Tony Reeves' Thunderbird

[Pekka]

Playing with Curved Air (Stewart Copeland on drums) in '76:

[uwe]

And you can curve the air with a luminous EB-3 too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDqIXVg3aIU&feature=related

[Pekka]

And you can curve the air with a luminous EB-3 too!

Luminous guy playing the bass was a future Caravan member Mike Wedgwood whose predecessor in Caravan was another occasionally EB-3 wielding John G. Perry. Here's Perry playing with 3/4 of Quantum Jump (Rupert Hine out of the picture), again with an EB-3. Why didn't he play his famous first Wal bass is a mystery). Uwe might recognise the guitarist:

[uwe]

The Nektar guy, Roy Albrighton, right? He was handsomer than most prog guitarists, especially handsomer than Steve Howe.

Of all prog bands, Curved Air ranked highest on the babe-o-meter which - this is my hunch - explains why there is such a lot of TV footage of them!

And speaking of birds and prog, Eloy may not go unmentioned:

[Pekka]

The Nektar guy, Roy Albrighton, right? He was handsomer than most prog guitarists, especially handsomer than Steve Howe.

Yes, Roye. I recall he joined for the live dates because their original guitarist Mark Warner stayed in States and had actually left before the "Barracuda" was released in 1977. Roye had left Nektar at that point but returned in 1978 and put together a new line-up with some US players like Carmine Rojas on bass but only after he played on that Snowball album with Curt Cress and other top session players in your country.

The most handsome prog guitarist title must go to Dave Gilmour. Just ask any lady.

Of all prog bands, Curved Air ranked highest on the babe-o-meter which - this is my hunch - explains why there is such a lot of TV footage of them!

You could be right, It can't be because of their music.

And speaking of birds and prog, Eloy may not go unmentioned:

Uh-oh, I had forgotten them already. Almost worse than Heep. Sorry. Nice 'bird though (just like mine) and didn't Grobschnitt also use a Bicentennial 'bird?

[exiledarchangel]

I belong to "Eloy was great" minority here it seems!

[uwe]

"The most handsome prog guitarist title must go to Dave Gilmour. Just ask any lady."

I have one at home that drools over him all the time!   Floyd are an untypical prog band as their music is more ambience/atmosphere than technical (most prog bands have ambient/atmosheric parts, but then eventually do something technically sophisticated for the heck of it, only Floyd would always doze on!), in fact it is not very complicated at all, but rather simplistic, yet hugely effective. And Gilmour, who has great tone and taste and is immediately recognizable after two notes (of his total repertoire of about 5 1/2 notes   ), could have never played with a band like Rush, Jethro Tull or Yes because at the end of the day he's "just" a Brit Blues Boom leftover, not an intricate guitarist at all (but an excellent blues player nontheless).

[uwe]

Nice 'bird though (just like mine) and didn't Grobschnitt also use a Bicentennial 'bird?

If they did their bassist became a Stingray convert pretty quickly! Around 76-78 Stingrays were all the rage in Germany while a Bird would have been exotic and somewhat quaint. But then Eloy excelled at being quaint.  

[uwe]

I belong to "Eloy was great" minority here it seems!

It's heartwarming that you do! In the seventies, Eloy had good sales but everyone in Germany was ashamed of Frank Bornemann's horrific German accent when singing, the labored lyrics (courtesy of the drummer) and the vocally flat delivery. Plus Frank's hat to cover his balding pate! But outside of Germany they became somewhat of a cult band.

[Pekka]

Frank Bornemann's horrific German accent when singing, the labored lyrics (courtesy of the drummer) and the vocally flat delivery.

Well, at least he is a better singer than Uli Jon Roth. On the other hand everyone is.

[Highlander]

Gilmour can often be heard playing jam sessions at his riverside home, about a mile from here (atcf)...

Is that Lady Sonja still associated with the Police...? 

I've nicked that vid for the EB thread...

[uwe]

Copeland and Sonja are no longer an item, but she's on record for saying that she led more a rockstar life as the significant other of the Police drummer than while fronting her own band.

[Highlander]

I've never owned any Curved Air recordings...