(Heavy Blues Rock / Boogie) Curly Curve - Curly Curve - 1973, FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

Inspired by the instructions for a four-part Indian low ring, singer and harmonica player Heiner Pudelko, and bass player Kurt Herkenberg, both from Berlin, decided to name their new blues band Curly Curve. Herkenberg had just come back from Britain, where he had played in a soul band and had jammed with Graham Bond and Jimmy Page. In 1967, he had also been a member, albeit briefly, of Tangerine Dream. In the Summer of 1969, guitarist Alex Conti joined Curly Curve, but the band broke up a couple of months later since they lacked a real concept and clear goals.

The following Spring saw the birth of the second Curly Curve in the line-up of Herkenberg and Conti plus drummer Hans Wallbaum, who had worked as a professional musician in the Netherlands before he joined the band. Together with Pudelko and a trumpet player, the band worked out a repertoire consisting mainly or songs they wrote themselves. They also produced a thirty-minute TV show. However, public never really warmed up to Curly Curve so the band fell apart again.

The third Curly Curve tried their hands at jazz-rock and consisted of Herkenberg, Wallbaum, guitarist Sandy Pikker, Axel Klober on keyboards, and a changing assembly of singers. But internal quarrels over what direction their music was to take led to another break-up in late 1971. The fourth Curly Curve came together in Spring 1972 and finally the band had the success they had been striving for. Apart from Herkenberg and Wallbaum, the two heads of the band, the line-up consisted of Pudelko, Conti, Axel Klober and guitarist Paul Fuhrmann. When Heiner Pudelko and Alex Conti left the band in May (Conti went to join Atlantis, the band fronted by Hamburg-based singer Inga Rumpf), they were replaced by Martin Knaden (guitar) and Hanno Bruhn (vocals, guitar). Hanno Bruhn had been singing in various bands with the likes of Tony Sheridan and Don Adams and had won a singing contest initiated by the infamous "Star Club". This was to become the longest-lasting Curly Curve line-up.

Curly Curve signed on to the Brain label and, produced by Frank Oeser, recorded their self-titled debut album (Brain 1040) in July 1973. The record shows the band playing a powerful, technically perfect blues rock with definite American influences. Even the usually most critical of all critics, the reviewers of Sounds music magazine, took a liking to the straightforward boogie rock of the Berlin band. Journalist Hermann Haring, who later on became chief editor of the magazine called Musik Express, wrote in his review: "A return to rock without any political ambitions. Curly Curve kick down the accelerator and speed off in a straightforward manner. They play a splendid kind of blues rock that for the future only needs a healthy dose of blackness for the soul." What he meant was such vital rock songs as "Queen Of Spades", "Shitkicker" with its psychedelic elements, and the impressive opener "Hell And Booze". Also worth a listen is the bluesy ballad "I'm Getting Better", which highlights Hanno Bruhn's smoky voice very well. The extremely colourful cover artwork caused a lot of curiosity as well - thanks to a shining high polish packaging, it definitely was an eyecatcher.