Yesterday you know it never really happened

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts.

14/02/71 : Air Conditioning - Curved Air

On the previously unknown band front, we've had two albums from Atomic Rooster this year and now we've got our second from Curved Air so I'm learning loads this year - and I liked the last one from this lot, so let's see what we've got here.

Yeah, I didn't mind this one either - it's all well played and certainly improved by a female vocal presence. In some places I was reminded of Siouxsie Sioux's singing style which gave it a goth-prog air, but then in other places it's very classical with orchestral strings - it's certainly an intriguing mix. It's almost certainly not for everyone and I can't say it's one I'll be rushing back to, but overall I thought it was an enjoyable and intriguing visit.

We're at #9 in the charts this week on twelfth week of a 21 week run with it having peaked at #8 in its ninth week - somewhat oddly it yoyo'ed up and down the charts from week to week. The top five this week were George Harrison,, Simon & Garfunkel, Elton John, Andy Williams and Led Zeppelin, with the highest new entry being Eric Burdon & War (#25). I knew Eric Burdon was the guy from The Animals, but had no idea he also sang with War, who were and still are a funk band - albeit with a somewhat different lineup now, although they do still have one original member present (57 years after they formed).

Wikipedia tells us that it's their debut album and was one of the first picture discs (as shown on the album cover - it's probably the first released in the UK) and apparently the sound quality wasn't exactly great as a result (but I will be interested to see how much they go for these days). It includes a load of other information but it's way too detailed to be of any interest to anyone and that's about it - there's no word on the critical reviews and it didn't do anything commercially away from these shores.

discogs.com tells me you can pick up a decent copy of this for four pounds, but the absolute most you can spend on it is £60 for a picture disc version - which seems pretty cheap relative to some of the nonsense we've seen this year. Despite there being very reasonable arguments that this a load of old nonsense, I enjoyed it and it felt pretty influential for what came after - I can imagine quite a lot of "serious" musicians have this somewhere in their collection.

21/03/71 - A proper stinker

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