...SIŁA I PIĘKNO MUZYKI TKWIĄ W JEJ RÓŻNORODNOŚCI.



..::OPIS::..

'Phantasmagoria' była kolejną świetną i zróżnicowaną, progresywną płytą, na której znalazły się takie wspaniałości jak 6-minutowy, zmienny 'Marie Antoinette' oraz piękna ballada 'Melinda (More Or Less)' - jeden z najpiękniejszych momentów w całej twórczości Curved Air!



Great Britain is my favorite country. I mean, come on, they have The Police, Genesis, The Beatles (my all-time favorite), Gentle Giant, The Who, ELP, James, Bass and Double Diamond (beer), Gryphon and Camel. Can you really ask for more? Well, you certainly can add Curved Air.
Yep, THE progressive band with THE girl who sings. I know, girls are not always welcome in the prog world, but this time, it actually fits. Sonja Kristina has a mysterious voice. At least, the way she uses it makes it mysterious. She slightly changes her voice throughout the album, depending of the feel of the song. Sometimes she sings tragically (Marie Antoinette, Melinda, Over and Above) and sometimes in a bit of Brigitte Bardot's way (Phantasmagoria). Great news, by now. Plus, a skilled violin player named Darryl Way. I knew this guy from Trace's second album called BIRDS. He obviously have an impressive classical background, and he uses his violin very well in almost every song. The song Cheetah is showing what he's capable of. More good news now! And the general feel of the album is comparable to...humm, Alice in Wonderland on an 'acid lysergic 25' trip? No kidding. Hey, who would really care about Marie-Antoinette, a woman of ancient France who got her head cutten by the Revolution? The theme of Not quite the Same is obvious, and I won't comment it! There's a small number called Ultra-Vivaldi, and it's..well..Vivaldi ultra fast.

More weirdness is coming in the second half. The title song (Phantasmagoria) is catchy and could easily been played in a horror B- movie called The Monster Club (from United Kingdom actually) or in an old Castlevania video game. Man, whatever those smoked in studio has to be prohibited! (maybe the studio's rug? cokcroaches? Licking african frogs?) It's a REALLY WEIRD album. I find it more funny than weird actually.

They had tremendously good ideas. Many songs are very STRANGE but the're actually clever, futuristic (track 7. Hear it and believe it was 1972...so advanced for it's time!) and catchy. And the keyboards uses are good, excellent I should say, from start to finish. Well, this band had it all. But, there's a major problem. This is THE example of how a good band can be ruined by...bad production. This album sounds muffled and choked. Too bad, because there's lots of subtilities and talent-showing (especially in the keyboards and violin) in the music.

For example, the harpsicord in Melinda More or Less is almost unaudible. More frustrating, many cool guitar and keyboards passages in Marie-Antoinette are inexistant unless you stick your ear to your stereo speakers (no kidding). Man, this is frustrating! Because we're missing a bit the feel of the album with this problem. Remains the songs, sometimes funny (Not quite the same), floating (Melinda More or Less), entertaining (Phantasmagoria), scary (Whose Shoulder are you Looking Anyway?), talent-packed (Cheetah), dramatically spinning (Over and Above). Lots of great ideas, humor, talent by the ton, voice by Kristina (ou la la), dazzling talent of Darryl Way (more ou la la).

I'm telling you, this record has it all....if you concentrate enough to bypass the production.

Menswear



Amazing followup to "Second Album", the final album with (more or less) the original lineup (the band had trouble keeping bassists), the difference here, of course, the band was on to their third bassist, Mike Wedgwood (later of CARAVAN, for the albums "Cunning Stunts" and "Blind Dog at St. Dunstans"). A more elaborate album than before thanks to the inclusion of strings and horns, not to mention a jazzier album.
The first two songs, "Marie Antoinnette" and "Melinda (More or Less)" are stunning ballads that's firmly in familiar CURVED AIR territory. These two songs gives more fuel in the fire that I feel Sonja Kristina was one of the best female vocalist around! "Not Quite the Same" is a rather dirty number about masturbation, while "Cheetah" is an instrumental piece dominated by Darryl Way's violin. "Ultra-Vivaldi" is Francis Monkan's time to shine, where he gives an electronic take on Vivaldi on his VCS-3 synth (of course this wasn't the first time the band explored Vivaldi, as demonstrated on "Air Conditioning", their debut).

Side two finds the band being more experimental. For example, a Monkman experiment called "Whose Shoulder Are You Locking" which involved Sonja Kristina electronically modifying her voice in to a synthesizer and computer, which ends up sounding like a vocoder (I understand this experiment also involved one of the guys who worked for Electronic Music Studios, the same company responsible for the VCS-3/Synthi "A" synthesizers), and I'm sure this gave Electronic Music Studios (EMS) an idea to develop a vocoder. "Over and Above" is a wonderful jazzy number, dominated by vibraphones, with lots of horns and strings. There are some quirky passages that brings to minds Frank ZAPPA or GENTLE GIANT. "Once a Ghost Always a Ghost" is the closing number, another quirky number, with more jazzy passages and horns. What a great album that I should have tried so long ago, it's not even funny!

Proghead



..::TRACK-LIST::..

CD 3 - Phantasmagoria (1972):
1. Marie Antoinette
2. Melinda (More Or Less)
3. Not Quiet The Same
4. Cheetah
5. Ultra-Vivaldi
6. Phantasmagoria
7. Whose Shoulder Are You Look Over Anyway?
8. Over And Above
9. Once A Ghost, Always A Ghost

Bonus Track:
10. Sarah's Concern



..::OBSADA::..

Sonja Kristina - vocals (1-3,6-9), acoustic guitar (2)
Francis Monkman - guitar (1,4), electric piano (1,8), harpsichord (2,4,9), piano (3,6), synth (3,8), organ (6,8), tubular bells & gong (8), percussion (9)
Darryl Way - violin (2-4,6,8), piano (1), synth (1,3), vocals, tubular bells (1), Mellotron (1)
Mike Wedgwood - bass, acoustic (6) & electric (9) guitars, vocals (1,6,8,9), percussion (9)
Florian Pilkington-Miksa - drums, percussion (9)


With:
Annie Stewart - flute (2)
Crispian Steele-Perkins - trumpet (3,8)
Paul Cosh - trumpet (3,8)
Jim Watson - trumpet (3,8)
George Parnaby - trumpet (3)
Chris Pyne - trombone (3)
Alan Gout - trombone (3,8)
David Purser - trombone (3,8)
Steve Saunders - trombone (3,8)
Frank Ricotti - xylophone (8), vibes (8,9), congas (9)
Mal Linwood-Ross - percussion (9)
Colin Caldwell - percussion (9)
Jean Akers - percussion (9)
Doris the Cheetah - cheetah roar (4)




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrT_8J6D5MY



SEED 14:30-23:00.
POLECAM!!!