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Curlew — North America
(Cuneiform Rune 167, 1985/2002, CD)

by Jeff Melton, Published 2003-12-01

North America Cover art

The many incarnations of George Cartwright band Curlew took shape in the fusion wasteland of the early 80s. In parallel with the new release, Mercury, Cuneiform reissued the band’s lesser-known second album from 1985, which featured an all-star cast that only congregated during this timeframe. Plus there is a blistering live set added to the end of the disc that features Cartwright and cellist Tom Cora with personnel including guitarist Nicky Skopelitis (Bill Laswell) and drummer Anton Fier (Golden Palominos). Imagine a front end line-up without two guitars where Cora does a great job playing off original guitarist Mark Howell on tracks such as the swing-based world beat opener “Ray.” Cora’s songwriting credits include a few precious gems including “Two-day ‘till Tomorrow” (with accompanying accordions) and “Light Sentence,” a syncopated ditty that is one of the disc’s high points. Fred Frith’s two compositions are sandwiched in early in the disc: “Person to Person” and “Time and a Half” (the latter being the most challenging of the two). Both of Cartwright’s songs, “Moonlake” and “Shoats,” are present in two forms on the disc, studio and live renditions. The “Moonlake” studio version emphasizes a funk-inflected groove whereas in the live version Cora carries the main theme before Skopelitis adds a shredding guitar lead. When contrasted with the band’s later works, these sessions come off as confident precursors to an identity in its infancy, but making waves nonetheless.

Filed under: Reissues, Issue 28, 2002 releases, 1985 recordings

Related artist(s): Fred Frith, Nicky Skopelitis, Curlew, George Cartwright, Mark Howell

More info
http://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/north-america-expanded

 

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