Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Phantasmagoria (Curved Air album)

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Released
  
April 1972

Phantasmagoria (1972)
  
Air Cut (1973)

Release date
  
April 1972

Length
  
39:04

Artist
  
Curved Air

Label
  
Warner Bros. Records

Phantasmagoria (Curved Air album) httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaen446Cur

Recorded
  
Advision Studios, London, March 1972 ("Ultra-Vivadi" and "Whose Shoulder Are You Looking Over Anyway?": E.M.S., London)

Producer
  
Curved Air, Colin Caldwell

Genres
  
Progressive rock, Art rock

Similar
  
Curved Air albums, Progressive rock albums

Curved air phantasmagoria 1972


Phantasmagoria is a 1972 album by Curved Air. It reached No. 20 in the UK Charts and is notable for its early use of the EMS Synthi 100 synthesizer to process lead singer Sonja Kristina's voice on the second side. Unavailable for many years, the album was reissued on CD in April 2007.

Contents

Curved air phantasmagoria


Reception

Allmusic called Phantasmagoria "the culmination of all that Curved Air promised over the course of its predecessors" and "the band's grandest hour by far". Their review praised the vast majority of the individual tracks, especially complimenting the blending of musical styles and absence of pretentiousness.

Track listing

Side One

  1. "Marie Antoinette" (Darryl Way, Sonja Kristina Linwood) – 6:20
  2. "Melinda (More or Less)" (Linwood) – 3:25
  3. "Not Quite the Same" (Way, Linwood) – 3:44
  4. "Cheetah" (Way) – 3:33
  5. "Ultra-Vivaldi" (Way, Francis Monkman) – 1:22

Side Two

  1. "Phantasmagoria" (Monkman) – 3:15
  2. "Whose Shoulder Are You Looking Over Anyway?"(Monkman) – 3:24
  3. "Over and Above" (Monkman) – 8:36
  4. "Once a Ghost, Always a Ghost" (Monkman, Linwood) – 4:25

One other track was recorded and released as a single, with "Phantasmagoria" on the b-side:

  1. "Sarah's Concern" (Way, Linwood) - 3:20

Personnel

Curved Air
  • Sonja Kristina – lead vocals, acoustic guitar (2)
  • Darryl Way – violin, keyboards (1, 3), tubular bells (1), melon (1)
  • Francis Monkman – keyboards, electric guitar, percussion (8, 9)
  • Mike Wedgwood – bass, backing vocals, acoustic (6) and electric (9) guitar, percussion (9)
  • Florian Pilkington-Miksa – drums, percussion (9)
    • Guest musicians
  • Annie Stewart – flute (2)
  • Crispian Steele-Perkins – trumpet
  • Paul Cosh – trumpet
  • James Watson – trumpet
  • George Parnaby – trumpet
  • Chris Pyne – trombone
  • Alan Gout – trombone
  • David Purser – trombone
  • Steve Saunders – trombone
  • Frank Ricotti – xylophone, vibes
  • Mal Linwood-Ross – percussion
  • Colin Caldwell – percussion
  • Jean Akers – percussion
  • Doris the Cheetah — vocals (4)
    • Technical
  • Richard Rockwood - art direction
  • John Gorham - cover illustration

    • Songs

    1Marie Antoinette6:20
    2Melinda (More or Less)3:26
    3Not Quite the Same3:44

    References

    Phantasmagoria (Curved Air album) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA