Curved
Air, the British prog rock band, were formed back in the depths of time, well,
1970 to be exact. The original members came from mixed musical backgrounds and
their sound was a mixture of prog rock, folk rock and fusion with classical
elements. They were one of the first bands to feature a violin as a lead
instrument. This album, AirWaves, is a remastered version of the
1995 release, Live At The BBC, with a
minor adjustment in the running order of the tracks, and not as I had initially
thought, a recently uncovered cache of live material from the early days. It
features a selection of tracks from 4 of the 6 albums they released from 71-76
and a snapshot of the different personnel involved.
The
musicians involved were Sonja Kristina (vocals 1-13), Darryl Way (violin/vocals
1-13), Florian Pilkington Miksa (drums 1-8), Francis Monkman (guitar/keyboards
1-8), Rob Martin (bass 1-3), Ian Eyre (bass 4-8), Tony Reeves (bass 9-13),
Stewart Copeland ( drums 9-13) and Mick Jacques (guitar 9-13). Of the 13
tracks, the majority (6) are taken from the debut album, Air Conditioning, issued as a picture disc and 2 tracks that have
never appeared on studio albums.
The
tracks vary in length from track 6, “Blindman,” the shortest at 2:45 to the
last track, “The Fool,” which is the longest, clocking in at 6:43. So, let us
start the journey into the past and see what we think of some classic live prog
rock.
The
starting track of the set is “It Happened Today” (4:39) and is quickly into
driving bass/drums with the characteristic violin of Darryl Way picking out an
amazing riff, just before the superb voice of Sonia Kristina joins in. This is
arguably one of the most recognizable Curved Air songs and shows the band at
their best right away, highlighting the Curved Air sound. At 2:45 there is a sudden change of pace and the
violin takes on a much mellower laid back melody which demonstrates the skills
of Darryl Way as the track meanders to its conclusion. What a fantastic start
to the album.
Second
track up is “Propositions/What Happens When You Blow Yourself Up” (5:24) and we
are straight into a driving beat with Darryl’s violin to the fore before the
main vocals of Sonia appear with Darryl contributing backing vocals. Terrific
guitar from Francis Monkman maintains the momentum before there is a change of
pace with Sonia back in with the vocals and excellent piano. Around the 2:45 minute
mark, wonderful keyboards take on the melody while the bass/drum “engine”
gurgles away in the background. The track builds until 4:30 when the original
violin theme returns and Sonia’s vocal reappears to take the track out.
A
touch of the classical strikes with track 3, “Vivaldi” (6:26) with the violin
of Darryl and the guitar of Francis interpreting a bit of Vivaldi before there
is a real “tongue in cheek” passage by Darryl on the violin, and not exactly
what you would expect at a “prog” concert. Darryl then proceeds to make the
violin sound unlike a violin as a prelude to the vocals (Sonia) entering with a
sweeping piano passage. Just around this point however, the track seems to lose
direction for a short while before Darryl returns with the intro theme and is
joined by more terrific guitar work by Francis and this just about rescues the
track, but there is still the feeling that this was a weaker track.
Track
4, “Young Mother In Style” (5:14) opens with a memorable keyboard melody, joined
by bass/drums and the violin prior to Sonia’s vocals entering. This is the
first track to move on from the first album (Air Conditioning) and even live, there is a subtle change in the
structure and energy. Violin takes the lead and the keyboards sweep in and out
behind this instrument, allowing Darryl to show his proficiency on the violin,
but there is again the feeling of lack of direction and indeed the keyboards
sound slightly out of place.
We
return to the first album again for the next track, “Situations” (5:40) and a
slower start with expressive vocals from Sonia and the trademark violin tracing
a melody behind the voice. The sound seems more “comfortable” than the previous
track. Definitely a more laid back rounded track which changes direction at
around 2:15 tempo-wise, but remains the most sedate track thus far. Again,
however, there seems to be a lack of direction and “punch” making the track
“flat.”
