CURED

I recently returned to this album while listening to Steve Hackett's studio discography in sequence. I wasn't particularly looking forward to this one, as it was the album that made me turn my back on his career for more than two decades, until ""Beyond the Shrouded Horizon" made me look again at his career and realize what I had been missing.

I had reservations about some aspects of "Defector", but "Cured" pushed me over the edge with its strained vocals and absolutely horrible album cover. The first three songs are painful, out of character, and far too commercial as regards his previous work. It's only on the instrumental, or mostly instrumental, pieces like "The Air Conditioned Nightmare", that Hackett shines. But even here he would have been better served ditching the drum machines and hiring a real drummer.

In retrospect I can see that many of his future vocal tendencies, particularly using multiple voices to create interesting harmonies, are evident, and had he stuck with his natural range when singing solo perhaps these songs would be less forced. Clearly this was a challenging extension of his abilities, and it would be years before he found his real voice in song, and developed into an expressive singer and song-writer. However, on this album, as he sings "I don't want to be here" on "Picture Postcard", I can't but help feel the same.

For those perusing his discography, I would jump from "Defector" to "Guitar Noir", jump again to "Darktown", then make one more big leap to "To Watch The Storms", at which point the modern, confident, experienced Steve Hackett begins a string of exceptional studio albums.