrong. I was always more familiar with later-era Cure and have never heard these three albums, with the exception of their singles. Here is the music of a band on a somber journey through the fields of depression, alienation, loneliness, addiction, anger, and guilt all while having the record button engaged. Many artists are confessional lyrically but The Cure consciously pushed themselves further into the abyss with each subsequent recording by making the music more abrasive, jarring, and unsettling. While the music is at times quite beautiful, the end result is three albums bristling with an ominous presence telling us that there is, quite possibly, no light at the end of the tunnel.

This wound up being a tough review for me to complete since music this… intense, was best for me to take in smaller doses; and with these deluxe editions, the doses are anything but small.

Beginning with the sparse instrumental, “A Reflection”, “Seventeen Seconds” is the work of a radically different band from the one who recorded “Three Imaginary Boys” as their debut; I would almost venture to say that THIS is the first Cure album. As legend has it, Robert Smith was disappointed with parts of their debut and before that album was even released, had a clear idea of the direction he wanted their second album to go in. It is amazing to see just how much change there is from their first record, the band’s amazing use of space added immensely to the atmosphere of the album and it’s feelings of detachment and loneliness. I cannot help hearing the echoes of David Bowie’s brilliant “Low” ring throughout. With the addition of new bassist Simon Gallup, the bass guitar hooks and countermelodies that define a large part of the group’s sound came to fruition. The now classic, semi-hit single from the album, “A Forest”, distills the essence of early Cure into one song. The song’s sparse arrangement outlines the mood of the lyrics perfectly; you get the creepy feeling, the paranoia, of being lost and wanting to be found. The band’s post-punk minimalism is strongly evidenced on “Play For Today”, “M”, and “At Night”. It is amazing that with so little in the way of recording luxuries, the band was able to take what little they had and use to it the most effective way possible. Despite being in this embryonic stage, it is evident that The Cure did not want to sound like this or that band; they wanted to have a sound of their own.

The Cure Faith

Mere months after the release of “Seventeen Seconds”, The Cure found them selves in a studio once again to demo new material for what would be their third album in less then two years. The band cut three songs but as Robert Smith notes; “We wanted the songs to be funereal but passionate, and it just wasn’t working”. By the time the band returned to the studio in February of 1981, “several friends and relations had died, and drummer Lol Tolhurst’s mother had been diagnosed as terminally ill”. Add to this the band’s increasing drug consumption and “Faith” remains a bleak example of how far the band was descending into the void. While “Seventeen Seconds” is a masterpiece for it’s depiction of isolation and alienation, “Faith” is more emotionally intense, dissonant, and at times, strikingly beautiful. One thing that is quite apparent while listening to this album is the fact that the band had an obviously larger recording budget. The group used these shortcomings to great effect on their previous albums but for the most part, the sounds here are more lush, and three dimensional. There are a few tracks that use the ‘flat’ sound of their earlier releases such as “The Holy Hour” and the punk-ish “Doubt”. But by track two, “Primary” we can see the band expanding; their ideas becoming even more precise, more effective and ultimately, more powerful. “The Funeral Party” is significant in that it gives a glimpse of where The Cure would be heading in a few years time. Elements of the band’s mid-80’s style, most notably, the synthesized string sounds and dreamy, impressionistic lyrics create a gorgeous, haunting ballad that is one of the album’s high points. As an added bonus to this disc we get the 27 minute sound collage, “Carnage Visors: The Soundtrack” which appeared on the side 2 of the UK cassette of “Faith”. At 27 moody, experimental minutes, it might not be the type of track one will put on to go jogging but it amply demonstrates that The Cure is much more than just a typical ‘80’s pop band’. This brings us to their next opus…

“I wanted to make the ultimate fuck-off record… virtually unbearable. I needed this recording to be our grand statement”, says Robert Smith of 1982’s “Pornography”. While I applaud the fierce individualism the group displays here, “Pornography” is quite a rambling epic without any distinction between verses or choruses or between the songs themselves. It is in this way that “Pornography” differs from the prior albums; they had distinct musical hooks, here you find yourself looking for invisible melodies that come and go. The album is still impressive; more for the sheer brazen attitude the band must have had to complete this album. You’ve got to hand them that, this is about the most un-commercial pop album ever committed to vinyl. Using both, a new recording studio and producer, the album is a visceral assault upon the senses: the pounding, tribal drumming, Robert Smith’s more confident vocal wailing and their use of dissonant flourishes. The longer songs also have an effect as it seems like one entire song that envelopes the listener in despair without a single break in mood or intensity throughout the album. Musical highpoints would have to include: “One Hundred Years”, “A Strange Day”, and “Cold”; the latter two displaying the sound that, once refined, would carry the band to the tops of album charts worldwide.

The Cure Pornography

These three albums are packaged as two-disc sets with the second disc full of rarities and live tracks. One of the most illuminating aspects of this expanded issue is that you can trace the evolution of the songs from rough demos (some of them are actually home demos, recorded in Robert Smith’s living room!) to the final, album version to various live performances. There are also some non-album, studio outtakes, rare period singles and a few, radically different alternate mixes.

The highlights of the “Seventeen Seconds” rarities disc include the ‘Cult Hero’ single, “I’m A Cult Hero”. This was a Cure offshoot project that cemented bassist Simon Gallup’s position in the band – he was hired immediately afterwards. The song, with its angular, reggae-infused rhythm is a most welcome addition; this is a rare single indeed and sounds nothing like The Cure. There are also eight, well-recorded live album tracks that display an added bit of edge than their studio counterparts.

“Faith” clearly has the best batch of extras: the home demos are fascinating; the studio outtakes are so good you wish they were completed and the live tracks are hypnotic. The home demo recording of “Doubt” show amazing change over its life; what started as a slow, mournful dirge became an up-tempo punk rocker. The unreleased version of “Primary” is striking in that is completely different from the final take – slower and moodier with out the up-front energy that it developed later on. The unreleased live track, “Forever”, features a visceral guitar assault from Robert Smith. While it may not hold up as a ‘tune’, it is a great listen nonetheless. The band ended 1981 by recording another single, one of their finest, “Charlotte Sometimes”. The song is stunning in every way; beautiful melody, fantastic music, perfect lyrics and the moody atmosphere that would characterize much of their later work.

For “Pornography” we get quite a few unreleased tracks, a few demos and some rather rough-sounding live recordings. “The Hanging Garden” sounds nothing like the album version: here we have a rather typical sounding drum pattern and a laid back vocal delivery that suggests Robert Smith was yet to find the spark the song needed to push it over the top. He eventually did as “The Hanging Garden” was the only single culled from the album. “Airlock: The Soundtrack” is a 13 minute smattering of sonic gore. Brutal, dissonant sounds hit you from every direction and leave you with the most unsettling feeling you could imagine. This was used as the opening music of the live shows – audiences must have known they were in for a rough ride when that is how the show began! Once again though, this is fascinating listening.

These recent Cure releases from Rhino show what all reissues should be: restored artwork, excellent and most informative liner notes (in this case by Johnny Black) and top notch, remastered sound. These are complete snapshots of certain points in the band’s history - if only all reissues where this good! If you are already a fan of The Cure, you no doubt already have these but for other casual fans, these are essential. I hope Rhino keeps ‘em coming!