Pitchfork: Curve to Release Career Retrospective, New Album

Curve to Release Career Retrospective, New Album
Scurve to develop spongy gums, internal bleeding, extreme fatigue

It's been almost 15 years since Curve broke on the scene with three mesmerizing EPs and a blast of Alan Moulder-produced guitar noise. Since then, they've released four proper albums, a handful of EPs and singles, broken up once and reformed with original members Toni Halliday and Dean Garcia, and released two Internet-only albums (although not exactly in that order). Their style hasn't changed greatly in that time, but if you've only heard Curve's early 90s output, you might be surprised to learn that they've continued to make solid if not spectacular music for the balance of their career... which isn't over yet. In fact, according to Curve's official website, they're currently working on their next album, which does not, as of yet, have a label or a release date. However, they're overdue for a retrospective-- a stop-gap if you will-- and they know it.

So here it is: The Way of Curve, a two-disc collection of hits, fan favorites, and rarities, that will be released in the UK on May 17th. The career retrospective will be a limited edition of 10,000 copies. The first disc features all five of Curve's top 40 UK hits, while the remaining tracks were chosen by fan voting on Curve's website. The second disc is comprised of B-sides, rare tracks, and remixes that cover the length of Curve's career-- and there are plenty of those to choose from. If you're Chris Ott, you'll likely have most of these songs already, but there is one unreleased track, "In Disguise", dating from last year, as well as a couple hard-to-find songs released only on compilations, including a cover of Donna Summer's disco classic "I Feel Love". A post on Curve's website alludes to a possible U.S. release for The Way of Curve, as well as a DVD that was originally planned to be part of the retrospective package, but no more details have been made available as of press time (read: 5:40am this morning). Here's the tracklist:

Disc 1: Best Of
01 Ten Little Girls (Clipped EP; 1991)
02 Coast Is Clear (Frozen EP; 1991)
03 Clipped (Cherry EP; 1991)
04 Die Like A Dog (Cherry EP; 1991)
05 Horror Head (Doppelganger LP; 1992)
06 Fait Accompli (Doppelganger LP; 1992)
07 Missing Link (Cuckoo LP; 1993)
08 Superblaster (Cuckoo LP; 1993)
09 Pink Girl With The Blues (Pink Girl With the Blues EP; 1996)
10 Recovery (Pink Girl With the Blues EP; 1996)
11 Chinese Burn (Come Clean LP; 1998)
12 Coming Up Roses (Come Clean LP; 1998)
13 Hell Above Water (Gift LP; 2001)
14 Want More Need Less (Gift LP; 2001)
15 Perish (Gift LP; 2001)
16 Nice and Easy (The New Adventures of Curve LP; 2002)

CD 2: Rare and Unreleased
01 On The Wheel (Blackerthreetracker 1 single; 1993)
02 Triumph (Blackerthreetracker 1 single; 1993)
03 Arms Out (Fait Accompli single; 1992)
04 Sigh (Fait Accompli single; 1992)
05 Mission From God (Horror Head single; 1992)
06 Today Is Not The Day (Horror Head single; 1992)
07 Low And Behold (Superblaster single; 1993)
08 Nothing Without Me (Superblaster single; 1993)
09 What A Waste (w/ Ian Dury) (Peace Together comp; 1993)
10 Falling Free (Aphex Twin mix) (limited edition 12" white label vinyl; 1992)
11 Chinese Burn (Lunatic Calm mix) (Chinese Burn single; 1998)
12 Coming Up Roses (Kevin Shields Mix) (Coming Up Roses single; 1998)
13 I Feel Love (Ruby TraxNME's Roaring Top Forty comp; 1993)
14 In Disguise (previously unreleased)
15 Sinner (The New Adventures of Curve LP; 2002)