Customer Reviews

Way of Curve

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I must say that I was pleasantly surprised and happy to get my Import of Curve's The Way Of Curve 1990/2004. I have spent the last few weeks listening to this CD on my i-pod and have logged it as the most listened too tracks on my i-tunes. I have been a long time fan of Curve since my friend Diana from High School made me a tape of them in 1992. I immediately went and got Doppelganger their first full length US release.

Enough dilly-dallying on with my review: If you are a first time listener of Curve this is a good CD to start with and take advantage of. In a nut shell this two CD set is a great starting point for people who liked Gift and Chinese Burn. The first CD is Basically a Best of and the second CD is a Rare B-side and Best of remixes! If you are a long time fan and have all of Curve's CD's and CD Singles and downloaded Music this CD is a Cornucopia of rare and hard to find gems like In Disguise and Coming Up Roses the Kevin Shields Mix. But for those who are new and not too familiar with Curve this is also a treasure trove of great music by the band.

You will find that much of the music is uncategorizeable is it Rock, is it Dance, is it Electro, or is it Goth? It's hard to tell you what curve is like if you have never really heard them before. Some of you may have caught a sonic glimpse of the band in Movies and in television commercials for Cars and Motorcycles. Trust me when I say that if you are a fan of Guitar pulsing, rhythmic Drums (machine made or human made) you will be. I feel Curve was never given there chance and they always seem on the verge of making it in the states but just seem to never get a good foot hold. Every chance I get to talk about music I bring up Curve and people are so surprised that they have heard the band but never knew what they were hearing.

Tracks of note on the two CD's are:

Ten Little Girls:(Originally off of Blindfold 1992) with a hypnotic sound and a guitar rift that Garbage and Marlin Mansion would use in songs that would not come out for another four or five years. Probably the most stolen sound of the 90's!

Horror Head: (Originally off of Doppelganger 1992) with its haunting vocals and sense of strange urgency that seems to make you feel like you are spinning.

Pink Girls With the Blues: (Originally off of Pink Girls With the Blues EP 1996) this song has a furry that is raw and feels like it is about to come off like a scab on your knee. The Drums and bass are exceptional on this track and are truly a sonic treat.

I could go on but to say many of the tracks are layered and complex and are full of melody. Curve can only be described as a Kung Fu fighter going for the jugular and ripping it out and showing it to you before you die. (Nice analogy Hum?) Sonically sound, electronically sound and mesmerizing.

Ignore the first rather hysterical (and elitist) review on these pages. This is not a collection that's been released solely for the benefit of die-hard fans. This double-CD set attempts the envious task of summing up the last 12 years of a band who have never once compromised their art for extra sales, while attempting to appeal to both old and potential new listeners alike.

Even if you ARE a die-hard Curve fanatic, there is plenty here for you. All the tracks have been newly mastered and sound better than ever before. The presence of all three tracks from the super-rare German-only "Superblaster" single (a CD that fetches three-figure sums on Ebay!) are worth the money alone. And new track "In Disguise" is utterly sublime and proves that Curve are still pushing frontiers and are not the one-dimensional has-beens that the moronic UK press mostly continues to brand them.

To newcomers (or old fans who thought Curve had dropped off the radar in 1994), if you're unsure whether to purchase this or not then do yourself a favour and hunt down a cheap copy of the incredible "Gift" from 2001 (that you lucky US peeps got months before us in the UK!). Then come back and re-apply here. You will not regret it.

Well this review will be slightly biased, as I was one of the fans that helped pick the track selection via Curves website. All that aside, its a well chosen look back from the first singles untill now. Curve always wore thier influences well, part of the 'shoegazing' sound alongside bands like 'My Bloody Valentine' and 'Slowdive' , part of the etheric tone of 'Cocteau Twins' , and full of the discovery that was electronic music in the 90's. They were also more than the sum of thier parts, creating a sound that fit into none of the genres that spawned them.
Though I wish that a few more of the tracks from 'Cuckoo' had made it, I feel that was the high water mark , and 'Unreadable Communication' should have made this collection. The second disc includes b-sides from the singles that have been hard to find, but does not include the original 'Falling Free' or all of the 'Blackertracker 3' b-sides. But its a great retrospective for new fans, and worth it even if you have it all just to hear the better mastering of the old tracks(less hiss, better high end eq). And some of it sounds just as fresh and innovative as the first time I heard it in 1991. How many bands can you say that for 14 years later?

