Curve: C or D?

I need to find some early Curve records.

That horrible gauzy early 90's production which Curve used is a horrible device used in the main by bands seeking to conceal their inability to come up with dynamics, structure or melodies. Strip it away and it would reveal.....nothing.

Garbage updated this particular trick on V.2.0, and perfected it to the extent that no matter how loud you turn it up, nothing actually hits home. It's all vapour.

I kinda miss having _Version 2.0_ around.

Why the hell not? It sounds like what it sounds like, and I said why I don't like the way it sounds. Which I think is mainly because of the 'production'. It could be that there's not much 'production' and that the sounds were all recorded heavily filtered and processed at source. Who cares?

I have never used the 'if it sounds good on an acoustic, it must be a *real* song' argument. Ever.

So what does the "new" Curve sound like?

Curve. The online-only Curve disc sounds like Curve too.

To be more specific, Curve '01 sounds like Curve '92 with the vocals higher in the mix.

!

I just had to run a midday solo mission to "Buy Buy Baby" (ridiculous baby gear megastore in Chelsea) and decided to play a little Curve on ye olde iPod on the way to and from. I'd forgotten how much I used to adore this band. Between "Lillies Dying", "Die Like a Dog" and the utterly, uttelry sublime single mix (by Flood) of "Fait Accompli" (miles better than the version on Doppelganger) I was practically weeping (and embarassingly singing aloud and air-bassing) with irrepresible joy. They may indeed have been a bit of a one-trick pony, but fuck if that one particular trick wasn't decadently intoxicating. By the time "On the Wheel" came on (followed swifftly by their rousing cover of Moroder'n'Summer's "I Feel Love" from the Ruby Trax compilation), I was verily scaring the Teletubbies out of a gaggle of concerned new Moms in Buy Buy Baby, as I transformed seamlessly into very the legend inscribed of the back of one of my ill-fitting and fading Sisters of Mercy shirts, that being an "utter groove bastard." God fucking bless Curve and may he take a glistening divine piss on those who suggest that no good music came out of the 1990's.

To go back to a point David R raised:

Appreciation for Curve shot up 100 fold once my feeble mind FINALLY made the connection between them & Garbage, especially since Curve rocks MUCH harder than Shirley & Co

Quite. And it's not just in terms of loud feedback but rhythms -- Garbage were far more cleaner and more pallid. Both Shirley Manson and Toni Halliday were/are Siouxsie-obsessed singers with dodgy end-of-eighties careers they'd like us all to forget a la Tori Amos, and on that front they did pretty well, but if the choice is between Dean Garcia and his beatboxes versus Butch Vig and his nonentities, no contest.

Hold the phazizzlone, I didn't know that.

I haven't picked up anything of theirs after Come Clean (and sold same to SecondSpin.Com, actually). I'll stick with their early stuff, but Gift does now sound promising.

Curve are stone cold CLASSIC.

CD 1 The Way Of Curve

1 Ten Little Girls
2 Coast Is Clear
3 Clipped
4 Die Like A Dog
5 Horror Head
6 Fait Accompli
7 Missing Link
8 Superblaster
9 Pink Girl With The Blues
10 Recovery
11 Chinese Burn
12 Coming Up Roses
13 Hell Above Water
14 Want More Need Less
15 Perish
16 Nice and Easy

CD 2 Rare and unreleased

1 On The Wheel
2 Triumph
3 Arms Out
4 Sigh
5 Mission From God
6 Today Is Not The Day
7 Low And Behold
8 Nothing Without Me
9 What A Waste with Ian Dury
10 Falling Free Aphex Twin mix
11 Chinese Burn Lunatic Calm mix
12 Coming Up Roses Kevin Shields Mix
13 I Feel Love
14 In Disguise
15 Sinner

Good choices? Bad choices? I've only heard one or two Curve tracks ever, and I don't even remember what they were.

I didn't realize Kevin Shields was on Gift, either.

The first EPs were absolutely classic. Doppelganger just took that sound and spread it, rather thinly, over an album, though 'Ice That Melts the Tips', 'Already Yours', and 'Think and Act' are standout album tracks. Cuckoo is where it's at for me. The album is well-sequenced too, building up to a great finish. It's the best heavy wall of goutar album I know from that period, but there's tons of variety throughout at the same time. Come Clean worked out for me, though it's the one I listen to least. I think it sounds louder and dirtier than most of the 'rock band goes electronic' albums, and besides, they were using samplers and drum machines from day one; the technology just got a lot more sophisticated in their downtime.

