venta: (Default)
venta ([personal profile] venta) wrote2008-09-12 03:40 pm
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Yes, you! The one who looks delirious

On Fridays this year we ask...

What's in the Box?

The Box in question is the glovebox of my car, home to my extremely motley tape collection. By the time I owned a car with a tape player tapes were on the way out and most of my music was in CD format. However, charity shops were practically giving tapes away, which meant that I bought rapaciously and eclectically. A half-remembered 80s band who once released a single I'd liked a little ? A band I'd vaguely heard of ? An unknown group with good cover art ? Bring them on.

Of course, the net result is that I've ended up with a tape collection which any music-lover would be slightly ashamed of. There was a relatively narrow window (late 70s to later 80s) when tapes were big news, and my horde represents that. However, in amongst the terrible pop I've found some gems and I reckon its time to come clean about my guilty musical secrets.

Today in The Box we have:

The Cure - Seventeen Seconds

As I understand it, there are two legitimate ways of acquiring tapes. One is to pay money in emporia, the other is to forget to return borrowed cassettes to exes. I got Seventeen Seconds the latter way, and found it years later in my own tape collection.

Seventeen Seconds is probably in my top ten favourite albums, ever. It's short (just over 35 minutes), but has a beautiful, slightly melancholy sound throughout. The slow, measured piano-and-guitar introduction of Reflection is one of the most relaxing tracks I've ever heard; for some reason it always makes me think of rain.

For reference, the big singles from it were A Forest and Play For Today. Listening to it, however, the tracks don't stand out from one another. I tend to think of it as one 35-minute piece of music (or two shorter ones where you have to turn a tape over in between).

Against the bounce-a-bility of other and later works, it's easy to see why this gets forgotten but it deserves a wider audience.

The Cure - Secrets [link expired]

[Poll #1258473]

I am a big fan of the Cure, though I've not (yet) bought (or heard) their most recent couple of albums. And, in fact, haven't significantly listened to anything post-Disintegration.

Their albums are quite varied, though, and I'm interested to know which ones most appeal to people.

[Poll #1258474]

[*] Yes, I know this isn't really a real studio album. It's so entrenched in my consciousness, however, that I'm going to allow it.

[identity profile] bateleur.livejournal.com 2008-09-12 02:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Clarification to second poll response: "Boys Don't Cry" is my favourite Cure album, but largely because it's the only one I own.

[identity profile] venta.livejournal.com 2008-09-12 02:54 pm (UTC)(link)
What, me ?

I'm wearing fluffy blue slippers, how can I be a goth ?

[identity profile] ulfilias.livejournal.com 2008-09-14 02:34 am (UTC)(link)
Awww, bless !

[identity profile] bateleur.livejournal.com 2008-09-12 04:57 pm (UTC)(link)
how can I be a goth ?

I'm reliably informed it's because you're sad that all the pie is gone.

[identity profile] venta.livejournal.com 2008-09-12 05:14 pm (UTC)(link)
All the pie is gone ? All the pie is gone ?

Bloody'ell, can't you break news like that a bit more gently ?

sobs

[identity profile] addedentry.livejournal.com 2008-09-12 02:57 pm (UTC)(link)
'Disintegration' is the best album ever!

'Wish' has some high points, but feels like more a sprawl. After that it all got a bit embarrassing, and I wish they'd kept their promise to finish with 'Bloodflowers'.

I did spend an evening last week watching Trilogy, so I can't pretend to have grown up. But the new songs from '4:13 Dream' really are Cure-by-numbers. You knew there was a new album, right? Nor did I.

[identity profile] venta.livejournal.com 2008-09-12 02:59 pm (UTC)(link)
'Disintegration' is the best album ever!

So... why did you check half a dozen in the poll for best Cure album !?

I did know there was a new album.
But only because I saw it when I filched the album list from Wikipedia just now.

[identity profile] huskyteer.livejournal.com 2008-09-12 02:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Disintegration: best breakup album in the world, ever.

I got into the Cure when a schoolfriend played me The Love Cats because there were cats in it and I liked cats. Good call!

[identity profile] venta.livejournal.com 2008-09-12 03:00 pm (UTC)(link)
My introduction to The Cure was someone playing me The Lovecats - down the phone! The weird noises at the beginning of the track really didn't transmit well, and put me off the whole idea of The Cure for a couple of years.

[identity profile] undyingking.livejournal.com 2008-09-12 03:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Tbh I don't really know any of the albums since Wish, and not all of the handful before it... maybe I should do some self-education.

Are you going to cross-correlate the favourite-album repsonses with the level-of-fanness responses, to see if some albums are more beloved of true fans and some of casual ones?
(And if not, why not? ;-)

[identity profile] venta.livejournal.com 2008-09-12 03:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Are you going to cross-correlate?

I expect I'll peruse the results, nod sagely, look a bit smug, and conclude that my own choices are eminently justified :)