Sonja Kristina

The messy end of Curved Air finally behind her, Sonja Kristina all but disappeared from the scene for a couple of years, before finally making a low-key comeback at the head of a new band, Escape. It was a tentative venture. Early gigs saw the band performing primarily to veteran fans who'd have preferred to hear their old favorites; it took time for a younger audience to catch on that Escape was actually shaping up to be one of the best live bands on the late-'70s club circuit — and one of the best new wave bands full-stop. Firmly predicting all that Lene Lovich, Hazel O'Connor, and Toyah would be bringing to the Top 30 over the next couple of years, Escape's sound was firmly rooted in the present day, a succession of exhilarating, quirk-bedecked rockers that owed little more than their assurance to any past experience. When it came time to cut their debut album, however, Escape's name was barely visible on the sleeve. The marketing men knew Kristina was "the name"; now she was the artist as well. But it's still a full-on band effort, with the opening "Street Run," in particular, a sharp-edged rocker alive with both modern quirk and more classical undercurrents. The almost-world-music-flavored "Man He Colour," a cover of Spirit's "Mr Skin," and the single "St Tropez" likewise, position Kristina and Escape on the cutting edge of the latest musical fascinations, with producer Nigel Gray (best known at that time for his work with Kristina's husband Stewart Copeland's band, the Police) layering in some of his own finest work. It was all to no avail, however, Fans who might have picked up an album by Escape may not even have noticed one by their singer, and the older audience had long since been scared off by Kristina's relentless taste for modernity. The LP disappeared, and Escape quickly followed. It would be another quarter-century (the album's CD reissue) before either was heard from again.