AIRCONDITIONING

Air Conditioning is a good, solid album from an overlooked progressive band. The opening track, It Happened Today, is a good song, and I like the volin. The Stretch and Screw are both musically interesting, and the lyrics of Screw are nice and creepy if you like that sort of thing. I very much like Blind Man, which tells the story of a man and his seeing-eye dog. Vivaldi is an interesting interpretation of some popular classical melodies; it might put off some people who dislike "tampering" with classical music but I enjoyed it. The rest of the album is good but not astonishing with the possible exception of Propositions. I found that song to be one of the highlights of the album. AirConditioning finishes with Vivaldi With Cannons, which is basically like Vivaldi, only with some strange noises added in. It was not as strong as it could have been.

Overall, I enjoyed this album, especially the use of violin. The vocalist is also quite good; it is always nice to hear a female prog singer. I would recommend this album, but if you're only looking to buy one Curved Air album, Phantasmagoria is stronger. A solid four stars for AirConditioning.