Curfew - Hold The Front Page

Familiar sounding melodies and themes with a jazzy twist and first class musicianship… and mind blowing solo’s. Thats how I’d sum up Curfew in one rather untidy sentence. Knowing how stunning Nick Andrew (who writes the fusion and midi collumns for us) is as a musician, I was eager to hear him playing in a band context and that is exactly what this Curfew CD delivers. Not only does he play guitars on it (a yellow one AND a black one) but he’s also produced the thing.

One might expect it to be overblown with “guitarness” in that case but they’d be mistaken. This is actually a very balanced album showing off the talents of the whole band, who are all black belts in their respective instruments. Lets take the album track by track…

1. Future Dance

Nice to hear some real piano on a fusion record. Very well recorded it would seem too. This track sums up what I’m talking about when I say familiar melody with a twist. Bright start to the album with some neat tricks production wise.

2. Ouz

More stunning piano playing. Nice groove to this one that shows off the tightness of the rhythm section. Modulations and midi solo’s ahoy, this track somehow manages to stay interesting for nine minutes and twenty seconds. What does Ouz mean anyway?

3. Steppin Out

Things start getting interesting here. Slightly darker with some cool sounds and grooves including some tremelo based comping from Nick. We also get the first of Nick’s “real” guitar solo’s. Weird tones, hip notes and superb fushion playing all part of the package, this song is a joy to listen to.

4. Waltzing on Water

Wonderful base and acoustic guitar playing on this. For those who don’t know, Nick is secretly well versed in the art of flamenco and it shows.

5. People Make the World Go Round

An early nineties funk/fusion influence is stamped all over this one from the guitar tones to the keyboard playing. Not my favourite track although there’s a technically very impressive solo from Nick on midi duties at the end.

6. Straight From The IceBox

A nodd towards Zappa in parts on this one I feel? Very innovative guitar accompaniment and super funky piano playing. This is one of those tracks where you can listen to it fifty times and pick up something new every time. If you listen carefuly there’s some frighteningly fast runs going on from Nick behind the piano. Then there’s also the tasteful solo he puts on over some superb grooving from the rhythm section. I’ll let you listen for yourselves to find out about the violin guitar duel… which I get the feeling are both Nick. Being a keen practicioner of Aikido, I’d love to see him fight himself in person.

7. The Dance of The 3 Famous Beligians

Where do they get these titles from? And what person, Belgian or otherwise would dance to this madness? Nice hooks and one of my favorite guitar solo’s on the album. Wonderful tone and superb control through the sustained bendy stuff followed by some liquid legato and out there harmonic tricks. One can’t help but think that Nick had Holdsworth’s “Devil Take The Hindmost” in mind when recording this solo whilst accidently listening to some Van Halen on the way in.

8. Bob’s Groove

Nice laid back groove on this one. I feel like I’m in the ferrari on Grand Theft Auto for those who have played that game. For those that haven’t, you’re cruising through LA in a ferrari in the late eighties or something. There’s a sunset/purple sky situation going on, its hot and everyone is in a good mood. Slightly cheesy? Possibly. High levels of kudos and cool factor? Undeniably. A track for those with more classic tastes. I suspect this one is quite a cracker live no matter who you are however.

9. 3-Funk

My favourite track on the album. Super funky groove in 3/4, who would have thought it? Nice rhythm guitar work again and some super tight interlude type things going on. We also have a Coltrane influenced guitar solo from Nick which weaves its way inside, outside and through harmonic conventions effortlessly.

10. J & Z

High paced fusion groove to finish the album with superb playing all round. The guitar element of this track (thats what we’re all interested in right?) features some mind blowing jazz soloing which manages to morph into a reference to some famous classical theme (sorry my knowledge is not good but I recognise it!). Follow this up with the keyboard player putting it all out there and some seriously hot bass playing and you have a cracker of an ending there.

There’s not much going on in British fusion worth speaking about at the moment but Curfew appears to be the exception. Nick takes his job in the driving seat here responsibly and pulls out some stunning guitar work to boot. Besides the guitar playing, the musicianship across the board is really quite spectacular and I have no doubt that seeing these guys live in concert would be quite a treat. My only real gripe with the album is the artwork on the front cover but then again its a fusion album, for SERIOUS MUSICIANS, so when did this sort of thing ever matter? All in all, a worthwhile purchase, especially considering the asking price is a mere ten pounds.

For more information visit the official website