NORTH STAR

"North Star" is the seventh (eighth if you count the re-recordings album "Reborn") studio album by progressive rock band Curved Air and their first studio album with new material since 1976. Curved Air is an often forgotten band of the 70's progressive rock scene, and like Renaissance they were one of the more classical-influenced bands. They make extensive use of violin and on their first album even had a song titled 'Vivaldi'.

On "North Star", we have seven new songs, three re-recorded songs, one re-recorded Sonja Kristina solo song, and three covers. Personally, I don't care for the covers and re-recordings but the new songs are excellent and some of the best songs the band has made.

Something I find amazing about a lot of the songs, is that the band rocks but at the sometime makes the music very calming and easy to listen to. Songs like 'Stay Human' and 'Time Games' both have some pretty rockin' guitar and bass work, but the peaceful keyboards and violin really add a different feel. Parts of the latter especially almost sound other-worldly, it's hard to explain, but the way all the instruments play together makes it rock and calm at the same time. 'Images and Signs' has a particularly great combining of violin and guitar, with the guitar supplying climbing riffs and sometimes getting menacing while the violin and keyboards bring a calming presence.

Now that I think about it, the band actually rocks quite a bit more than they used to. Now, this isn't hard rock or anything, but they really put the rock into 'progressive rock' with this album. While a lot of the new songs have great guitar work, the instrumental 'Spider' really has some awesome riffs. It combines more typical symphonic rock sections with really catchy riffs with a real jump to the guitar. There are also some space-y parts in the song that fit in really well.

The production is very organic and natural sounding, and it has a real warmth to it. I think this production works perfectly with the sound of the music, as I said the music feels very relaxed and if it wasn't for the filler of re- recordings and covers, the album would flow perfectly. A good idea of the feeling the music and sound gives, is a feeling of sitting by a fireplace calm and content but also tapping your foot to a catchy riff and rhythm.

Overall, it's rare for a classic 70's band's best work to be their most recent after being split-up for many years. However, I think this is the case with Curved Air, and this would get an easy five stars if it wasn't for the filler. I'll have to settle for 4.5, but I can't wait for anything else new that Curved Air has up their sleeves. I highly recommend this album for any fans of symphonic rock that want something both rocking and relaxing. 4.5 rounded down to 4.

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