AIRBORNE

Oh Well, this was a big, big disappointment. While their previous album Midnight Wire had some charm and could indicate a new direction to better things, Airborne almost buries it all. Ok, it has some good moments like Moonshine, the only real prog song here that reminds us of how good Curved Air once was. Anyway, it is a very fine track, clocking just over 11 minutes, it shows some jazz/fusion trends (also seen in small bits on some other tracks) and has a great violin solo by Darryl Way. Another highlight is Stewart Copeland's drumming, real good (and before he reached stardom as a member of The Police).

The rest of the album fells flat. Most of the songs are just atempts to reach the pop rock market, culminating with the real embarrassment of Touch Of Tequila (probably the worst thing Curved Air has ever done). The excellency of all band members is marred by the weakness of the songwriting. Some tracks are nice, like Broken Lady or Dazed, but even then, they are way below their previous effords. Adding pop, hard rock and fusion to simplistic, basic formulas only increase the overall feeling that the band was lacking direction and focus. With so many change of styles since they returned from the first break up, it is little wonder critics and public ended up losing interest. After this one it was clear the band had to call it quits.

A sad end to a band that promised (and, for a time, delivered) so much.