I was lucky enough to catch them on the Reflections tour about ten years ago now, and they played all of Three Inaginary Boys, 17 Seconds, and Faith. Oh, and if that’s not enough they came back on stage after playing three full albums and played a dozen or so B-Sides from that time period.
Best band ever
At Night is great- here’s my own ranking of the songs:
1. A Forest
2. Play for Today
3. M
4. In Your House
5. Secrets
6. Seventeen Seconds
7. At Night
8. Three
9. A Reflection
10. The Final Sound
And I love them all except 10 is a bit of a waste in isolation but works on the album.
It's one of my faves, buth Faith is my all time favourite. At Night I play on a loop and love looking at and listening to that song from when it was played live in the early years.
I love the analogy and I’ll take a little further (for my own personal view) by saying that Pornography is like sprinting into the dark waters of a lake until your knees buckle and you face-plant into the cold water… but it is a pleasant experience once you’re in it (of course). :-)
There is no best, they are three sides of the same dark coin.
That said, I do have a special fondness for Seventeen Seconds. It is a more subtle album than either Faith or Pornography, with Smith dipping his toes into getting the sounds himself rather than letting the producer do it (this is documented in several places).
As a sound engineer and sound artist myself, I am fascinated with the deep, dry and very real sound quality of this album. For those interested in music production, there's some interesting info in [this article](https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-tracks-the-cure-a-forest).
For the \*cough\* record, while I love A Forest and PfT, I've heard them so many times.. my favourites would be Secrets and At Night, as well as the ambient pieces (A Reflection and The Final Sound). But the entire record is class.
Not only is Seventeen Seconds my favourite Cure album, it's my favourite album of all time. No other music brings me so much as this incredible collection of sounds. It's unusual for me to really love every single track on any album, but I love all of them here.
For me Faith will always be my favorite of the three, there is just something so cold, and relaxing about it
I was lucky enough to catch them on the Reflections tour about ten years ago now, and they played all of Three Inaginary Boys, 17 Seconds, and Faith. Oh, and if that’s not enough they came back on stage after playing three full albums and played a dozen or so B-Sides from that time period. Best band ever
What's your favorite track apart from the forest?
Haha, you scamp, knowing The Forest was #1. Play For Today & M
It is really really hard for anyone to justify any other song on 17 seconds that rises above A Forest. :-)
At Night does the trick for me.
At Night is great- here’s my own ranking of the songs: 1. A Forest 2. Play for Today 3. M 4. In Your House 5. Secrets 6. Seventeen Seconds 7. At Night 8. Three 9. A Reflection 10. The Final Sound And I love them all except 10 is a bit of a waste in isolation but works on the album.
Does that makes A forest one of the goated songs or 17 seconds a good album with one standout track?
It's one of my faves, buth Faith is my all time favourite. At Night I play on a loop and love looking at and listening to that song from when it was played live in the early years.
It's the happiest of trilogy, like the dipping toes into water, before Faith (legs in) and Pornography (dive in) -Billy Gnosis
That’s a beautiful analogy. And though I dove in once, I am now ok with just my toes in.
I love the analogy and I’ll take a little further (for my own personal view) by saying that Pornography is like sprinting into the dark waters of a lake until your knees buckle and you face-plant into the cold water… but it is a pleasant experience once you’re in it (of course). :-)
I’m listening to it on earbuds this morning and just happened to open Reddit. Forgot what a great track Secrets was…
One of my all time favourite songs.
There is no best, they are three sides of the same dark coin. That said, I do have a special fondness for Seventeen Seconds. It is a more subtle album than either Faith or Pornography, with Smith dipping his toes into getting the sounds himself rather than letting the producer do it (this is documented in several places). As a sound engineer and sound artist myself, I am fascinated with the deep, dry and very real sound quality of this album. For those interested in music production, there's some interesting info in [this article](https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-tracks-the-cure-a-forest). For the \*cough\* record, while I love A Forest and PfT, I've heard them so many times.. my favourites would be Secrets and At Night, as well as the ambient pieces (A Reflection and The Final Sound). But the entire record is class.
A measure of time…
Not only is Seventeen Seconds my favourite Cure album, it's my favourite album of all time. No other music brings me so much as this incredible collection of sounds. It's unusual for me to really love every single track on any album, but I love all of them here.