ALIVE 1990

This live album was recorded in 1990 when Curved Air briefly reunited. The line-up included original members Francis Monkman, Darryl Way, Florian Pilkington-Miksa and Sonja Kristina, and the set list draws (with only one exception) exclusively from the band's three first studio albums. No less than six songs from the 1970 debut album Air-Conditioning are performed, four songs from 1971's Second Album, and two from 1972's Phantasmagoria. Hence, there is a heavy focus on the earliest days of the band's career. This decision was natural given the people involved since from 1973's Air Cut onwards there were major personnel changes in the band.

The sole exception mentioned above is the opening track Twenty Years On which I can only assume was written around the time of this live recording and is to my knowledge not available in a studio version. Sadly, the sound quality on this one track is far below the rest of the tracks! So, when you hear this live album for the first time don't be fooled into thinking that it all sounds as rough as this first track. The other tracks mostly have an acceptable sound, although there are some problems in a few places most notably at the very beginning of the second track. The show itself is of very high quality and had the recording been perfect no doubt I would give this live album a higher rating. As it stands, Alive 1990 is an enjoyable but somewhat rough live document by a great band.

The more recent Live Atmosphere offers many of the same songs in better versions, but Alive 1990 is a good addition in its own right despite some minor technical flaws

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