Come Clean - Curve
When the Sneaker Pimps hit the big time last year Toni Halliday and Dean Garcia of Curve must have realized that not making records wasn't getting them anywhere fast, and while a show at a South London college during the Fall of 1997, which marked their return to the scene, earned them the praise of the British music press they've yet to test the waters elsewhere in the World.
That's where their new album Come Clean comes in, their advance envoy, going out to all places the band may some day show up too, and the sooner they get out here to Seattle the better.
I'm not sure when I suddenly got the point when listening through for the first time but I do know that Sweetback made me crank the Mackie. I think it was the way the guitars kind of dropped a little deeper into the mix allowing more of the electronic stuff to get through. Same with the following Forgotten Sanity, although heavily guitar (Bass) driven, there are more of those wonderful over treated and electronically derived sounds for me to like.
Toni Halliday's voice, while often treated to sound like it's coming from a little tinny radio, has got all the right ingredients and never fails to hold it's own even when things start getting hot. Come Clean also makes the grade in the production department, especially with the likes of Tim Simenon lending an ear. The album certainly grows as it turns, a thickening plot that ultimately resolves into an instant eternal favourite of mine called Recovery which closes out the album.
In closing we suggest you check out their website. We don't usually do this but there's a ton of really interesting stuff about the band which should help get most of you who are hearing about Curve for the first time up to date.
Rating - 840,722 (out of a possible 1,000,000)
