These came out in 2005 — or at least that’s when I got ’em. Here’s what I said about them back then (with some minor editing):
Cue the dry ice and light the black candles.
Continuing the campaign that began with last year’s reissue of Three Imaginary Boys, the Rhino archivists have remastered and rereleased the next batch of feel-bad masterpieces from Robert Smith and The Cure. Something of a three-pronged descent from sadness into madness, this trilogy of anthems to alienation captures the band coming into their own and hitting their stride, discarding the jittery pop of Imaginary Boys for the sluggish, doom-laden sorrow that would become their trademark. (Along with Smith’s raccoon-eye makeup and rat’s-nest coif, that is.) If the rich sadness of Seventeen Seconds, the spiritual explorations of Faith and the murky paranoia of Pornography aren’t enough to get your inner teenage nihilist to crack the faintest of nostalgic smiles, the gorgeous packaging and extensive bonus tracks should do the job.
YEARS: 1980 – 1982.
HIGHLIGHTS: The sparse and atmospheric Seventeen Seconds offers the relatively upbeat Forest and the glumly catchy title cut; Faith supplies the choppy Primary and the suitably dirge-like Funeral Party; Pornography has the clattery Hanging Garden and the anxious One Hundred Years.
EXTRAS! EXTRAS! In typical Rhino fashion, each set comes with an extra disc of significant rarities, demos, outtakes and live cuts from the period. My favourites: The witty I’m A Cult Hero single from a secret Smith side project and the appropriately gloomy, claustrophobic soundtracks to the Carnage Visors and Airlocks tour films. Each set also comes in a double-gatefold digipak with a cardboard slip cover and a booklet of liner notes, pics and lyrics.
