Kosmik Radiation Radio - Jan 25, 2013 Playlist

January 25, 2013 Playlist

CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Curved Air "Phantasmagoria" 1972 (UK)

This week's classic album is by a lesser known group from the first wave of British progressive rock bands. Utilizing cutting-edge synthesizers as well as classical-inspired orchestrations, and writing epic tunes with ever-shifting time changes, Curved Air was as proggy as peers like King Crimson and Genesis, though they didn't get much notice in North America and are largely forgotten by all but the most serious prog-lovers. One thing that set the group apart from almost every other prog band of their day was their female lead singer Sonja Kristina (a rarity in one of the most manly of music subgenres, though a little later in the 1970's Babe Ruth and Rennaissance came along featuring frontwomen Jenny Haan and Annie Haslam). Phantasmagoria is usually hailed as Curved Air's finest album, featuring an A-side of memorable tunes and keyboardist Francis Monkman's four-part sidelong suite (about ghosts) on the B-side, which includes my favorite sequence in their discography -- the trippy "Whose Shoulder Are You Looking Over Anyway? / Over And Above" (which variously reminds me of King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Fletcher Henderson, Carl Stalling and the tornado scene from The Wizard of Oz!)
Here's the band performing the first two tracks from this week's classic album: the romantic revolutionary mini-epic "Marie Antoionette" and folky pop ballad "Melinda (More Or Less)", as well as an over the top video for the title track "Phantasmagoria" which kicks off the suite on side 2. The group's biggest UK hit was the 1971 Top Ten single "Back Street Luv".

(N) = New Release

Artist	Song	Album	Year (Label)	Country
Laetitia Sadier	Merci De M'avoir Donne La Vie	Silencio (N)	2012 (Drag City)	France
Glowpeople	Everywhere	Things... (N)	2012 (self release)	UK
Lumerians	Untitled #1	Transmissions From The Telos Vol. IV (N)	2012 (Permanent)	USA
Ladyhawke	Anxiety	Anxiety (N)	2012 (Casablanca)	New Zealand

Curved Air	Marie Antoinette	Phantasmagoria CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK	1972	UK
Curved Air	Whose Shoulder Are You Looking Over Anyway? / Over And Out	Phantasmagoria CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK	1972	UK
Curved Air	U.H.F.	Air Cut	1973	UK
King Crimson	Indoor Games	Lizard	1971	UK

The Cult Of Dom Keller	This Is How It Feels To Live Your Life Dead	EP 3 (N)	2011 (self release)	UK
Blob	River Mouth	Earphonious Swamphony (N)	2010 (Innova)	USA
The Don Music Sound	A New Arrangement	I Stole This (N)	2012 (self release)	USA
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti	Foilly Foibles/GOLD / Jagged Carnival Tours	Worn Copy	2005	USA
Prince Rama	Receive	Top Ten Hits Of The End Of The World (N)	2012 (Paw Tracks)	USA

Pere Ubu	Mandy	Lady From Shanghai (N)	2013 (Fire)	USA
French Frith Kaiser Thompson	March Of The Cosmetic Surgeons	Invisible Means	1990	USA/UK
Violence And The Sacred	The Rivers Of My Viscous Sperm	Lost Horizons (2011 CD retrospective)	rec. 1987	Canada
Delia Derbyshire	Sea	Invention For Radio No. 1: The Dreams	1964	UK
Natural Snow Buildings	At That Time It Was Always Winter	Sung To The North	2008	France

Far Out (Far East Family Band)	Too Many People	Nihonjin	1973	Japan
Flower Travellin' Band	Introduction / Unaware	Made In Japan	1972	Japan

Chick Corea	Return To Forever	Return To Forever	1972	USA
Menahan Street Band	Driftwood	The Crossing (N)	2012 (Dunham/Daptone)	USA

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