Air Cut

One late night in 1973, long before the days of Clear Channel's limited play lists, I was listening to the radio when they played a perfect late-night song. The 10 minute Metamorphosis by Curved Air. That autumn I went to a local department store, who had a bin of imported albums and purchased Air Cut. When CDs came out, Air Cut was one I was eager to see released in that format. It took around 30 years for the German Repertoire label to release an acceptable version. Finally 45 years after the initial release, a proper, remixed version is out. The sound is dynamic with every instrument given its due. The included booklet explains the unusual situation that led to the album, and corrects mistakes made on the original sleeve. As a progressive rock album, Air Cut is up there with Close to the Edge and Brain Salad Surgery and one more people should know about.

The music here, and in particular Jobson's prodigy-level contributions, should already be known to you. While the notes here claim that Curved Air was the Very First Group to employ classical techniques, the claim is simply and blatantly untrue. By the time CA's first album was released in 1970, The Nice, The Moody Blues and others had, with varying degrees of success, already delivered a fairly weighty load of the occasionally brilliant, occasionally oddly misshapen hybrids. As for the fury that Darryl Way unleashed, don't forget High Tide. The line-up they used for their 1969 album "Sea Shanties" proves to be a defining one. And, not to take anything away from Curved Air, I'd argue that even The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" should be considered as one of the early successes of the category.So instead of adding to the adoration of the music, I'd just like to comment on Chris Welch's notes to this reissue. Setting the first place claim for CA aside, he does an excellent job of giving us the shorthand history of the group. But here's what's so disappointing. It turns out to be that same-old, same-old break-up story. The now boilerplate gobbledygook about disagreements on "presentation" and "direction" that always seems to be lurking in the background, ready to tear up one worthwhile group or another, despite all their songs about love and gettin' it together. And now that we all get to plumb our early listening years with greater historical and audio detail as well as first-person accounts, the unbearable weight of egos keeps coming up from behind to rob artists and audiences of what woulda, coulda, shoulda been.As evidenced by the music on "Air Cut", it's too bad that Curved Air the band wasn't as different as their music was from all those others that collapsed due to mostly subjective problems. If they had been, they might have seen far enough beyond the squabbles to stick to the work right there in front of them. Perhaps their recent reunion was an acknowledgment of the fact that things weren't all that bad between them after all. Too bad then, about all those years in between...