Sixth
track of the album is “Blindman” and it has a piano, bass and drums intro with
a huskier voiced Sonia making the track a little bit different. Again this is a
gentler approach to the earlier material but I am starting to detect flagging
in the energy and “oomph” factor and the track fails to impress.
Up
next is one of the previously unrecorded (studio) songs, “Thinking On The
Floor” (4:02), and this has a much higher energy start, and although the
trademark violin of Darryl is there, it is much more melodic and subdued, while
still driving the track along. A terrific staccato-like vocal by Sonia and the
track picks up the interest that had started to fade. There is also a superb
violin solo by Darryl as the song drives towards its finale.
Track
8, “Stretch” (4:35), has again a Darryl (violin) start and we seem to be back
“in the groove” suggested by the earlier tracks. Every instrument just seems to
be right on this track, violin/vocals/guitar and rhythm engine. It is
interesting to find that we are again dipping into the debut album. Interplay
between the guitar and violin is excellent.
A
distinct shift in proceedings is apparent at the outset of track 9, “Stark
Naked” (5:44), with audience noise being heard easily. This is more of a rock
like track and although the lead instrument (i.e. the violin) is there, it
seems to working at a slower pace, but after this interesting start, there is a
point where track is on the verge of losing me. At that point however the
violin neatly steps aside to release Mick Jacques to bend his guitar strings a
little more than Francis Monkman (guitars on tracks 1-8) had done earlier. This
is a very definite heavier sound with everyone contributing well to this out
and out rocker.
Track
10, “Woman On A One Night Stand” (5:42), sees a more bluesy start with Sonia’s
excellent vocals and Darryl’s violin in and out with lead riffs. A very
different sound shows the diversity of the band and this catches the interest
of the listener. It is an excellent, if unexpected, track with a very different
“gutsy” voice from Sonia.
“Midnight
Wire” (6:20) continues this bluesy feel to the music and again is a very
impressive track, but far removed from the early work of Curved Air. It is also
interesting to note that since track 9 we have moved onto the 1976 live
recordings, showing that the personnel changes certainly influenced a change in
the musical direction.
The
penultimate track, “Hot ’n’ Bothered” (3:02) has Sonia showing both power and
emotion in her voice on this driving rock song. Darryl’s violin is there in the
background with a few runs from time to time, before taking the “front of the
stage” around the halfway point and letting rip with the instrument. The rhythm
engine underpins the track with a marvelous rock beat and Sonia returns to take
the song out. This track is short but sweet.
The
longest track finishes the album, “The Fool” (6:43), with an introductory
drumbeat into the ever present violin and some good old audience participation.
This is yet another driving rock song with terrific interplay between violin
and guitar behind the vocals. Darryl again gets the chance to “solo” but he is
definitely part of the band whereas in the earlier tracks he seemed to be
leading while the others followed. Excellent Darryl (violin) and Mick (guitar)
interchanges, which seems to be more of a feature in these later tracks.
My
impression of AirWaves is that this
is a piece of work which traces the evolution, driven by maturity and personnel
changes, from prog to rock and it would have been interesting to have some
material from the intervening years to chart this progression more. It is like
two different bands and it brought back to me why I had the first two Curved
Air albums ( Air Conditioning and 2nd Album) but no more.
Having said that, I found the later live material excellent and probably missed
out on a terrific rock band a long time ago.
This
is an excellent album, simply because it catches the bands musical changes and
would be an ideal entry point for anyone “trying out” Curved Air for the first
time. Diehard fans of the band I feel will have the original release (1995) but
might want to collect any previously unreleased material from the band.
Footnote:
Soon after their formation back in 1970, Curved Air earned three sizeable
achievements:
1. Touring
with Black Sabbath
2. First
British band to be signed to Warner Brothers
3. Released
the first commercially available picture disc (debut album Air Conditioning)
4/5 Stars
Key
Tracks: It Happened Today, Situations, Stretch
Jim “The Ancient One” Lawson-MuzikReviews.com Staff
December 6, 2012
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