Air Cut (Dig) [Import, Original recording remastered]

Curved Air | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 1, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Repertoire
• ASIN: B000EMSUCE
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #78,602 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Purple Speed Queen

2. Elfin Boy

3. Metamorphosis

4. World

5. Armin

6. U.H.F.

7. Two-Three-Two

8. Easy

Editorial Reviews

EU digisleeve pressing of this 1973 album from one of Prog Rock's leading exponents. On this album, the band featured a different lineup that included two teenage prodigies, the violinist Eddie Jobson (who later found fame with Roxy Music) and guitarist Kirby Gregory (who subsequently joined Stretch). These tracks show Curved Air maintained their dynamic and high standard of musicianship with a brand new line up. Sonja Kristina and Kirby are interviewed by respected author and journalist Chris Welch for the exclusive revised liner notes in the booklet. Repertoire. 2011. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Biggest lineup change in the band, and still didn't hurt them, May 26, 2006

By 

BENJAMIN MILER (Veneta, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Air Cut (Dig) (Audio CD)

For their first three albums (Air Conditioning, Second Album, Phantasmagoria), the band kept a rather steady lineup, with Sonja Kristina, Francis Monkman, Darryl Way, and Florian Pilkington-Miksa. It was only the bassists the band was going through, as each of these three albums had a different bassist. By the time of their third album, they were on to Mike Wedgwood, who would later become a member of Caravan in the mid '70s (Cunning Stunts, Blind Dog at St. Dunstans). After Phantasmagoria, the band witnessed their biggest lineup change, with Florian Pilkington-Miksa, Francis Monkman, and Darryl Way gone. Mike Wedgwood decided to stay, and in comes two teenagers, a guitarist who simply gone by the name of Kirby (apparently briefly in Fleetwood Mac when Danny Kirwan left and before Bob Weston and Dave Walker came in) and a violinist and keyboardist named Eddie Jobson who would find even greater fame (Roxy Music, UK, Jethro Tull). New drummer was Jim Russell. We all know what lineup changes can do: a. make it obvious the band's best days are now behind them because they don't seem to have the same spirit or inspiration as previous members or simply clueless, or the band wanted new members to ride on what new musical fad was at the time, or in the case of Genesis, get rid of musicians to ride on newer pop fads b. not affect the quality of their music or c. greatly improve the band. Of course people are most happy with "b" and "c", the "c" has plenty of examples, like Yes or Genesis, realizing they needed better and more versatile musicians (i.e. Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman, Steve Hackett, Phil Collins) and those bands did improve greatly when they acquired such musicians in to such bands. Curved Air falls in the category "b", it didn't hurt the band, though there isn't really any improvement to anything they did before, at least the band still made great music with this new lineup.

While it seems like adding teenagers to the band might seem like a stunt for the band to attract a younger audience, upon listening to Air Cut, you know right away that's not the case at all, as they were both fully capable and professional musicians. I thought it was really nice to see Curved Air get a full-time guitarist, and Eddie Jobson was now doing the duties that both Francis Monkman and Darryl Way previously done. While I wasn't exactly happy with Jobson's much more modern keyboard setup with UK and Jethro Tull, here in Curved Air, he used great classic analog keyboards: VCS-3, ARP 2600, harpsichord, and most of all the Mellotron, which is used on some of the cuts! I only wished he retained those keyboards for UK and even Jethro Tull.

It's nice to see Curved Air still sticking to the symphonic prog that they do so well, with the voice of Sonja Kristina still delivering the goods. Sonja isn't the only one doing the vocals, Mike Wedgwood also does some vocals, but does not bear much resemblance to Cunning Stunts (I never felt that album was one of Caravan's better albums), for those fearing. Though I prefer Second Album and Phantasmagoria over this one, this one is still worth having.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars keyboard wizard eddie jobson plays his ass off here., April 30, 2006

By 

Ignaciocue (Mexico) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Air Cut (Dig) (Audio CD)

17 year old keyboard wizard eddie jobson plays his ass off here. Then he went to play in roxy music, Zappa, UK and Tull. Some say this is one of Curved air?s more prog albums.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Curved Air's Best, May 20, 2006

By 

M. A BORENHEIM "bigmorrie" (Austin TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Air Cut (Dig) (Audio CD)

Beautiful package from Repetoire. Eddie Jobson later joined UK.
I'm sure many people have been looking for this album on CD and it's worth the wait. Metamorphosis joins other classic long (>10 minutes) progressive cuts from the seventies from giants like Yes, Renaissance and the Move