Classic and underrated album from Prog-Rock legends

Be listening to this since the 70's - awesome album

Curved Air's fourth album isn't as popular as their first three. Let's find out why!"Metamorphosis" opens with really familiar classical piano because I've heard this song a decade ago and forgot about it. This is pure classical baby! Several interesting passages in just the first minute. Some nice eerie keyboards or organs build for the next minute until a melodic guitar and synth part makes a appearance. This part's not only awesome but sounds a LOT like Snow Goose-era Camel. That's a great thing in my book! Then a wonderful vocal melody follows that. Sonja basically sings along to the synths but that's okay."We are the children of the midnight marching high in an icy mercury sky, we sing and our breath turns to frost, we watch and frost melts, we hear the crazy winds that weep, we don't sleep where the minds meet, in icy mercury seas we dream, and we picture the same, we dance and the worlds melt away, sky we sing, frost we watch, seas we dream, same we dance, picture in a mirror, picture in a mirror, born we watch, so much we touch, sky we dream, same we dance, fragment of a picture, fragment of a picture, on the misty beach we stand, the children gold and silver from ice and mercury born, we watch and our eyes see so much, we touch and it all melts". REALLY soothing lyrics!Awesome oceanic voyage-like keyboard solo after this. Wow the way the piano comes in just to wind down is really amazing timing! Then the piano jams quietly for a little while. This part sort of reminds me of the middle part from Genesis "Fifth of Firth" except more elaborate. And REALLY pretty too! Almost like ballerina music. Things get so quiet it's almost like I've stepped into a dream! This is even dreamier than most of the stuff from the bands previous album Phantasmagoria ironically enough. Sonja sings incredibly softly.Thank goodness afterwards the organs and drums bring us back to full volume! Though I feel like mourning now. Really sad stuff. This almost doesn't go anywhere until thankfully a guitar solo comes in. That turns things around in a big way! The marching rhythm from the beginning returns (heh, I didn't mention this part in the first paragraph did I?) and so do the lovely synths and guitar! Pure bliss when Sonja sings "We are the children of the midnight marching high in an icy mercury sky". The song settles into a nice keyboard groove to finish the song, and I gotta say, this whole song is *very* well-written. Oh listen to the ragtime way the piano plays at the very end! I can't believe I forgot all about this song. I used to listen to Curved Air 10-15 years ago so I should have remembered this."Easy" opens pretty similarly to "Metamorphosis" with emphasis on classical-style piano jamming, but this time the synths are really creepy. "Easy, little boy with a troubled mind, it'll work its own way out don't worry, I'm here with you, easy, if you got to cry just let it come, it'll work its own way out don't worry, I'll stay with you through the night" is a rather soulful singing style from Sonja that I haven't experienced from her up to this point. At least I can't recall any moments where she sung this way on the first three Curved Air albums. Proof she's capable of more than just pretty melodies. The song starts to rock out during the ""And I can see you sleeping in the heavy heavy night with a single sheet covering brown skin and white, feel you breathing soft and low, there's perfume in the air, with your tiny fingers gently sleeping in your hair you're many many miles from me but I can see you still, I look at you beside myself till I see you again" line. "There's million of miles, will I see you again". I really feel like Sonja will be with me to help me through the night". When the line "I look at you beside myself till I see you again" is sung again it sounds like a different singer, but leads into a wonderful guitar solo.Perhaps Sonja's vocal range gets out of whack during the "Eaaaaasy, eaaaaasy" part. What the? Check out that REALLY mysterious piano/bass section immediately following this. That's incredibly cool! Then layers of butterfly wings flapping innocently in the flowers is the image I get when the piano enters the mix. This is some serious prog on fire! I love this part quite a bit. The synths afterwards are pretty cool too, in a Van Der Graaf Generator "Theme One" kind of way. Sonja's vocals get sort of muffled during the line "In the honeycomb confusion of many many lives, I'm tumbling like Alice down the tunnels of my mind, fingers closing up my ears fumble at my brain, screaming as I'm dreaming that I won't see you again". Well maybe not muffled, but different."U.H.F." opens with a VERY cool guitar riff not much different from the one in King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man". Not much of a vocal melody though. At least I've heard better before. But that riff! Wowsers! Love how out of nowhere it just changes tempo and turns into Kiss' "Detroit Rock City" with screeching violins. The tone changes again- soft piano and orchestration with a temporary tender vocal melody. Pretty good organ solo too. Love the dramatic build-up a moment later. There's so many things shifting around I can't keep up with everything for the purpose of explaining it all in this here review! The song returns to the way it was in the beginning (before and during the Kiss-resembling guitar riff part I mention above!) "If you had called me up in time I could have saved you all that crying, you would have known that I had gone, if you had phoned I would have known that you preferred to be alone, there's no need for you to explain your letters pour in just the same, I could have told you not to write not out of kindness or in spite but as a friend, and now my friend it's all too late, I'm feeling bored with love and hate""Elfin Boy" is a somber folk tune. REALLY quiet, but with enough shifts in tempo to make a man go crazy. Delightfully crazy that is! Not sure if it's sad or pretty the way the synth follows along quietly in the background (or is that violin?) Whatever it is, it's persistent and reminds me of Dracula. The acoustic guitar skips along the whole time as well. For some reason I get the feeling late period Jefferson Airplane would have liked this. This is the kind of melody that you might not think is anything great at first, but keep listening and things will change! Talk about a song that sounds like nothing else I've ever heard before. Sonja sings this song phenomenally."Called to you at night, called to you each day till the voice of my mind grew weary, hoping you'd hear my voice as clear as the visions of you I could see, a full moon rose on a night of fear, I called and prayed you'd hear me, a gypsy knight you sprang from the wood, brought me to sanctuary here, and then the culry haired elfin boy smiled with his eyes like a child, graceful his fingers they play on the strings, gentle the song that he sings, you tell me to rest then, prince though you be, you ask me what you can do, food you bring me and drink and clothes but I should be giving to you, what have I to give but my songs and my love, my dreams are yours to share, give you myself and part of my world for both of us offer one prayer, bells soft ring in the breeze from the woods, the last dying breath of a night, sleepy birds bringing their trembling warning soon it will be daylight, come wake gentle elfin boy, let love fall once more and then teach me your song for me to take to sing your dream over again". These lyrics remind me of something from a fairly tale no joke."Two-Three-Two" opens sounding totally like another song, but... wait! That "other song" I'm thinking of is actually this one, lol. I know this song alright! What a really solid vocal melody. Just fantastic! The male singer of the band takes over this time. I can't remember male vocals dominating on previous Curved Air albums but I could be wrong. I LOVE how, to name one example, when the vocals get louder during the line "The telephone brings the news so easy from afar, if only progress could do more, but it only brings a reason to destroy the proper season, for a chapter in our lives to take its shape". Just to show how awesome this band is, the guitar solo at the end sounds like late 50's rock. Something Elvis would have approved of! So *awesome* the way the guitar persists while the unusual vocal chant comes in, and then the guitar has the audacity to get even faster! "Judy forget it, I ain't never coming back, and Suzy you know it's been too long, and you know sweet Claira I could never put it fairer, than to say today my love and I were one, Anita you'll understand me when I tell you what I am, and maybe the world will understand, 'cuz today my lover said the seed had started growing, yes the one I started rolling from within, but today we made a decision, we've got to say Nature "No no no, we can't handle the gift you offer 'cuz your world has changed". Many ways to interpet the lyrics, and talking about nature brings up more speculation."The Purple Speed Queen" growls in the beginning! Not sure what's causing that growling sound. Sonja sings another simple fast melody similar to "U.H.F". Love the "Slow down Emlee Jane, slow down look back, look at what you've done" part. Reminds me of Uriah Heep for some reason. What a rockin' organ solo too! Sounds like Head East's "Never Been Any Reason". Fantastic fast-paced guitar solo afterwards. Let's rock as hard as we can! And the lyrics? Let's hear 'em! "Emlee Jane was the girl who never had time to explain, lived her life in a whirlpool, cried if it happened to rain, she had run away from home only thinking of herself, mother's sick and so upet they say she may never be well". "And she said she couldn't love she didn't know where to begin, changing like a bird in flight, she lived all her life on the wing, and she lay in bed each night with men she met the same day, left next morning- no goodbye, and they never saw her again, then she took an overdose she didn't feel tired at all, when she died the doctor said that she couldn't take any more". VERY tragic lyrics ! Poor girl couldn't handle being around others and had issues accepting life's difficulties."Armin" begins in a King Crimson "Fallen Angel" kind of way before turning into a fast-moving violin jam. Not as memorable as previous violin jams the band has performed, but just the fact it rocks so aggressively gives it a TON of points! Love the part when we get a "breather" (put in quotation marks because it's still quite heavy). This is when the guitar and drums take over. "World" is short but packed with a tight melody within its 1 minute/30 second. "I'm on my own and I'm so alive to the world, I don't feel down when I look around at my world, 'cuz my right hand's picking and my left hand's gently curled, my music's playing and my thoughts keep straying to you, ain't no day like the day I lay and felt blue, my body's resting but my mind's got plenty to do". This is a... uh, what do you call it? Beatles... "Honey Pie"... British music hall style! Thanks google. :) British rock bands make music hall sound so much better!Overall I love this album! It's a masterpiece. Must pick it up all of you. ALL of you! This album not being as popular as the first three must be due to silliness. That's the only thing I can think of.