SEARCH SEARCH SEARCH the 'Coming Up Roses' B-sides: 'Habit and 'Midnight and Royal'. They're some of the best material from that period. Really tense and spooky without relying on conventional big guitars or noise.
I like Gift a lot, esp. the Shields tracks plus 'My Tiled White Floor'. There was very solid material on their internet-only album in 2000, Open Day at the Hatefest, but nothing really standout. I'll probably track down the new compilation, though there are only a couple of tracks I don't have in hard form. I think they got Flat Earth back for the cover, which is good.

Oh yeah; Cuckoo had a wonderful sleeve, as did the surrounding EPs. Only the Come Clean sleeve wasn't wholly interesting.

trivia: Debbie Smith last appeared playing with Luke Sutherland in Bows, which is such an improvement over Echobelly or the totally dire Snowpony. I'm going to go revive a Bows thread now.

xpost: Ned, yes oh yes Mission From God is glorious.

Garbage had the advantage of having big time record biz connections from day one.

well to be fair Curve were hardly total strangers to the recording industry

Was gonna say

Heh, yeah, Curve's industry ties are massive.

I do think Garbage's debt to Curve is a little overblown. The former never really aligned with anything shoegaze or dark or goth or mysterious. Garbage could never pull off starting their set in a haze of thick smoke, for example.

Also, wouldn't call Toni particularly charismatic, though Debbie sure was. But Shirley is one of the most compelling, charismatic front people I have ever seen live.

(That said, I think Curve is massive and Garbage was pretty slight.)

Speaking of Debbie, I met her last month! (post gig party for The Raincoats' 40th anniversary show in London) Within ten seconds she correctly ID'ed me "I bet you're a guitar player" and we chatted about effects pedals and amps for twenty minutes. I still miss Curve.

otm

Another one from that playback tv appearance just popped up -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKwbx6GLq6o

still can't decide whether there is anything being played live on these videos and if not why the band seem so engaged

It's all playback

Like the last one, this one seems all pre-recorded, the album version. Though yeah, the band is fake playing its heart out.

It's just kinda cool to watch them swaying about, they were always a pretty good looking band.

I dunno if any of you have ever watched this dude, but he's a totally square yet knowledgable and enthusiastic old nerd who breaks down music theory and whatnot. Anyway, out of nowhere, he included Curve is his list of the top 20 rock bass sounds of all time. #18, around the 30 minute mark!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0P5isBr7uw

Nice, I like Rick's videos, his son Dylan has perfect pitch, the clips of him calling out the names and notes of gnarly cluster piano chords are amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VZcW7JCpCU

New Toni H. EP is totally unexpected and totally awesome

Well I trust you're going to link this!

Streamable on your favorite platform and downloads here:
https://www.junodownload.com/artists/Toni+Halliday/tracks/

that's a timely revive.. i've been going through my old CDs and ripping ones that are missing from my digital collection and just hit the "C"s – was literally just wondering how Curve was going to hold up

They hold up really really well! Also, mysteriously absent from Amazon's streaming service.

But thankfully fully on Bandcamp, including a slew of rarity comps.

https://curve.bandcamp.com/music

Wow, what's all that "bootleg series" stuff?

A lot of it is mixes and various elements of final tracks -- Garcia breaks each entry down thoroughly in the liners.

happy 30th to cuckoo

Claaaaaaaasssssssssic (imagine this word said with tons of fuzz and overdrive and reverb and flanger and the like)

I wish I knew what the mad vocal sample at the start of Clipped is all about, I've been wondering that for 30+ years.

That Cuckoo tour was a hell of a thing to experience.

xp the absolute zenith of Curve for me (shout out to “Turkey Crossing”) - I remember Cherry coming out and thinking, well, this hits every mark dead-on.

also Cuckoo is their best album by an order of magnitude

To each his own. Never much cared for Cuckoo despite some good moments. But then again all their albums were flawed. Pubic Fruit all the way

well yeah the EPs were the real high point.

Curve is one of those bands where I kinda liked them, picked up Cuckoo at a record store on a whim, it became one of my favorite albums of all time, and I never really bothered finding any of their other music. Now, my curiosity is piqued and I'm finally listening to the E.P.s that comprised Pubic Fruit after all these years. Might be doing some Bandcamping today.

Physical box set coming in February:

Unreadable Communication: Anxious Recordings 1991-1993

The two albums, four EPs, some remixes and some live stuff. Does not include Peel Sessions, which are supposed to be very good.

