Tune Tag #68 with Andy's Weird Ohio: King Crimson, Lou Reed, Curved Air, Michael Tilson Thomas, Slowdive, The Smiths, Alice Cooper, Curve

Eclectic meets electric in this Tune Tag pitting Andy's Weird Ohio against Brad's relatively sedate and somewhat provincial Texas...with ages separated by 40 years! Andy--You kids stay off my lawn!🤠

If you were with us last week, we enjoyed the pure Tune Taggery of

Sonny Rane

of The Gen X Jukebox:

Tune Tag #67 with Sonny Rane of "The Gen X Jukebox": Rush, Tragically Hip, Arcade Fire, Cutting Crew, Jennifer Warnes, Leonard Cohen, Kiefer Sutherland

Next week, we’ll be joined by Dave Tomar of

Music Influence

! Mark your calendar!

But First—Hey, Andy! Tag! You’re IT!

Tune Tag welcomes Andy of

Andy’s Weird Ohio

!

Andy schmoozes with Chubby Checker after a 2023 concert.

My name is Andy, and I am actually from Ohio…born in 1995. I’m a lifelong music and film fan that loves to write. I have one general film degree and an MFA in screenwriting. I’m a freelance writer, but I also make comedy videos with friends under the banner, “TV Head Productions.”

My Substack mainly focuses on short stories and poems. Since I spent many years studying screenplays, I wanted to go back to fiction and poetry as an experiment. I’m planning on writing more general posts about movies, music, and life. Most of my stories have an absurd or dark humor to them. I’m also open to experimenting with videos on Substack, if that’s considered legal.

Brad responds: Andy may be the youngest to play Tune Tag to date…I knew nothing about him when I asked him to play…I certainly couldn’t have guessed he was not even 30! I’ve got a good 4 decades on him, and he’s only spent 5 toddlin’ years in the century I experienced for 45 years!

So, sit back and enjoy! About 6 weeks have passed since he and I traded songs, and I have no recall as to what either of us sent! I can’t wait! Let’s do this!

Andy’s song #1 sent to Brad: Curve, “Horror Head,” 1992

Curve (l-r, Toni Halliday and Dean Garcia), play it straight. Discogs: Seminal indie rock/electronic crossover group who originally met through Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, whom Toni has known since she was a teenager. Dean played on two Eurythmics albums, 1983’s Touch and Be Yourself Tonight in 1985. The two played together in the unsuccessful ‘80s band, State Of Play, and parted on acrimonious terms. However, they resolved their differences and formed Curve in 1991. Following the release of a two-disc retrospective in 2004, Toni called it a day in January 2005, saying that the group had “come to its natural end with a lot of good work achieved in the last 15 years.”

Andy’s rationale: For my first entry, I was torn between other choices in the shoegaze genre. I decided that if I completely ruin the rest of my entries, I will have at least done right by my first choice!

Curve is somewhat obscure compared to other genre giants like My Bloody Valentine. I’ve only known about them for a few years, occasionally going back to explore their catalog inch by inch. “Horror Head” (written by the duo, and produced by Curve and Flood) feels like the perfect encapsulation of their dreamy sound: Toni Halliday’s vocals atop the immaculate production make for a fantastic combination.

Thanks to her talents, Dean Garcia’s bass playing, and Flood’s production prowess, this song is an unsung masterpiece. I wish that they were as well-known as their contemporaries.

Brad’s song #1 sent to Andy: Curved Air, “Phantasmagoria,” 1972

Curved Air, ca. 1975. Recognize soon-to-be-Police-man, drummer, Stewart Copeland? He’s on the far left, and was only in the band for a couple years before being captured by The Police. The Virginian was road manager for Curved Air in ‘74, before picking up the sticks through ‘76. He joined Sting and The Police in ‘77. Lead singer, Sonja Kristina, here, is holding someone else’s hand, but in 1982, she married that tall guy just to her right…they split in 1991!

Copeland, on Facebook in February 2023: 👆“Curved Air @ Cardiff 1976; “Proud to be Prog!” A year later, with newly-bleached’n’chopped hair and sans sideburns, he was proud to be punk….OK, fine: new wavey with a reggae twist!

Andy’s response: I’m guessing the main connection would be that these two bands share “Curve” in their name. I haven’t heard this one before, but the music video/performance with some vintage effects was a great throwback. We should still be using this kind of technology on all late night shows to revive viewership.

Brad’s rationale: Hard to believe only 20 years separate Curve with the added-“d” Curved Air, and their “Phantasmagoria.” What was progressive in ‘72 now confronts the “progressive” of the ‘92 Curve, now, apparently known as alternative or indie. The more things change, the more they stay the same (an appropriate place for that aphorism, I guess).

Curved Air was one of several bands of that era that easily straddled the late-’60s mystical/hippie vibe of the folk-driven Woodstockian ilk, with the burgeoning “progressive” rock growing in numbers in the early-’70s. Couple that with the seeming preponderance of folkie/English countryside “wood nymph rock” (often fronted by a wispy female lead singer) proffered by the likes of It’s a Beautiful Day, Renaissance, Pentangle, Fotheringay, McKendree Spring, Sandy Denny, Fairport Convention, and others!

Andy’s song #2: King Crimson, “Elephant Talk,” 1981 (live, ABC-TV’s Fridays)

The law firm of Fripp, Bruford, Belew and Levin circa 1981.

Brad’s response: Bill Bruford toured N. America and Europe with Genesis March through July 1976, supporting the band’s A Trick of the Tail album, their first after Peter Gabriel left to go solo. Adding Bruford allowed new lead singer, Phil Collins, to come out from behind his kit to front the band, although (as he did with Chester Thompson for many years), the two did drum duets a couple times a night.

Here, Bruford and Collins both reveal their respective POVs on that 1976 addition, with behind-the-scenes with both:

For a nifty 5 1/2-minute highlight vid of Bruford (the first two snippets) and Chester (the remaining) both dueting with Collins, click here!