Air Cut has always been my favourite Curved Air album, so I'm pleased to have this newly-remastered copy, which finally uses the original tapes rather than being transferred from vinyl.The sound quality is great and all the instruments are very clear.The enclosed booklet is interesting too, giving an overview of how the 'classic' line-up of Curved Air fell apart, and how Sonja recreated the band for the Air Cut sessions.

This current remastered edition hits the mark. There is more depth to the sound. When I first heard Curved Air way back in the mists of time,I was immediately captivated. They are one of the best prog rock bands. This CD still has all of its magic.

Anyone who thinks that hard driving 1970's rock music is not capable of great beauty should listen to this remastered classic, especially the track, Metamorphosis. It goes through at least half a dozen movements, each of which showcase a different atmospheric musical timbre. Even the fade out at the ten minute mark undergoes a final rhythmic transformation. And you have never heard romantic piano played quite like Eddie Jobson plays it, a teenager at the time he recorded it. The track 'World' a kind of prog rock folk song, features his equally extraordinary violin playing. Astounding.

Really great album by a great group the singing is excellent brilliant song writing.

The best Curved Air album in my opinion. After seeing them a few nights ago at the Brook in Southampton, where they performed most of this album, I felt I just had to go and buy a copy. Superb decision, it's great, Superb drumming from Florian, Eddie Jobson fills Darryl Way's shoes superbly and Kirby's guitar playing was as good a few nights ago as it was all those years ago.If you only buy one Curved Air album buy this one... I'm just about to buy another copy for my best man's birthday - Happy Birthday Graeme!