Phantasmagoria (Curved Air album) explained

Phantasmagoria
Type:	studio
Artist:	Curved Air
Cover:	Curved_Air_Phantasmagoria.jpg
Border:	yes
Released:	April 1972
Recorded:	March 1972
Studio:	Advision Studios, London ("Ultra-Vivadi" and "Whose Shoulder Are You Looking Over Anyway?": E.M.S., London)
Genre:	Progressive rock, art rock
Length:	38:04
Label:	Warner Bros.^[1]
Producer:	Curved Air, Colin Caldwell
Prev Title:	Second Album
Prev Year:	1971
Next Title:	Air Cut
Next Year:	1973

Phantasmagoria is the third studio album by Curved Air. Released in 1972, it reached No. 20 in the UK Charts^[2] 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.

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.^[1]

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?"^[3] (Monkman) – 3:24
3. "Over and Above" (Monkman) – 8:36
4. "Once a Ghost, Always a Ghost" (Monkman, Linwood) – 4:25

• Note: "Ultra-Vivaldi is incorrectly listed as being 2:22 on the label of initial green label pressings.

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

External links

• Track Descriptions
• Phantasmagoria review
• Phantasmagoria review

Notes and References

1. Web site: [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r34486|pure_url=yes}} allmusic (((Phantasmagoria > Overview))) ]. www.allmusic.com . 2009-06-03.
2. Web site: The Official Charts Company - Curved Air - Phantasmagoria . . 2009-12-22 .
3. The poem read by Linwood and processed by EMS Synthi 100 is from Lewis Carroll's "Phantasmagoria and Other poems":

   Canto IV--Hys Nouryture

   "Oh, when I was a little Ghost, A merry time had we! Each seated on his favourite post, We chumped and chawed the buttered toast They gave us for our tea."
   http://fairy-tales.classic-literature.co.uk/lewis-carroll-phantasmagoria-and-other-poems/ebook-page-03.asp