Seventeenth Century aka Let the Snakes Crinkle Their Heads to Death is the fifth album by English alternative rock band Felt, released in 1986.

Their first album for Creation Records, it is composed of short instrumentals in different styles and is less than nineteen minutes in length. The original album cover featured a photo of the band which was replaced on reissues by a cropped version. For the 2018 reissue of the album, Lawrence returned the record to its original planned title, renaming it The Seventeenth Century.

During the ‘80s Felt made ten albums and ten singles for the Cherry Red and Creation
labels. This beautifully produced series examines the work of one of the greatest
underground groups of modern times. The first five albums will be released on 23rd February 2018. These vinyl records, unavailable for many years, have been remastered and revisited by Lawrence, and he has fashioned the ultimate definitive collections. They are available in a deluxe gatefold sleeve. Lawrence escapes the contours of a bland city and retreats into his mind. Felt had risen from the underworld searching for a new horizon but only managed to slip into a desolate obscurity! Dark black slabs of creosote guitar – vast swathes of epic interplay – casting futuristic Shadows – an idiosyncratic and unobtrusively brilliant band, the music Felt made on this album is unlike anything attempted before. This really is a template for an age yet to come. And it pays to know that Maurice Deebank now resides in a monastery in Birmingham!

Previously named Let the Snakes Crinkle Their Heads to Death, this album is now retitled The Seventeenth Century – the original name for the album was changed late in the day. This reversal of misfortune was classed as an awful mistake and Lawrence’s biggest regret. Flash forward to now and this situation can finally be rectified. “You can’t change the title of an album” – they told him – so he said; “if Kraftwerk can and Bowie can then I can too!!”