The Cure - Seventeen Seconds (1980)

Before they went pop, The Cure was a simplistic band, artless and unpretentious. Here on Seventeen Seconds, we catch the band as a quartet; Robert Smith (the only mainstay of the group, as it was his singular vision that would guide the group up until present time) on vocals, guitar and violin; Simon Gallup on bass; Matthieu Hartley on keys and Laurence Tolhurst on drums. We can see their trajectory from the new wave Three Imaginary Boys album to this and on to the next few albums, reaching lower and lower into darker, more gothic aural landscapes.

At times this record can be both dark and sinister in its downtempo grooves, other times it's propulsive and aggressive. One thing that can be said about this record above all other Cure records is its cohesiveness; all these songs fit with one another like lock and key.

Be careful, this record might just make you miserable- it definitely scared the shit out of me when I was a kid...

The Cure - Seventeen Seconds (1980; Polydor Records)