Although
Steve Hackett had made several albums under his own name since his departure from
Genesis, 1981's
Cured was the closest thing yet to a true solo
Hackett album. Having disbanded the group with whom he's recorded two successful solo albums --
Spectral Mornings and
Defector --
Steve retained only keyboard player
Nick Magnus to help out on this effort.
Magnus played keyboards,
Hackett handled guitar and bass, and the drums were provided by a drum machine. But the most noticeable change was in the vocals. Previous albums had featured the occasional vocal excursion by the guitarist, but
Cure was the first album on which
Hackett handled all the lead vocals himself. Combined with the revamped musical backing and a more straightforward songwriting style, the new sound threw some
Hackett devotees for a loop. In fact, much of the album was rather commercial-sounding pop music, which bore little resemblance to
Hackett's previous work. Still, given a chance,
Hackett's new sound was quite compelling, especially when he played the songs live. The main concessions to
Hackett's earlier style were the instrumentals "The Air-Conditioned Nightmare" and "A Cradle of Swans," the latter being a solo classical guitar piece. ~ Robin Platts