Search - Curved Air :: Alive 1990

Cheap reissue of ALIVE 1990

kireviewer | Sunnyvale, Ca United States | 05/18/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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."