AIR CUT

I can't beleve i'm giving this 4 stars.The reason for my surprise is that after a couple of listens I was thinking it was barely a 3 star record. The more I lstened to it the better it became, that isn't unusual of course, but lets put it this way, this one came from a long way back. It's still probably closer to 3.5 than 4 though. When I saw the pictures of Eddy Jobson in the liner notes I thought it was a girl at first. He looks like he's 14 years old with long straight hair. He was actually 17 years old believe it or not when he joined CURVED AIR for this recording. Francis Monkman the keyboard player, and Daryl Way the violinist had left the band so Jobson took over for both guys. Sonja of course was the one constant for the band, and her voice was their signature.

"The Purple Speed Queen" sounds like early RUSH to me. Sonja is letting it rip and sounding almost like Geddy on this rocking tune. I like the section 1 1/2 minutes in as an organ solo is followed by a guitar solo. "Elfin Boy" opens with a vocal solo as acoustic guitar comes gently in. Violin and keys follow.There is a 60's feel to this one. "Metamorphosis" is the stand out track at over 10 minutes in length. A strong piano intro is replaced by a full sound a minute in. Vocals 2 minutes in. I like this one. The organ after 2 1/2 minutes reminds me of the Canterbury sound, it's great. Beautiful piano melodies go on and on before the full sound returns 6 minutes in. The organ and guitar absolutely shine ! Violin follows and vocals 8 1/2 minutes in another terrific section. The first three songs are amazing !

"World" reminds me of some of the songs on QUEEN's "A Night At The Opera". It's ok, with lots of violin. "Armin" is another great track with vioin leading the way until the guitar comes in 2 minutes in. Nice. "U.H.F." sounds a little dated and is heavier. I like when the violin comes screaming in after a minute. Piano ends up being all you can hear though before the vocals arrive. The original melody returns 3 1/2 minutes in. "Two-Three-Two" features male vocals and sounds like it could have been a single. Quite catchy with some aggressive guitar. "Easy" is pretty good with piano and guitar leading off. Love the guitar 3 minutes in.

Some great tracks on this one, with excellent guitar, vocals and violin.