Time for another installment of the Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda Files, where we raid our archives in search of a lost gem.
Artist: Curve
Song: “Already Yours,” 1992
What happened: The collaboration between vocalist (and UK music press darling) Toni Halliday and multi-instrumentalist Dean Garcia was full of swirly guitars and otherworldly vocals; they rode a steady wave of UK hype through the release of three EPs in 1991, and when Doppleganger, Curve’s first full-length, came out in 1992, it reached No. 11 on the UK album chart. But when it came out in Stateside, Curve experienced a softer landing; “Faît Accompli” only got minor airplay on modern rock stations.
Why it should have been a hit: “Already Yours” opens Doppleganger, and it’s a fine summation of the Curve aesthetic, with Halliday’s surly vocals fronting guitars that billow into huge plumes and clipped drum-machine beats. Confession time: We slept on Doppleganger when it first came out, and found a copy in a used bin sometime in the mid-’90s; after the first spin through it, we kicked ourselves for not buying it the day it came out. (We’ve also posted “Faît Accompli,” which remains a stone-cold classic.)
Curve – Already Yours [MP3, link expired]
BONUS TRACK: Curve – Faît Accompli [MP3, link expired]
C U R V E [Official site]
Corrected link
http://cache.idolator.com/assets/resources/mp3/curve_alrea…
oh, quotation marks, you are so wily.
thanks.
Guys, this is a GREAT find. Curve was one of those early innovators who get very little credit for what they helped create, in this case the mid ’90s electronica movement. Without Curve you never would have had Gravity Kills, Stabbing Westward, Sister Machine Gun, The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, etc…
No post about Curve, particularly one about the Doppelganger album, should ever go up without making mention of “Horror Head.” Easily the best song of 1992, and definitely one of the best of the entire decade.
Word to metalsucks – Curve were taking what was then called industrial and meshing it with dream-pop and proto-grunge when Stabbing Westward were still in diapers. I worshipped this album in college.
As long as you’re summarizing the album, you guys should post “Horror Head” (track 2) – killer guitar and vocal hooks on that one.
@brasstax: JINX! (re: “Horror Head”) But you posted first, so I guess I owe you the Coke.
“Faît Accompli” was always my favorite Curve song. Thanks for posting it, I think I lost track of that CD years ago.
This was the first “britpop” band in my perception. Curve were responsible for pushing me toward other under-the-radar british artists and I will always associated them with that movement. I don’t know where or how I originally keyed into Curve (I think it might have been Beavis & Buthead), but I remember thinking it all sounded so refreshing next to the slop of grunge/alternative that was everywhere.
Those first EPs and the album are untouchable, but my fave song may just be “Perish” from _Gift_
Come on, kittens. Surely I’m not the only one who’s got some love for anything from the rest of the Curve catalog. While “Horror Head” is indeed a truly awesome song, nothing beats “Coast Is Clear” [from the Frozen EP and the EP collection, Pubic Fruit--best album art EVER!] and “Unreadable Communication”.
“I would like to invite you to my mother’s house, to my bedroom, to play all those records we know all the words to and I would like you to kiss me, to crush me, to lick me ’til I beg you to stop, ’til you drive me crazy, ’til I want you to stop.”
Toni Halliday could have her way with my little homo ass anyday. Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about either, kittens. I’ve never been so sad as the day I found out they’d broken up.
Except for the day that I found out they’d broken up the second time.
Truly one of the most underrated bands. As mentioned above, imitated often(you hear me Garbage!). FYI: Toni’s husband Alan Moulder is responsible for some of the greatest albums of all time(Nine Inch Nails, Jesus & Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Depeche Mode, etc…)
Oh wow, I don’t guess I ever knew that Toni and Alan were married!