Sunday, April 6, 2008

CURLEW-S/T, LP, 1984, USA




Curlew were (are?) definitive purveyors of that distinctive bippity boopity mutant-funk-into-R.I.O. sound that burned brightly for a few years in the Downtown N.Y. culture of the mid to late 80's (think: Jules Baptiste, No Safety, Massacre, B-Shops For The Poor, Skeleton Crew, Orthotonics), though this debut of theirs has a rather different cast of characters to those that'd feature on their better known follow-ups. Curlew was principally the brainchild of saxophonist George Cartwright and cellist Tom Cora (R.I.P.), the rest of the cast of characters remaining fluid. Bill Laswell, Nicky Skopelitis and Bill Bacon would all depart after this first volley (in their place, Fred Frith or Davey Williams or Mark Howell on guitar, Pippin Barnett and/or Rick Brown on drums and Wayne Horvitz on keyboards), though despite the large line-up shifts, this album surprisingly hews relatively close in tone to their latter day works, Cartwright and Cora's sharp compositional instincts already firmly established right out of the gate. That said, Skopelitis' wailing attack sits at a fair remove from the rotating cast of avant string slingers that'd shortly fill his chair and his hard burning presence in particular gives this era of Curlew it's specific bite.
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Note: It was just announced that this album is due for reissue shortly, so the link has been pulled and replaced with one for George Cartwright's site, where you can learn more about it. Go Here

8 comments:

  1. great stuff friends!
    If you could put their second record, too, "North America", would be fantastic
    you're the best around, dude !
    Poseur Rome

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  2. vdoandsound - thanks for the vinyl rip of this rare ditty! i don't think there ever has been a re-issue in any format, so your work and shareness it's just the more appreciated!!

    i just don't know how you manage to pull out so many great jewels out of your 'hat'?!? you must be a music magician.

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  3. I've got this on LP as well, Landslide LD 1004, but mine has different artwork. Its mostly green on the front with "Curlew" in orange and brown, and the names of the band members along the left side, handwritten. It all looks to be done in magic marker.

    On the back, same color scheme. The track titles and notes are hand lettered and there's a photo of the band.

    Notes say "design by james fournoy holmes ~ wonder graphics. cover art by julian jackson ~ photo by karen barber. liner lettering by susan veglia cartwright"

    Anyways, thanks for the rip. I've never gotten around to ripping mine.

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  4. You should probably replace this link/download with a link to George's page (http://www.georgecartwright.com/). He just announced this album is being reissued with additional live performances featuring Bill Bacon, Bill Laswell, Tom Cora, Nicky Skopelitis, and Denardo Coleman. He provides a link to the distributor and to his own comments about the reissue.

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  5. RE-UP!....please? delete that link and put the freebie back up...

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  6. gimmme da rip!...please?...maybe ya kin sneak it to me under the table..eh? c'mon....for old times sake....c'mon, ol' buddy..ol' pal...i really, really need a RIP!

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  7. Has this been reissued? I just checked and didn't find it on Cartwright's web site. If not...please!

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