Curved Air in the 1970s (Decades series)

Laura Shenton

Softcover | 15.04 x 1.17 x 21.26 cm | 144 pp

Sonicbond | 2021 | 9781789520699 

The Decades series looks at a specific decade in the life of a band or artist.

Beat Instrumental summed it up in 1971: 'In a few short months Curved Air have emerged from the unknown depths to become one of the most talked-about bands around. By a combination of record company promotion (ranging from ads to that pretty patterned album) and a word-of-mouth reputation gained from their gigs, the group became a name before they had really done that much. Such a situation can be worrying for a band but Curved Air have the confidence to carry on unaffected.'

Propelled into stardom at an exhilarating speed due to clever marketing and virtuosity in their musicianship, particularly violinist Darryl Way, the story of Curved Air in the 1970s is of a band that burned brightly before collapsing well ahead of their time. Fronted by the exotic Sonja Kristina, they supported Jethro Tull, Deep Purple, Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter and B.B. King in huge stadiums, and several famous names passed through their ranks. These included Stewart Copeland who went on to form the Police with Sting. Every line up of Curved Air presented a stellar range of talent across a musically fascinating contribution throughout the decade.

This book documents it all - from the groundbreaking albums like Air Conditioning and Phantasmagoria to the line up changes and traumas which caused the band to disband for the first time in 1976.