Curved Air

Curved Air biography

Curved Air are a pioneering British progressive rock group formed in 1970 by musicians from mixed artistic backgrounds, including classic, folk, and electronic sound. The resulting sound of the band was a mixture of progressive rock, folk rock, and fusion with classical elements. Along with High Tide and East of Eden, Curved Air were one of the first rock bands after It's a Beautiful Day and The United States of America to feature a violin. Considered (according to AllMusic) "one of the most dramatically accomplished of all the bands lumped into Britain's late-'60s prog explosion", Curved Air released eight studio albums (the first three of which broke the UK Top 20) and had a hit single with "Back Street Luv" (1971) which reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart.

Band history

Sisyphus

The group evolved out of the band Sisyphus which was formed by Darryl Way (who studied violin at Dartington College and the Royal College of Music) and Francis Monkman, a member of the Royal Academy of Music. While wandering an outlet store of the Orange Music Electronic Company, Monkman was intrigued by the sound of Way testing out his first electrically amplified violin, and the two "got to talking." They discovered they had a lot in common, and in 1969 invited pianist Nick Simon who, along with bassist Rob Martin and drummer Florian Pilkington-Miksa, completed the line-up of Sisyphus. Much of the early Curved Air songs were written for Sisyphus, among them "Young Mother in Style" and "Screw".

Sisyphus was hired to provide accompaniment for Galt McDermott's new play, "Who the Murderer Was," at the Mercury Theatre in Notting Hill Gate, serving as the pit band. Mark Hanau, an aspiring band manager at the time, saw the show and decided he wanted to manage Sisyphus. He felt that Sonja Kristina, an aspiring folk musician who he had seen in the London stage production of Hair, was the missing ingredient in the group. On January 1, 1970, Hanau contacted her through Roy Guest. She listened to a cassette of the band's music and was impressed. Upon Kristina's joining and Nick Simon's departure, the band changed their name to Curved Air, after the album A Rainbow in Curved Air by contemporary composer Terry Riley.

After a series of intensive rehearsals in Martin's family home in Gloucestershire, the five-piece launched a well-received U.K. tour, supporting Black Sabbath at one point. Curved Air publicist Tony Brainsby fanned the stirring hype, a bidding war for the band ensued, and their debut album Airconditioning was released in November to enormous hype surrounding its being issued as the first commercially available LP picture disc. The album reached number 8 in the UK Albums Chart, even though an accompanying single, "It Happened Today," failed to chart.

With Ian Eyre replacing bassist Martin, the band released "Back Street Luv" which reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart to become the band's most successful single to date. The Second Album peaked at number 11. A non-LP follow-up single, "Sarah's Concern," went by unnoticed.

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