Alive 1990 [Import, Live]

Curved Air | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 28, 2000)
• Original Release Date: 1990
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Live
• Label: Import [Generic]
• ASIN: B00004UFD6
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #990,784 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Twenty Years On (Intro)

2. It Happened Today

3. Stretch

4. Hide And Seek

5. Marie Antoinette

6. Melinda (More Or Less)

7. Situations

8. Young Mother

9. You Know

10. Propositions

11. Vivaldi

12. Everdance

13. Back Street Luv

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gem from the archives..., August 31, 2000

By 

Richard Wynne "Lone Cadaver" (Silver Spring, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alive 1990 (Audio CD)

In 1990, the seminal progressive rock band Curved Air regrouped to perform a televised concert at the Town & Country Club for the BBC. Although this concert (and a second at the Dome, Tufnell Park) was in fact recorded off the mixing desk, the filming fell through and the project was shelved, permanently it seemed at the time. Canterbury music fans will be familiar with related reunion concerts staged during the same period by Caravan and Hatfield and the North.

Francis Monkman recently unearthed the tape, and has produced an extraordinary document of the event - a powerful album which rivals, and on some tracks surpasses, the original classic Curved Air recordings. The sound is much fuller than the studio albums thanks both to advances in recording technology and to Monkman's sequencers, which provide the bass lines and some subtle keyboard flavoring. Only Francis, Florian Pilkington-Miksa, Darryl Way, and Sonja Kristina perform on the majority of the tracks, and no overdubs were made. Rob Martin, the original bassist for the group, appears on one track, the perennial crowd-pleaser "Vivaldi." The material is drawn from the first three albums, "Airconditioning," "The Second Album," and "Phantasmagoria," plus a new song written expressly for the reunion, "20 Years On."

Some fifteen years plus had gone by since the original band had played together, and as would be expected a few missed cues and botched notes are evident. But very few. The band was tight and obviously well-rehearsed for this concert.

Highlights: The first track, "It Happened Today," is stunning. Sonja Kristina's vocal talents are at their peak as she delivers a passionate performance on part one. Part two features Darryl Way's lovely violin solo floating gently atop Francis Monkman's gorgeous keyboards. It's genuine magic. "Marie Antoinette" is the show-stopper. Gone is the bouncy pop feel from earlier performances, and in it's place is pure riffing adrenalin. This time when Sonja sings, "We are the people of France..." the effect is utterly chilling. If you don't get goosebumps listening to this, check your pulse.

Florian Pilkington-Miksa is incredible throughout, particularly on "Situations" and "Marie." An underrated talent, he clearly deserves to be mentioned in the same breath with Bill Bruford, Carl Palmer, Andy Ward, and Pip Pyle. Darryl Way, always masterful on the violin, shines on the wonderful and rarely performed "Hide and Seek," and of course on his showcase, "Vivaldi." Francis Monkman rips through "Young Mother" and "Propositions" with a vengeance. His "Everdance," one of three encores, is given a new and superior treatment - a standout track. Sonja Kristina's voice has taken on a new life since Curved Air disbanded at the end of 1976, as fans of her solo material are well aware. On this album her voice is full and deep, powerful and assured, and simply beautiful. The band finishes the set with a rather jaunty encore version of their hit "Back Street Luv," with fans in the front row shouting out the chorus lines.

My highest recommendation.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cheap reissue of ALIVE 1990, May 18, 2006

By 

kireviewer (Sunnyvale, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Live 1990 (Audio CD)

I GIVE THIS A LOWER RATING DUE TO THE MARGINAL SOUND QUALITY. IT'S NOT HORRIBLE, BUT COULD BE BETTER.

This is a reissue of the Curved Air reunion CD called ALIVE 1990. It is much cheaper than the original. It has minimal liner notes (it just lists the songs). It is 72 minutes long, with about 70 minutes of music and 2 minutes of Sonja Kristina jabbering.

This was a reunion concert featuring four of the original members, Kristina, Darryl Way, Florian Miska-Whatever and Francis Monkman. When Monkman was originally with the group he mainly played keyboards. Here he is both guitarist and keyboardist and very good at both. I believe there is a guest bassist on at least one track.

The sound quality of the first track, Twenty Years On is horrible. It is an audience recording. Moving into the second track, the sound suddenly gets better. For the rest of the CD, the sound quality is pretty good but not perfect. Dynamic range is pretty good, but there is some distortion. The mix is OK but can be bad in spots.

This is not the worst sounding CD. It is certainly better than notorious live CD's like Black Sabbath Live At Last, King Crimson Earthbound or Epitath and Hawkwind Early Daze. It is even better than Gong, Live in Sherwood Forest. And I actually think it is better than the typical Dave Matthews live CD.

Another reviewer has complained about the group sounding unpracticed and sloppy. I disagree. I think they sound looser and livelier. They also had a looseness in concert that added new excitement to the material. I think that the sloppiness is do to the poor mix and not the peformance of the band.

I really like the music and performance on this CD. Instead of the group acting like some dinosaur band, playing the songs just like on the studio albums, the group changes things around and makes things interesting. However, some people just love that perfect reproduction of the studio versions (which explains why all those Eagles reunion tours are so popular).

Going to Disney's California Adventure and riding Soaring Over California, I was wondered why the music sounded so familiar. It is very similar to the violin solo during It Happened Today.

As a fan of Curved Air, I always preferred the looser, spacier but harder material from Francis Monkman. I didn't like the art rock compositions from Kristina and Way as much. I found songs like Marie Antoinette and Vivaldi to be stiff and teious at times. I think those songs are so much more enjoyable on this live CD, played in a looser style, than on the original studio albums.

I like this CD more than Curved Air Live, maybe because it just has more music on it. However, I prefer the version of Propositions on the earlier album. I think it is the wildest and best thing they have done. On this CD, they have taken the keyboard solo and put it in Young Lover.

If you like the guitar playing on this, you might want to check out Francis Monkman Jam or Phil Manzanera's 801 Live.

4.0 out of 5 stars The Beauty of the Live Peformance, January 1, 2009

By 

TDN - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live 1990 (Audio CD)

Certain bands are just doing a job, others clearly enjoy the live performance which become a unique recording. From what I hear I would have loved to see and hear this band live. If what is others say is true, this certainly would have been nice to have a DVD version. Perfect sound quality doesn't necessarily make a great live performance. Showmanship involves more than being able to reproduce something note for note. This group though I think has it and their fans appreciate it. Too bad about the aging process.