Curved Air - The Albums 1970-1973

Curved Air
The Albums 1970-73
(Esoteric/ Cherry Red)

8/10
By Decibel Report - Jan 31, 2021

As an all you need to know compendium of Curved Air’s releases covering the years 1970-73, this clamshell is a great place to start for newer fans and should also satisfy long-term aficionados of this resilient band.

The Curved Air career arc and diverse musical stylings ranging from folk, jazz, prog, and rock are fully showcased across these four remastered albums; plus a very small smattering of relevant album-associated bonus tracks.

One of the essential ingredients in any successful band is to observe the laws of attraction. And Sonja Kristina wrote her own laws on this, not only by her charismatic presence but also her individualistic vocals. With her constant fellow superb musicians, Francis Monkman and Darryl Way, Curved Air’s first four albums showcase these Prog pioneers spiralling out towards the outer reaches of this eclectic movement. And eclection is what they are about.

This varied stew of musical influences flavoured their debut release, Air Conditioning, from the post-psychedelic It Happened Today, the boogie-some Stretch, and not forgetting the captivating turn of Screw.

On the Second Album, it was 1971's hit single Back Street Luv that raised the group's international status and announced their credentials as a crossover act of some note. Following this, Phantasmagoria raised Kristina's profile as much as the intricate musicianship by Monkman and Way raised the stature of songs such as Marie Antoinette and Melinda (More Or Less). Early jazz-rock also spins its dizzying head on an album that still earns respect for its experimental intricacies.

The final album in this set finds both Monkman and Way no longer in the band. Nevertheless, with the wizardly Eddie Jobson joining, the experimental elements remain especially on Metamorphosis' classical piano passages and the in your face Purple Speed Queen.

This, in a clamshell, is an essential addition to any discerning listener and fan's collection.