CURED

After hitting the top 10 in the British Album Charts for the first (and sadly only) time with the overall very Proggy Defector LP, one would assume Steve Hackett would follow up with more of the same.Sadly no as the follow up album Cured showed.So what changed? Firstly Hackett simply could not afford a full band this time.Secondly he felt under pressure to provide Virgin with a hit or at leat a more commercial sounding album.Thirdly and perhaps most significantly he wanted to prove himself capable of handling vocals.

Overall this new direction did not automatically have to lead to a sub-standard album.The main problem is he made a couple of mistakes in the presentation of the album.Firstly he decided to not use his wife Kim Poor for a cover unlike all his previous albums and go for a photo of himself enjoying himself with his cure (Cured-geddit?) near a beach.Hmm-shades of Love Beach by ELP....Not only that but like the ELP album he front-loaded the album with a couple of fairly straightforward :"Pop" songs.Not something we expect of this guitar hero.Ofcourse the very light production compounded by his fairly weak vocals and the dreaded use of drum machines made for a fairly underwelming experience for the listener. Fortunately and the truth is Cured is actually quite an enjoyable album in many respects.The songs although with one notable exception not even remotely Proggy, probably arranged to suit his limited vocals are actually quite engaging in their own way.The notable exception is "Overnight Sleeper" which features a particularly engaging Latin style instrumental section showcasing John Hackett's always superb flute playing.The album also includes the dramatic "The Air Conditioned Nightmare" which is one of his best instrumentals.

Overall while not an essential album it is still worthy of 3 stars

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