Gift

Curve | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 18, 2001)
• Original Release Date: September 18, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Fontana Hip-O
• Run Time: 46 minutes
• ASIN: B00005NQBN
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #161,931 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Learning Curve, September 22, 2001

By 

Todd Selmer (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gift (Audio CD)

1992 brought us groundbreaking albums by Tori Amos (Little Earthquakes), and Nine Inch Nails (Broken EP). I use those two examples, because if you combine them, you've got a little band called Curve, whose debut album 'Doppleganger' was also released that year. Although that comparison doesn't do them justice, at the time of it's release, 'Doppleganger' sounded like nothing else. In this day and age of Garbage and Skindive, their sound is familiar. Industrial beats, synth- lines and lot's of feedback. Then there's the vocals of singer Toni Halliday. Detatched and beautiful, yet somehow inviting, she sang like she just couldn't care less. 1993 brough their third release, 'Cukoo'. Their most cohesive and well-rounded effort, it showed a slightly softer side by bringing the vocals front and center instead of burying them in fuzz. Though they re-formed in 1997 and released the flawed-but-good 'Come Clean', 'Gift' is the true sequel to 'Cukoo'. The first three tracks, 'Hell Above Water', 'Gift', and 'Want More Need Less' sound like business as usual. Then out of nowhere comes 'Parish'. A beat heavy romp that is seductive and beautiful with Halliday's vocals more impassioned than they have ever been. The beats throughout the album are remarkable where in the past, they could be obvious and repetitive. The winning streak continues throughout the rest of the ten tracks. This is perhaps Curve's best album to date. It's no longer innovative, not groundbreaking. It's a band doing what they do best.
RECOMMENDED IF YOU LIKE: Garbage, Skindive, Solar Twins, Tori Amos, Cocteau Twins, Nine Inch Nails.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No comparison, October 8, 2001

By 

C. G. "seagrass" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gift (Audio CD)

I swear, if I hear one more reviewer mention Garbage in a Curve album review, I just might be sick. The groups exist on two completely different levels of music, both in style and in maturity. Let's just leave it at that, shall we? If you are going to compare and contrast, I would really like to hear someone talk about other Curve-inspired groups (like Lulabox or Collide, for example). Oh well. As for Gift, the only thing I can honestly say is "Thank you." I was pleased as punch upon picking up the Internet-only comp. Open Day at the Hatefest, and even more thrilled when Gift arrived in my mailbox. It truly sounds like the group is again enjoying the art of making music. They've managed to overcome several obstacles (personal, label and management issues), and have emerged with an album to be proud of. Gift doesn't sound like Curve redone; it sounds like Curve REBORN. Sure, Toni and Dean have made significant changes to their trademark sound...but in a way that gives us a glimpse of the direction Curve is heading in, while at the same time reminding us of what the band once was, and at its core will always be. On Curve's past albums, I had always heard a definite sense of melody underneath all that white noise, guitar dissonance, and drum aggression; Curve manages to subtly bring that underlying melody to the surface of the songs Gift contains...and the resulting sound is both more mature and more dynamic. I believe that this may actually be the greatest success of this album.
It is unfortunate that Curve will not be touring the US to support this album; I saw them on the Come Clean tour, and to this day have yet to see another group that displays the kind of musical talent and integrity that Curve presents during its live shows. So many groups could and SHOULD learn a thing or two from Curve...not just how to reinvent yourself, but how to do so without destroying what you have already created.
Way to go, guys.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Album, October 2, 2001

By 

Reticuli (Las Vegas) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gift (Audio CD)

...At least in the meantime fans were treated to an internet-only release compilation called "Open Day at the Hatefest" which could have easily been called "Pretty Little Pagan" due to its darker atmospheres in several of the tracks. "Gift" showcases nearly every style Curve has used over the years, but with a warmer, more heartfelt emotional theme and what some might call a lighter sound (I know better). Especially interesting is their use of unconventional song structure and pacing to keep the intra-track development from becoming predictable. This is taken to the extreme with the last track, "Bleeding Heart", which seems a little too mild in its neurosis for the subject matter and capitalizes on this fact in the unexpected finale. I'd already heard "Hell Above the Water", "Perish", and "Chainmail" from their website, so I can't say I fixated on those tracks upon first listen of this disk. They're great, but very familiar to me by now. It's nice to finally have them in Red Book CD rather than measly MP3, though. The songs that really caught my attention were "Want More Need Less", "Hung Up", and "My Tiled White Floor", among others. You can hear a significant connection between this album and "Come Clean", but it melds much more of Curve's previous sound than that one did. Then of course there's the near historic event of Kevin Shields coming out of his cave from working on My Bloody Valentine's newest (mythical?) album (as he's been doing for years) to contribute some layered guitar work. Alan Moulders good friend Flood (the experimental genius) once again lent his talents on a few of the tracks. Then to take things up yet another notch, "Gift" was perfectly mixed by Ben Grosse (Filter, Republica, The X-Files) and exquisitely mastered by Kevin Metcalfe (Tinstar, Queen, Orbital). The end result is the softest, fluffiest (if you can really say that about a Curve album), warmest, most un-bright, un-sibilant and sonically consistent album they've released...even more so than "Open Day at the Hatefest", which also had some excessive high frequency spikes in its two most recent tracks (sorry Master Alan). Soundwise, it reminds me of a fine TELARC cd. And of course, after all these years Toni still has a breathtaking voice that is now being recorded with more expertise and less processing than ever before. 'Tis a good day for Curve fans everywhere! It's a mystery why major record and electronic stores have "Gift" displays listed under the sign "Best New Band". Hello?! Six major releases later and people still have never heard of this group. Go figure.