Curved Air Air Cut Views

Music

Curved Air are a pioneering British progressive rock group formed in 1970.[1] by musicians who came from quite different artistic backgrounds, classic, folk, and electronic sound, which resulted in a mixture of progressive rock, folk rock, and fusion with classical elements. Along with High Tide, It's A Beautiful Day and East of Eden, Curved Air were one of the first bands after The Velvet Underground and It's a Beautiful Day to feature a violin. Considered (according to AllMusic)[2] one of the most dramatically accomplished of all the bands lumped into Britain's late-'60s prog explosion , Curved Air released eight studio albums (the first three became the UK Top 20 hits) and had a hit single with Back Street Luv (1971) which reached #4 in the UK Singles Chart.[3]

By this time Sonja Kristina, who debuted on a stage at the Swan Folk Club in Romford at the age of thirteen (and even had some TV experience in the children's show Song and Story) was an aspiring folk musician, already writing her own songs, playing at clubs such as the Troubadour and the Marquee (as Sonja) and studying at the New College of Speech and Drama.[8] In 1968 Sonja auditioned for and won the part of Crissy in the London stage production of the rock musical Hair. She appeared on the original cast album singing the song Frank Mills which was also released as a single. The show was being produced by Galt McDermott, who also had another play, Who the Murderer Was, at the Mercury Theatre in Notting Hill Gate. [8] The quartet was to provide accompaniment for Who the Murderer Was ,[2] even to become a house band for the show. Of the circumstances which led to Sonja Kristina becoming a Curved Air member Francis Monkman remembered:

The band released Air Cut which was considered a weaker effort[18] and failed to chart. The new group’s second album, Lovechild, was shelved and in summer 1973 Curved Air broke up. Jobson replaced Eno Roxy Music; Wedgwood joined Caravan.[2] Lovechild (1973), when it was finally released in 1990, looked very much like a random collection group of solo compositions. Sonja Kristina insisted it wasn't a proper album at all, rather a case of total piracy . Those were demo tapes I made for Warner Brothers, who had suddenly realized that I was the only original member — that it wasn't really Curved Air as it had been before. So Clifford Davis presented the tapes to Warners who decided for various reasons that they weren't going to continue with the contract. And that meant Curved Air had to come to an end at that stage , she explained in the 1999 inteview.[8]

In 1984 Renegade was released as a single. It was actually a solo thing of lt;Darryl WayDgt;. He had written a bunch of songs which he ran past me. I really like the Renegade song. We did that and As Long as There's a Spark but I think only Renegade and We're Only Human were on the single , Sonja later remebered. In fact, the couple recorded some more stuff, including Walk on By and O Fortuna , which they couldn't release officially, having been unable to get permission from the Carl Orff estate.[8] in 1988 Curved Air went on a short tour. In 1990 the original Kristina, Way, Monkman and Pilkington-Miksa quartet gave a one-off concert at the London's Town & Country, supported by Noden's Ictus.[8] The performance, recorded by Francis Monkman (and featuring one new song, 20 Years On ) was captured on the Alive, 1990 album, released in 2000.[2]