''Phantasmagoria'' is the third studio album by

Curved Air Curved Air are an English progressive rock group formed in 1970 by musicians from mixed artistic backgrounds, including classical, folk, and electronic sound. The resulting sound of the band is a mixture of progressive rock, folk rock, and fus ...

. Released in 1972, it reached No. 20 in the UK Charts and is notable for its early use of the

EMS Synthi 100 The EMS Synthi 100 was a large analogue/digital hybrid synthesizer made by Electronic Music Studios, London, originally as a custom order from Radio Belgrade for what was to be the Radio Belgrade Electronic Studio, largely thanks to contact betw ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

to process lead singer

Sonja Kristina Sonja Kristina (born Sonia Christina Shaw; 14 April 1949) is an English singer, best known for starring in the seminal 1960s musical ''Hair'', and for being the lead vocalist of the 1970s progressive rock band Curved Air.''Rocking the Classics ...

's voice on the second side. Unavailable for many years, the album was reissued on CD in April 2007.

Reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

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.

Track listing

Side One #"Marie Antoinette" (Darryl Way, Sonja Kristina Linwood) – 6:20 #"Melinda (More or Less)" (Linwood) – 3:25 #"Not Quite the Same" (Way, Linwood) – 3:44 #"Cheetah" (Way) – 3:33 #"Ultra-Vivaldi" (Way, Francis Monkman) – 1:22 Side Two #"Phantasmagoria" (Monkman) – 3:15 #"Whose Shoulder Are You Looking Over Anyway?"The poem read by Linwood and processed by

is from

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...

'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."

(Monkman) – 3:24 #"Over and Above" (Monkman) – 8:36 #"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: #"Sarah's Concern" (Way, Linwood) - 3:20

Personnel

;Curved Air *

– singing, lead vocals,

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

(2) *

Darryl Way Richard Darryl Way (born 17 December 1948 in Taunton, Somerset, England) is an English rock and classical musician who was a founding member of Curved Air and co-writer of their Progressive Rock seminal albums from 1970 to 1976. He is best kno ...

–

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

, keyboards (1, 3), tubular bells (1),

melon A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a "pepo". The ...

(1) *

Francis Monkman Francis Monkman (born 9 June 1949, in Hampstead, North London, England) is an English rock, classical and film score composer, and a founding member of both the progressive rock band Curved Air and the classical/rock fusion band Sky. He is th ...

–

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, electric

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

(8, 9) *

Mike Wedgwood Mike Wedgwood (born 19 May 1950 in Derby) is an English bassist and singer. He is related to the Wedgwood family of pottery fame. Wedgwood joined The Overlanders in 1968 following their biggest hit, a cover of The Beatles song, " Michelle", an ...

– bass, backing vocals, acoustic (6) and electric (9) guitar, percussion (9) *

Florian Pilkington-Miksa Florian may refer to: People * Florian (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname * Florian, Roman emperor in 276 AD * Saint Florian (250 – c. 304 AD), patron saint of Poland and Upper Austria, al ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, percussion (9) ;Guest musicians * Annie Stewart –

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

(2) * Crispian Steele-Perkins –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

* Paul Cosh – trumpet * James Watson – trumpet * George Parnaby – trumpet *

Chris Pyne Christopher Norman "Chris" Pyne (14 February 1939, Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England – 12 April 1995, London) was an English jazz trombonist. Biography Pyne was the elder brother of Mick Pyne, and played piano as a child before ...

–

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

* Alan Gout – trombone * David Purser – trombone * Steve Saunders – trombone *

Frank Ricotti Frank Ricotti (born 31 January 1949) is an English jazz vibraphonist and percussionist. Early life and education Ricotti was born in London, England. His father was a drummer. Bill Ashton, founder of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NY ...

–

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in the ...

, 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

References

External links

Track Descriptions

{{Authority control 3 1972 albums Warner Records albums