| Lovechild | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Curved Air | ||||
| Released | 1990 | |||
| Recorded | July 1973, London | |||
| Genre | Progressive rock, folk rock | |||
| Length | 34:24 | |||
| Label | UK Essential7 Castle | |||
| Producer | Clifford Adams | |||
| Curved Air chronology | ||||
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Lovechild is the seventh studio album credited to progressive rock band Curved Air, though only half the tracks are actually performed by the group. The album consists of previously unreleased demos overseen by Clifford Adams in the early 1970s: one by John O'Hara, two by Eddie Jobson, one by Kirby Gregory, and four by Curved Air. Vocalist Sonja Kristina explained the album's origin:
Curved Air are a pioneering English progressive rock group formed in 1970 by musicians from mixed artistic backgrounds, including classical, 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, The Flock and the United States of America to feature a violin. 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.
Edwin "Eddie" Jobson is an English keyboardist and violinist noted for his use of synthesizers. He has been a member of several progressive rock bands, including Curved Air, Roxy Music, UK, Jethro Tull and Yes. He was also part of Frank Zappa's band in 1976–77. Aside from his keyboard work Jobson has also gained acclaim for his violin playing. He won the "Lifetime Achievement" award at the 2017 Progressive Music Awards. In March 2019 Eddie Jobson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Roxy Music.
Graham Patrick "Kirby" Gregory, often credited simply as Kirby is an English musician best known for playing with rock bands Curved Air and Stretch. He now works in the field of addictions counselling.
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Now that album was total piracy. Those were demo tapes I made for Warner Brothers, who had suddenly realized that I was the only original member — that it wasn't really Curved Air as it had been before. So Clifford Davis presented the tapes to Warners who decided for various reasons that they weren't going to continue with the contract. [1]
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and headquartered in Burbank, California. It was founded in 1958 as the recorded music division of the American film studio Warner Bros., and was one of a group of labels owned and operated by larger parent corporations for much of its existence. The sequence of companies that controlled Warner Bros. and its allied labels evolved through a convoluted series of corporate mergers and acquisitions from the early 1960s to the early 2000s. Over this period, Warner Bros. Records grew from a struggling minor player in the music industry to one of the top record labels in the world.
As implied in Sonja Kristina's comment, Lovechild is essentially an "official" bootleg; neither Warner Brothers nor any of the band members gave permission for the demos to be released, and no royalties were paid to any of the band members from its sales. Years after she made the above comments, however, Repertoire Records obtained permission from both Warner Brothers and the musicians to reissue the album, and in 2011 a legit version with new liner notes was released, though unlike the original release it appeared only on CD.
Repertoire Records is a German record label from Hamburg, Germany, specialising in reissues of classic pop and rock albums originally issued in the 1960s and 1970s. The chairman is Thomas Neelsen.
The four Curved Air demos were recorded between Air Cut and the band's breakup. Jim Russell and Kirby Gregory had already left, and were replaced on the demos by Florian Pilkington-Miksa and Icelandic guitarist Thordur Arnason, known to the other band members as simply "Thor".
Air Cut is the fourth studio album by Curved Air and was recorded in 1973, following the departure of three of the band's founding members. Only Sonja Kristina and Mike Wedgwood remained in the band from their previous album and Air Cut took them in a more rock-oriented direction.
Florian M Pilkington-Miksa is an English rock drummer. He is best known as a member of both the original and reformed lineups of Curved Air. He also has also performed with Kiki Dee.
The album's cover is simply the artwork from the front cover of Airconditioning superimposed on the artwork from the back cover of the same album.
