NORTH STAR

Hmmm ...Till now no one seems interested to write a review about this legendary band that colored the prog scene in the seventies. It's a pity also that in fact I have never written any single review about this band through out their music career through six studio albums. In principle, I actually love the music of Curved Air because it has violin component in their music which I really like it very much. You might categorize the band as prog folk or whatsoever but to me the music is captivating. North Star is the first studio album of mostly new material since the band reformed in 2008 by its constant member , Sonja Kristina, following 2008's Reborn (mostly re-recordings of material from their first five albums, with two new tracks), 2010's Retrospective (a "best-of" anthology of original recordings from 1970-1976 plus three tracks by MASK) and 2012's Live Atmosphere (live performances from 2010/11). There are basically seven new songs, plus three songs that originally appeared on the first two Curved Air albums were re-recorded, plus one from a Sonja Kristina solo album, and three covers of songs originated by other bands.

As far as my personal experience listening to this album, I have been quite impressed by their excellent musical composition of new materials plus the audio quality that resembles the seventies sound with raw sounds as its key characteristics. I am really impressed by the beautifully crafted opening track Stay Human that blends nicely the Sonja's vocal quality with violin work that maneuvers beautifully through various passages. The basic is basically something like pop or even folk music but the add-ons of violin as well as vocal have made it quite progressive in nature. In principle I enjoy the first five tracks of the album as every single song delivers its unique characteristic which is quite progressive but not quite complicated to enjoy. I don't think any music buff has problem enjoying this album, really. One special note I can put that during the song called as Interplay, the guitar solo by Kirby Gregory is truly stunning. I am really happy that the old school prog bands like Curved Air still can make an excellent composition. An excellent music, really. Puppets is actually a rerecorded version from the band's second album written collaboratively by Sonja Kristina and Darryl Way.

The sixth track Spider sounds differently than other tracks and it's an instrumental track featuring excellent combination of bass guitar, guitar as well as violin and keyboards. It's really an enjoyable track. Again the guitar solo is really stunning and it's very seventies despite new recording technology. The next track Magnetism brings back the nice voice of Sonja Kristina. The guitar solo is really stunning and vintage. The Police cover Spirits in the Material World has been rearranged beautifully to suit with Curved Air music style. It's a very nice cover, really. Also this album covers The Beatles' Across the Universe.

Overall, I think this album has been carefully crafted by the band to produce a very nice an engaging music that hooks me to have it spun from start to end. I am sure I will have some more spins later after this review. Even though Kristina is the only consistent member of the band, I think she has been successful to convince her bandmates to produce music in line with the band's style. With no single doubt at all I rate this album as an excellent addition to prog music collection. Keep on proggin' ...!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW