CURFEW: Hold the Front Page

Curfew

Hold the Front Page

© 2005 Curfew (5060051616730)

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'Making the much-travelled road of jazz fusion sound fresh and interesting is just about as difficult a job as there is in music, but Curfew have succeeded hands down’

tracks

1 Future Dance
2 Ouz
3 Steppin' Out
4 Waltzing on Water
5 People Make the World Go Round
6 Straight from the Ice Box
7 The Dance of the 3 Famous Belgians
8 Bobs Groove
9 3 Funk
10 J&Z

notes

Curfew

‘Making the much-travelled road of jazz fusion sound fresh and interesting is just about as difficult a job as there is in music, but Curfew have succeeded hands down’ (Adrian Creek, Surrey Advertiser)

‘Jazz-rock with a Weather Report sound’ (Jack Massarik, Evening Standard)

‘Should clean up on the London jazz scene’ (Line Out magazine)

‘Steve Marshall - "For me ‘Hold The Front Page’ is everything we’ve been working towards, capturing the energy of Curfew live but combining this with a truly professional production job (thanks Nick!) to create an album that has real ‘polish’ and some fantastically innovative arrangements yet retains the true spirit of the band, which (like so many good bands) is basically 4 people in a room creating something with a life of its own. The album cover gives the story behind each track so I won’t repeat those here

reviews

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  • Curfew - Hold the Front Page
    author: Department of Virtuosity (Poland)

    Curfew is not a newfound band. It is believed to consider them pioneers of electric jazz. We should look back at the year 1988 to be dispelled. Three main characters are Martin Lawrie (keys), Russ Wilson (drums, percussion) and Steve Marshall (basses, flute). A guitarist Nick Andrew joined the band in 2000. "Hold The Front Page" is the third item in Curfew's discography. I won't lie, if I write that Curfew play a kind of accessible summer jazz music for open-minded listeners. Martin is the main constructor of a musical frame, the rest musicians operate a crucial instruments which help the keys with produce aforesaid summer atmosphere. The keys are the lead instrument that tells the musical story in totally instrumental way. "Hold The Front Page" is varied by interestingly sounding Wuhan China cymbals, LP congas and bongos, LP shakers, cowbells, tambourines, agogos, African ballaphon and many other unusual instruments used by Russ Wilson. Here are also two great covers of an Israeli saxophonist Gilad Atzmon's "Ouz" and a 70's soul band The Stylistics' "People Make the World Go Round". Every composition is made up of swirling tones, relaxing and intimate melodies. This album reaffirms Nick's consummate skills... and the Company's as well. Obviously, it is far from Andrew's neoclassical solo face, but equally excellent. The music can seem to be plain for the first time, but stripping it down can take you much more time than one-time listening. Here is no sonic muddle, every element fits another one and harmonizes with it. An over-the-top Nick Andrew bases his playing on jazz/fusion patterns worked out by Allan Holdsworth and Scott Henderson. A keyboard virtuoso Martin Lawrie reminds me of Frank Lucas and Jordan Rudess. A whole band refer to the giants of jazz like Jaco Pastorius, Jean-Luc Ponty and Joe Zawinul, but don't epigonize them (sorry for that neologism)! You can also pick out some Middle Eastern influences, Spanish guitar and even cartoon music references. Every composition has its own spiritual load making "Hold The Front Page" eldritch. Four years of break from the second album? It was worth the wait with no doubts. I will try to be a spotter of Curfew's development in the future.

  • First class musicianship… and mind blowing solo’s.
    author: Mark Robinson

    There’s not much going on in British fusion worth speaking about at the moment but Curfew appears to be the exception. Nick Andrew 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 so little.

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