I'm not a fan, but if you want remastered CDs, here you go.

so, remember this from a while back :

"but more to the point .. did all cd copies of the album come with doubled up inner sleeves as a spin off from the album name .. or is that just me being a little too nerdy ?

― mark e (mark e), Tuesday, August 23, 2005 1:53 PM (eighteen years ago)
"

well, a twitter account posted this weekend re the album, so i asked the question re the doubling up.

and look what happened :

𝘾𝙐𝙍𝙑𝙀
liked your reply
question : was i only the person who bought this on cd to find the inner booklet doubled up ?
i assumed it was a play on the album name ..

!!!

really deeply sorry to everyone on ilm that assumed i was a massive curve-head this whole time. tbh i had only heard a few tracks. anyway. turns out cuckoo is the greatest album of all time

Haha it is!

Salut to a proper and correct reaction. (Also this gives me the chance to mention I had a review of the Curve box set covering that era a couple of issues ago in The Wire.)

I picked up doppelganger, cuckoo, and pubic fruit on CD recently, I've been having them in heavy rotation in the car. This band has some great tunes, but even more crucially they've got such great atmosphere, they're just one of the coolest sounding bands I've ever heard. Everything comes together.

And boy did that era deliver live too. Only caught 'em twice but both times they were on it.

yup, same. At the Palladium and the Palace, right?
Having said that, I never really warmed that much to Cuckoo. Some great stuff here and there... but they seemed to try to go for a more organic soulful sound, whereas I wanted more of the badass iciness.

The very same!

Cuckoo is the best. Esp. the back to back punch of “Unreadable Communication” and “Turkey Crossing”.

The latest SPC ECO is especially good:

https://spceco.bandcamp.com/album/broken

Between this and Curve, looks like Dean is dead set against putting his music on any traditional streaming service.

I do wonder why the later Curve albums fewer people care about are on Spotify. Rights thing?

Must be, right? I found this old interview exchange:

What are your thoughts on streaming services like Spotify and Pandora? Lately there’s been a lot of controversy over Spotify. Some artists won’t let them use their music because they feel that the small amount of money they pay them is insulting or otherwise too little. I’ve heard other artists say that getting paid a tiny amount is better than getting paid nothing if people download stuff without paying for it. What are your thoughts on all of this?

All a bunch of leaching cunts. I loath them all. I only like Bandcamp because it’s for the bands and no-one else. I didn’t want to release anything to the leaches but have been persuaded otherwise. I’m still twisted about it. I’d rather give it away than give it to them, but let’s be honest here, does anyone actually pay for music anymore ? As soon as you release something it’s available within 24 hours online, if it’s not then you’ve failed.

Anyway, Curve might objectively be the coolest band of all time.

Boy is there a lot of SPC ECO.

Toni Halliday resurfaces! In a way! She's happily retired but in the best way:

https://thecitizenantiguabarbuda.com/new-citizens-toni-halliday-alan-moulder/

I'm happy for them, but there were a few things from Toni that popped out at me as to why they moved:

Firstly, our beloved whippet died, and we were devastated.

I was brought up in the Mediterranean on a boat as a child.

This second one made me google, and assuming she's telling the truth, I found this old, odd nugget:

Toni Halliday, now 27-years-old, was born in Fulham, West London. Between the ages of 4 and 8 she cruised the Mediterranean with her father, mother and sister. Her father was a hippy crook who supported his family by ransacking yachts of the rich and famous. "we'd dock in somewhere" remembers Toni "and my dad would choose the flashiest yacht in port. Then he'd take the owners to the bar, get them drunk and go back and raid their yacht. We'd be gone before they had time to get a hangover".

Eventually Toni's father dumped his family in Greece, declaring to his wife in tones Toni still remembers as bizarrely matter-of-fact that he no longer loved her. Mother and daughters returned to England moving from London to Sunderland in the industrially-depressed North East. Toni has not seen her father since.

"I think he's in jail in Spain". she says.

Anyway. They clearly moved for the apparent tax benefits of the Antigua Citizenship by Investment (CBI) program:

No Worldwide Tax: No taxes are imposed on foreign-sourced income, capital gains, or inheritance.
0% Income Tax: There is no personal income tax on income earned within or outside the country.
Corporate Tax Exemptions: International Business Corporations (IBCs) can enjoy 0% tax on profits.
Property Tax: A low real property tax of 0.1%–0.5% applies to the assessed market value.

Tempting, lol!

This band rules.