This month should be fairly easy – and brief – after all Curve basically made the exact same album featuring minor variations of the same 4 songs over and over again. Basically 5 times really.
That’s not a bad thing actually. I love the album and the 4 songs, and a huge bunch of them managed to winkle their way onto the ipod – 50+ in fact.
Not a bad effort to turn 4 songs into over a half century even after my stringent screening process to cull out the filler and duds.
In fact with so many similar tracks it shouldn’t work that way. Imagine Noah accumulating animals and doing a rough head count after setting off: “ Let’s see we’ve got 2 elephants, 2 elk, 2 reindeer, 2 birds, 2 red deer, 2 moose (meese?), 2 antelope, 2 crocodiles and 2 gazelles. That’ll do… wait a minute. Am I a little too deer-heavy? God will be so pissed at me… Oh well, too late now.”
Take a variation of a jangly guitar riff from Dean Garcia, add some blips and tweaks, the same bassline (on almost every track), sprinkle liberally with Halliday’s oohs, aahs, aay-yi-yi’s and layer either her quiet menacing or angry high volume vocal over the top.
The result? The alternately breathy/driving vocals, Garcia’s jangliness, pulsating bass and latter-day electro flourishes manage to make the limited variety more than bearable, they made it always listenable and often incendiary.
And the four songs:
- / The fast bouncy pop song.
- / The mid-tempo
- / The slow burning quiet track.
- / The short fast song with the loud vocal.
They normally lead the album off with a #1, then the second track – usually the highlight of the album – is both track and type 2, then they smatter #s 1,2 and 3 for the bulk of the album before closing it with a couple #4s. The embarrassing part of the sameness is that I often have no clue of the name of many of their tracks and often need a good 45 seconds to realise which song I am listening to as so many of the intros and tracks sound so similar.
In the end I gave them the benefit of the doubt due to the quality of the output and chose to see what some might call ‘sameness’ as consistency. I was sad when I heard that they have called it quits, but almost relieved that I could now stop shilling out $30 for a replica of the 5 other albums I already had with their name on it – 7 if you include the compilation of EPs and the double disc best of.
Speaking of the compilation Pubic Fruit – I can only assume a reference to the fruit from one’s loins – was released at about the same time as Doppelganger and took all four EPs available at the time.
Strangely enough it all holds together very well, with some standouts including No Escape from Heaven and an early version of Fait Accompli and a few other solid tracks. Strangely enough it also highlights the Curve limitations of sameness, with a total 13 tracks having at least 5 or 6 that sound like virtual replicas of each other. Less of a problem as it/they are solid songs, but a problem nonetheless…
But on to the albums shall we?
Doppelganger (1992)
Curve didn’t mess around on their first album proper after numerous EPs. After leading out with Already Yours (#1) they immediately jump into Horror Head, the reason I bought this (and every other album they ever made) and simply one of the best songs of all time, 3 minutes, 41 seconds of tiger-blood fuelled winning!… oh and it’s a type 2 with all the usual Curve options and touches.
The remainder of the album is 4 more #2s (including a half rap on Split into Fractions), another #1 and a couple of #3s. Strangely enough no #4s yet, which is a good thing as they have a pretty low rate of awesomeness anyway.
Aside from the standout Horror Head Doppelganger is quite an even album, perhaps because they hadn’t thought to put the fast loud rocker in yet to break it up a little. For years it was my favourite Curve album, then I realised that sans Horror Head it wouldn’t hold up near as well as a couple of their others.
Speaking of ‘others’…
Cuckoo (1993)
Either their best of worst depending on who you’re talking to, Cuckoo is a good album but I lean more towards the latter option, only with an * that denotes it’s no shame to be the ‘worst’ if the other 4 albums are so good.
My problem is that the lead single and lead-off track Missing Link is too perfunctory and samey – and I realise after calling it consistent before this sounds strange – it’s just that it is a little too commercial and bland for my tastes.
The rest of the album sees the tempo drop, but that too proves an issue with not 1, not 2, but a whacking 5 slow tempo tracks, and with no obvious standouts that’s dangerously pushing into snooze territory.