After LUSH only got a one disc rush-job of a b/o release, I was happily surprised by what CURVE fans got with this set. Having a DVD of their promo videos would have been even better (to say the VERY least) but it doesn't take away from this superb collection. It doesn't surprise me that Toni & Dean haven't found huge mainstream success. They were "alternative" before the term lost its meaning in the mid-90s. (trust me,the "shoe gazer" label was worse and they didn't fit that at all!)They didn't sound like anyone then or now. BUY this collection! If you love goth, electronica and strong, sexy, female vocals- you will be in heaven.

A rather well known musician has been bragging that his soon to be released album will be "12 good punches to the face." That's funny. Curve gave me a good smacking sometime back in 1992 when a friend popped "Doppelganger" into my tape deck.

Curve, IMHO, is best listened to really loud driving/riding your vehicle way too fast down a tight, curvy road sometime past midnight. It would appear that, ~14 years later, the mainstream has finally caught up with this notion because you hear Curve's music in current car/motorcycle commercials and action movies. They were one of the better kept secrets of the 90s.

I'd recommend this compilation as a decent intro (but buy it used - full price is too much!) to Curve and a great way to pick up all the B-Sides but please get their full albums too. There are just too many excellent album tracks missing.

One more thing: Good god, their cover of "I Feel Love" is the best.

If you were looking to get into Curve and didn't know where to go - this is the answer you were looking for. 31 tracks and over 2 hours of pure great music. Curve are a tricky band to categorize in any genre ( some might say they come under the term " good music " ). Though the press deem them to be unfashionable and label them near to a joke but they're anything but. Step inside and enjoy what's on offer here

In fact, I think their last will stand as their most mature, most skillfully mixed and mastered work they ever created. It thrives...no...FEEDS on volume. Each album was stunning, but the last album is eight songs so perfectly that band...they ache with the sort of terrible tumultuous and atmospheric beauty only this band seemed to capture in just this way. Unlike Doppelganger and Cuckoo it's never harsh. Unlike Come Clean it's less Tim Simenon's black-blacks and neon blues than a sort of uniquely-Curve organic brown and deeply tan, sun scorched sumptuous sonic landscape over a starry sky. At the same time it's even more personal and with a richer artistic harmony than either Open Day at the Hatefest or Gift, both of which had their moments. Toni and Dean didn't half-ass it at the end, but rather poured in every last ounce of the Curve heart and soul...showing that pounds of the stuff had remained in reserve. In the process I think they showed growth as a band even then. Eight songs of Curve, and one farewell song at the end in the style of one of Toni's favorite bands: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. It's an indication of her new interests, but Dean's singing it, so everything must be o.k. between these two. If you enjoyed this band, you really need everything from Pubic Fruit on down to what I think will end up as their final masterpiece: The New Adventures of Curve. Like a great novel or film, I can't think someone can get the proper sense of who and what this band was unless you experience it all...beginning, middle, and end...not the Cliff Notes version. 4 stars for the B-Sides and new mastering. Minus 1 star for the songs being out of context...and for the fact that it is after all just a teaser to what this band put out there. Two for the price of one is still nice, but if I put 5 stars you'd just skip over this review, right?

This is one of the best overviews of any band I've seen. The first disc compiles remastered singles from the whole of Curve's career while the second disc compiles remastered b-sides & rarities (most hard to find & some never released before on compact disc)! The tracks on the second disc were selected by fans via Curve's website (www.curve.co.uk) so if anyone's unhappy with this release, they should have voted!

Words have always failed me when it comes to adequately depicting how magical, how powerful, how blissfully kick-ass their music has been to me for 15 years. Thankfully, this collection does it for me! It's a brilliant compilation, well-named "The Way of Curve" for it certainly takes you on its winding route. Re-mastered classics sound brand new, gorgeous, and the rare stuff (on the rarities cd) is candy-coated and bitter-sweet for all the die-hards. A must-have.

Oh wow!

Most Curve fans will have most of the first disc on the original releases.Nothing new to report there,just some good old Curve classics(Ten Little Girls is as good today as it was way back in 91).And a song or two that a casual fan may not of heard before(Pink Girl With the Blues).
The second disc is where it gets really good.Today Is Not The Day is just incredible.I Feel Love is what a dance song from under the ocean would sound like.What a Waste with Ian Dury explains why Curve doesn't do more work with other artists.I don't think anyone can match Toni's voice.And if you have never heard On The Wheel Before ,you are missing out on one of the greatest songs I have ever heard.

The best thing about Curve and this compilation is that the early songs sound as fresh and original as the newer stuff.This CD will age well in your collection and you will never be embarrassed to share it with your friends,today,next month or next decade.

I only rate this CD a 4 because the price at the time I purchased it was a bit high.I still think it was worth it.

Buy a Curve album or two and share them with your friends.
dwayne