CURLY CURVE

Hailing from Berlin CURLY CURVE has been one of the best german rock bands of the 70s. Although there were some relations to krautrock acts (bass player Kurt Herkenberg was one of the founding members of TANGERINE DREAM for example) they had the emphasis on playing sophisticated blues rock. The band started in 1968 and saw several line-up changes over the years. Alex Conti (later Atlantis, Lake) was aboard for some time but had already left when CURLY CURVE produced this eponymous album in 1973. It should remain the only official one if you don't count a limited edition which came out in 1981 consisting of songs left over from their recordings for a second album.

You can't examine the band's origin or typical german influences at least - this sounds like produced for the English or American market. A mix of straightforward rocking songs and ballads with good accent-free english vocals. This is presented very powerful and quite varied with two guitars alternating for the rhythm and solo work and I'm sure they really rocked the crowd when playing live. You can find some slight psychedelic moments on I'm Getting Better which is a successful song.

Bitter Sweet comes up like a boogie first which immediately invites to dance - suitable for your next party maybe. But then for a short interlude the band changes the mood with a blend of bluesy and spacey elements which is quite exciting. American westcoast rock impressions are following and ... hurra ... Patricia Reprise even holds mellotron in the background. The grooving Queen Of Spades finally strikes because spiked with some experimentally modified guitars.

This album is a really listenable one - well produced rock songs (with a few prog leanings) - you should check this out if you have such a preference too.