The mid tempo Superblaster partially redeems things but it is far from an awesome achievement when considered by itself.
Cuckoo is a series of OK type 2 and 3 songs one after the other, with too many of them fulfilling the filler or barely adequate definitions to elevate the album above ‘decent’. And that might be being kind.
Come Clean (1996)
Here’s where Curve got the mix right, the sublime Chinese Burn takes the fast tempo, retains, the jangliness and manages to introduce the techno elements previously lacking. An extremely positive milestone that benefitted the remainder of the duo’s career. Chinese Burn is awesome loud too.
Come Clean also introduces the balls out fast track in Dog Bone – even if it is only the chorus that jackhammers along at this stage – another omen of good things to come. Alligators Getting Up is sneaky good but pales in comparison against the awesome Dirty High.
Another new and welcome injection is the occasional – very occasional mind you – switching up of tempo between styles. Sweetback alternates between slow quiet and fast loud choruses, almost as if they stole liberally from the Nirvana modus operandi.
Other highlights including Cotton Candy even if it is strongly reminiscent of Dirty High from the same album and Recovery rounds the album out well. Only the title track Come Clean mars the tone and overall quality of the album, perhaps it is a 2 minute novelty but I’d be happier without a title track and a 2 minute shorter masterpiece than allowing your indulgence guys.
Come Clean saw Curve find the radio airplay that the first two albums warranted but rarely saw, and thanks to Chinese Burn and film soundtrack albums that ensures that Curve will remain familiar for a while yet.
Gift (2001)
After a few years away from the game Curve return with another great lead single in Hell Above Water, Gift follows on with the title track being a terrific example of track style 1 and Want more, Need less an excellent style 2 with slightly washy background vocals that have you singing along even though you don’t really know the words at times.
The remainder of the album alternates predominantly #2s and #3s, only better versions of each in the main than the ones on Cuckoo.
The pulsating high of Hell Above Water, zero duds and the fact that the album has a prime example from each of the four styles means Gift was a high quality addition to the Curve discography over a decade after they began.
The New Adventures of Curve (2002)
Arriving so soon on the heels of Gift and the fact that it was available exclusively over the net might lead you to assume New Adventures is a throwaway or gimmick. The truth is that this is far from the case even though the album only boasts 9 tracks.
The pulsing Answers opens the album but the slightly banal lyrics preclude it from elevation to ipod-worthy status – I said before I have strict standards – Till the Cows come Home is OK but not mindblowing and the Cold Comfort is similarly average.
No good right?
Nope. Every Good Girl and Sinner are prime examples of style #3, and Nice and Easy a rare slow/loud combo that actually works. The closing track Joy also gives a fresh perspective – a male vocal – that only served to remind me that Curve were great because of Halliday’s vocals, not some random guy (probably Garcia but who knows).
With the highlights becoming a little further between and the sameness starting to push up to dangerous levels it was probably wise that Halliday and Garcia chose to end things at this point. The instant cash in acknowledgment coming with the double disc The Way of Curve ‘best of’ that arrived a year or so later, with 30+ quality tracks including a couple covers (that weren’t crash hot).
+++++++++++++++++++++++
The Way of Curve (Best of)
I’ll defend Curve to death – even though the need to stick up for an obscure semi-industrial duo whose output came primarily in the 90s and sold approximately fuck all albums rarely arises – their 4 tracks might not show incredible range but sometimes playing to your strengths is the smart option. Look at David Gray who has been releasing practically the same high quality album every few years for 2 decades and universal acclaim.
Album Rankings
Pubic Fruit 8.0
Doppelganger 8.5
Cuckoo 8.0
Come Clean 9.0
Gift 8.5
New Adventures 7.5
The Way of Curve 9.0
The highs might not have been dizzying and the output not prolific, but blasting Curve every so often remains a pleasure and a welcome reminder that it’s better to have 4 decent variations than 27 different shitty tracks, all with the same vocoder effect.
Rather than whinge about that or the lamentable state of hip-hop I’ll leave it there…
OGR
