What Are You Listening To?

[Ruby]

CURVED AIR – Second Album
 
Well that title needs no interpretation! Feels like a wasted opportunity - strange considering they are seemingly otherwise imaginative. The second freebie. Released in 1971, It contains their one and only hit single “Backstreet Luv” which made it to number 4 on the UK singles charts. I think I was threatening to listen to more Curved Air not so long ago – best be careful what you give voice to! Lol! 

They are an interesting bunch for sure – Sonja Kristina has a pristine voice and they are incredibly musical if somewhat muddly. Francis Monkman is well-known in the biz for his prowess and of course, who could ever forget the fantastically named Florian Pilkiington-Miksa. Difficult to peg, exactly – it’s proggy alright, with substantial classical influences and components, and there also always seems to be a dreamy quality about their stuff – oh ok – I see it’s called eclectic prog in some circles. Not sold on all of it, it gets a bit too busy, but I can still listen and be drawn in, to a degree. There’s a fair amount of orchestration on this album, and I tend to notice a violin which in this instance is wielded by one Darryl Way. (To digress completely, I ended up listening to Jethro Tull’s Heavy Horses after this – Mr Way is on a couple of tracks on that too – the very fabulous title track being one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRHATZzMh-g).

Could have been better produced IMHO, the sound quality is not great and it’s a tad murky, but hey – it’s nearly half a century old. The aforementioned single …