Curved Air
Phantasmagoria

In Sofia Coppola's new film "Marie Antoinette", which features a pop-rock soundtrack with songs by New Order, Strokes, and Aphex Twin (among others), the beautiful song dedicated to the unfortunate queen by Curved Air, the standout track from the album "Phantasmagoria", wouldn't have been out of place.
The track, one of the best-known by the British group, exemplifies the style of the early Curved Air, with Darryl Way on the organ keeping the thread of the melody and Francis Monkman on the guitar punctuating it with his skillful blues-style riffs. The final crescendo is emotionally sung with detached pathos by Sonja Kristina ("The people are in arms, marching on the town; They rise chanting 'Revolution! Viva la Nation!'; Fire in their eyes, steel in their hands; They rise chanting 'Revolution! Viva la Nation!': Clamouring in the square, the rabble have gone insane; They're over the balustrades, defying the cannon fire; They're into the garrison, they murder the noblemen; Marie Antoinette, Marie Antoinette). It is followed by the dreamy acoustic folk of "Melinda", written by singer Sonja Kristina (with lyrics like: "Lovely lady falling laughing down the glory of a rainbow; Lovely lady reaching crying for the comfort of the day-glow; Melinda more or less, Melinda more or less in dreams", which seem to instead come from the pen of Peter Sinfield) with measured accompaniment of flute, violin, and an imperceptible harpsichord. Solemn trumpets introduce the ironic "Not Quite the Same" in which there's singing about a desperate erotic who, in lack of anything better, "busies himself, quite amusing himself, by abusing himself". The first side closes with "Cheetah", another violin tour de force by Way, following in the footsteps of the first hit "Vivaldi" and an unnecessary, and annoying, synth VCS3 rendition of "Vivaldi" at accelerated speed.
The second side presents a Monkman Suite, a sort of "Ghost's progress", inspired by Lewis Carroll, which, although not entirely convincing, tries to step off the beaten path, approaching surreal Genesis-style territories, and, stylistically, the intricate structures of Gentle Giant.
Moments of interest: the humorous chorus à la Rocky Horror Picture Show of the title track ("Don't ring for a taxi, don't call a policeman, Don't ring for a doctor he'll just give you pills. Don't hide in the cellar, you may not believe it It's probably friendly, just alone like you"), the experiment of "Whose Shoulder Are You Looking Over Anyway" with Kristina's otherworldly voice filtered through a Vocoder; the Latin-style lounge finale of "Once a Ghost, Always a Ghost", with brass, percussion, and vibraphone, rather unusual for a Prog group.
Clearly at this point the original formula has been exhausted and the group, to renew themselves, first tried to turn to hard rock (Air Cut, Love Child), with the entrance of Eddie Jobson and Gregory Kirby replacing Way and Monkman, then with Way regained and Jobson lost, with a sophisticated pop high in erotic charge that accentuated the seductive nature of Kristina (Midnight Wire, Airborn).

In the end, the first three albums remain a testament to one of the most original sounds of the era.