Phantasmagoria is the third studio album by Curved Air. Released in 1972, it reached No. 20 in the UK Charts and is notable for its early use of the EMS Synthi 100 synthesizer to process lead singer Sonja Kristina's voice on the second side. Unavailable for many years, the album was reissued on CD in April 2007.
Contents
Reception
Allmusic 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
"Ultra-Vivaldi" was incorrectly listed as length 2:22 on the label of initial green label pressings.
Personnel
Curved Air
Sonja Kristina – lead vocals, acoustic guitar (2)
Darryl Way – violin, keyboards (1, 3), tubular bells (1), melon (1)
Francis Monkman – keyboards, electric guitar, percussion (8, 9)
Mike Wedgwood – bass, backing vocals, acoustic (6) and electric (9) guitar, percussion (9)
Florian Pilkington-Miksa – drums, percussion (9)
Guest musicians
Annie Stewart – flute (2)
Crispian Steele-Perkins – trumpet
Paul Cosh – trumpet
James Watson – trumpet
George Parnaby – trumpet
Chris Pyne – trombone
Alan Gout – trombone
David Purser – trombone
Steve Saunders – trombone
Frank Ricotti – xylophone, 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