CURED

Overall, it's not a bad album at all but it's not a good one either. So why bother purchasing this CD? For me personally, one chief reason was in the past a friend of mine, I'an Arliandy of Yess Bandung recorded a 90-minute compilation cassette that comprised Hackett's best. One of the excellent tracks that I loved and has since become my all-time favorite was "Overnight Sleeper" (track 7 of this album). I love it very much. It's not the kind of track you would expect a prog music would offer. But the ambience and nuance the song create is awesome. It combines wonderful keyboard work, flute by John Hackett and Steve guitar style in an uplifting mood and upbeat tempo. Whenever I listen to it, I always want to repeat this track. I think Mr Stephen Hackett wants to give more role of keyboard work and the result is a nice composition.

The other track that I also like but not as much track 7 is "Turn Back Time" - a mellow one. "The Air Conditioned Nightmare" is actually a good one to enjoy especially on the opening guitar outfit followed with soaring guitar and the electric guitar solo that leads the track. "Hope I don't Awake" is a pop song that sometime was played live by Steve. The rest of the tracks are basically not stand-out tracks that I have to admit. It's a regret actually that this album is not a good one, overall, especially if we compare with the critically acclaimed first three albums: "Voyage of the Acolyte", "Please Don't Touch!" and the great "Spectral Mornings". Sonic quality is not really good as well. The cover design and artwork? It's probably the worst cover I've ever seen for prog music. As I'm a fan of Mr. Hackett, I would not trade this collection but definitely if this one will be remastered or expanded like other prog band like Yes has done it, I will not buy it. It's your call whether you wanna purchase it or not. One thing for sure: "Overnight Sleeper" ruleszzz .!!!

Progressively yours, GW