Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Curved Air
Label: Curved Air Records
Released: 2014
Length: 75:54
Rating: 3.5/5
»North Star« is the first Curved Air studio album of mostly new material since the by-now ancient year of 1976, when these cult English prog rockers bowed out early with »Airborne« (the album »Lovechild« did come out in 1990, but it was originally recorded back in 1973). There wasn’t much news from their camp until 2008, when they finally got back together for good, even though only vocalist Sonja Kristina and drummer Florian Pilkington-Miksa are left from the original seventies lineup. Curved Air soon became an active live band, while things in the studio, as you’d expect, moved a lot more slowly. The albums »Reborn« (2008), with two new songs, and »Retrospective« (2010) were purely compilation and nostalgia affairs, meant as ‘warm-ups’.
The live album »Live Atmosphere« (2012) turned out far more interesting, giving a pretty good look at how a band from the ‘prehistoric’ prog rock era sounds on 21st-century concert stages. The cult violin and keyboard virtuoso Darryl Way, who took part in the 2008 reunion, couldn’t muster enough energy to work on »North Star«. Guitarist Kirby Gregory felt differently. He was already a Curved Air member in the seventies, having played on the album »Air Cut« (1973). With his brilliant guitar passages, tinged with a refined bluesy flavor, Gregory nicely complements the violin masterworks of Paul Sax.
The violin has always played an exceptionally important role in the Curved Air sonic collage, and this time too, together with the keyboards courtesy of Robert Norton, it’s key to building the fluid symphonic and folk arrangements that define most of the songs on the album, which means they haven’t abandoned their recognizable, traditional sound. »North Star« contains seven brand-new songs, which is enough to count it as a new studio album, even though the rest of the space is filled with re-recorded material from earlier Curved Air albums, one re-recorded song from Sonja’s 1980 solo debut, and three covers of artists as different as Snow Patrol, The Beatles and The Police.
What Curved Air fans have always cared about most when it comes to their beloved band is Sonja’s voice, which in her prime was in the elite class of the best (prog) rock vocalists. Unlike Annie Haslam (Renaissance), who still has a beautifully preserved voice and often still sounds like a young woman, the years have been less kind to Sonja’s voice. It’s not so much that one of the first female vocalists in the history of progressive rock lacks vocal fire in her ‘mature’ years, since she still pours all the emotion she has into her interpretations of every song on »North Star«. But her vocal range has noticeably shrunk over the decades, and it’s clear that behind the microphone there’s no longer the pretty young girl who once appeared in the famous musical Hair and was even a member of the English branch of the Playboy Club, but an older lady.
Still, she wisely doesn’t try to hide that fact, and she makes good use of her changed voice on the new pieces, which are infused with a greater degree of maturity as a result. The change in her vocals is most noticeable on the re-recorded older Curved Air numbers like »Puppets«, »Situations« and »Young Mother«, which consequently sound different in the 21st century than in the more idealistic seventies. Instrumentally, though, every one of them is played just ‘the way it should be’ and is sure to stir up a heaping dose of nostalgia, especially among those who grew up alongside the band.
Longtime Curved Air fans are also curious how the seven new songs on »North Star« turn out. The answer: very solid, but unexciting, which is still better than expected. The opening prog folk rocker »Stay Human«, thanks to its hard rock guitar riff and combative violin passages, is the most energetic moment on »North Star«. »Time Games« has some pleasant jazz fusion magic thanks to its opening bass, guitar and percussion improvisations, which means it carries quite a bit of that nostalgic seventies atmosphere.
»Images And Sings« features epic-flavored symphonic arrangements that rival some of the achievements from the ‘olden days’. The same goes for »Interplay«, which is one of the main reasons why Curved Air are worth listening to even in their latest incarnation. On the experimental »Magnetism«, Ms. Kristina, amid moving vocal harmonies, successfully proves that her ‘more mature’ vocal approach can still conjure the old magic and lead a band that demonstrates some fascinating improvisational tunes here. The instrumental »Spider« is a real treat for all fans of symphonic prog, folk and jazz fusion hybrids. On the playful »Old Town News«, where the band pokes fun at itself too, Sonja deliberately sounds a bit like a matron at times, while the band is in full improvisational swing the whole way through.
Picking The Police cover »Spirits In The Material World« is by far the most logical of the three covers on »North Star«, since Sonja Kristina was once married to their drummer Stewart Copeland, with whom she became a couple back when he was a Curved Air member in the mid-seventies. Thanks mainly to the rustic violin arrangements, it’s also the most interesting cover on »North Star«. The minimalist-arranged take on the acclaimed ballad »Chasing Cars«, originally by the post-Britpop band Snow Patrol, is a rather odd, if not downright bizarre, choice for a band like Curved Air, and it’s one of the most ‘sleepy’ moments on the whole album. The ethereally spiced cover of The Beatles’ evergreen »Across The Universe« comes off a bit more inspired and interesting thanks to Sonja’s heartfelt singing, although they turned it into yet another perfect lullaby.
»North Star« is first and foremost an album for the nostalgics who miss the romantic days of the mid-seventies, when Curved Air broke the ice as one of the first prog rock bands with a female vocalist and a violin. The band doesn’t even try to hide its age, which goes especially for Sonja’s vocal contributions. Her fans will just have to get used to the fact that time marches mercilessly on for her voice too, not only her figure, so the days when some went to Curved Air shows mainly to drool over her sexy looks are long gone. On the other hand, her voice has gained a new dimension of maturity it didn’t have before, and the fact that Curved Air are still top-notch instrumentalists and arrangers, as they prove on the new material too, still counts for something.
Lineup
Sonja Kristina – vocals
Florian Pilkington-Miksa – drums
Kirby Gregory – guitar
Paul Sax – violin
Robert Norton – keyboards
Chris Harris – bass
Production
Curved Air and Berick Wickens
Track list
1. Stay Human
2. Time Games
3. Puppets
4. Images and Signs
5. Interplay
6. Spider
7. Magnetism
8. Colder Than a Rose in Snow
9. Spirits in the Material World
10. Old Town News
11. Situations
12. Chasing Cars
13. Young Mother
14. Across the Universe
