Alive, 1990

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Alive, 1990
Curved Air Alive 1990.jpg
Live album by
ReleasedNov 28, 2000
Recorded23 September 1990
Venue The Town and Country Club 2, London [1] [2]
Genre Progressive rock, folk rock
Length72:58
Label Mystic
Producer Francis Monkman
Curved Air chronology
Live at the BBC
(1976)
Alive, 1990
(2000)
Reborn
(2000)

Alive, 1990 is a recording from the Curved Air reunion concert 23 September 1990. The lineup reunited Sonja Kristina, Francis Monkman, Florian Pilkington-Miksa and Darryl Way, sixteen years after the last time all four of them played together.

Curved Air are an 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.

Sonja Kristina English musician, lead singer in Curved Air

Sonja Kristina is an English songwriter, musician and actress, best known for starring in the seminal 1960s musical, Hair, and for being the lead vocalist of the 1970s progressive rock band, Curved Air.

Francis Monkman is an English rock, classical and film score composer, and a founding member of both the progressive rock band Curved Air and the classical/rock fusion band Sky. He is the son of the late Kenneth Monkman, an authority on the writer Laurence Sterne, and of the late Vita née Duncombe Mann.

Contents

Aside from the ambient introductory piece "Twenty Years On", all the material was taken from Curved Air's first three albums, with a particular emphasis on the debut album. Most of the running time is devoted to songs from the debut album.

The introductory track, "Twenty Years On", was taken from an audience recording on a mono cassette recorder, and hence is of exceptionally poor sound quality. Since the album was compiled chiefly for fans of the group, it was decided that it would be better to include a low-quality recording of the intro than none at all.

Track listing

  1. "Twenty Years on (Intro)" (Francis Monkman, Darryl Way) – 4:11
  2. "It Happened Today" (Sonja Kristina, Monkman) – 5:31
  3. "Stretch" (Monkman, Way) – 4:29
  4. "Hide and Seek" (Kristina, Way) – 6:52
  5. "Marie Antoinette" (Kristina, Way) – 7:04
  6. "Melinda (More or Less)" (Kristina) – 4:14
  7. "Situations" (Rob Martin, Way) – 5:43
  8. "Young Mother" (Kristina, Way) – 7:06
  9. "You Know" (Kristina, Way) – 3:45
  10. "Propositions" (Monkman) – 5:15
  11. "Vivaldi" (Way) – 9:59
  12. "Everdance" (Monkman) – 4:15
  13. "Backstreet Luv" (Ian Eyre, Kristina, Way) – 4:26

Personnel

Curved Air

Richard Darryl Way is an English rock and classical musician who was a founding member of Curved Air and co-writer of their only hit single, "Back Street Luv". He is best known as a violinist although he also plays keyboards.

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 has also performed with Kiki Dee.

Guest musician
Production credits

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References

  1. "Curved Air Home Page". www.curvedair.com. Archived from the original on 2009-09-01. Retrieved 2009-08-28.
  2. "allmusic ((( Alive, 1990 > Overview )))". www.allmusic.com. Retrieved 2009-08-28.