Steve Hackett
Cured

Well yes, a great artist, perhaps the greatest progressive guitarist, must, albeit reluctantly, be stuck with a mere two stars and also a classification not really among the "elite," as I consider this album a simple pop though classy, but still a pop... alas. The regret is enormous because the person making this little review is truly a die-hard fan of Steve and his work with Genesis, but especially of his solo work. It goes without saying that one cannot always expect the utmost creativity from anyone, and so, although disheartened at the time of the first listening of this album and virtually unplayed by myself for quite some time, I still go on to review it since life is made up of good things and less good things (I hope the irony of equating an album with life will be forgiven, but I hope that everyone will catch the irony).

Well, Steve Hackett in 1980 had released "Defector," an album that closed a period in an artistic sense and not only that, and he was understandably worn out from the efforts of a world tour, so much so that he spent several months in Brazil basking in the sun of the South American country's beaches along with his partner (the painter Kim Poor, representative of diaphanism and a student of the great Salvador Dalí, and the author of almost all the guitarist's album covers-www.kimpoor.com-).

Who knows, perhaps the warm and relaxed atmospheres of Brazil, perhaps the absence of his band that dissolved after the aforementioned world tour... the fact is that what came out of Hackett's hat for this album was a collection of pleasant but in some cases also bland songs, but nothing more than that. The album was performed only by Steve, who also played the drum machine and by the faithful Nick Magnus on keyboards and some flute contributions by John Hackett. The opening track is "Hope I don't Wake," which starts with an a cappella chorus (the three) and then continues on a fairly simple melodic line and an even simpler rhythmic base to the point that even I could probably play it just by trying for two or three hours. Perhaps the only thing worthy of note in this piece is the wonderful keyboard rendition of the bass.

"Picture Postcard," is evidently a personal memory of the artist referring to the recently spent holidays that seem to have softened his creativity considerably (Steve, Steve, what are you doing?). Even though the chords are different from the opening track, the structure remains much the same, and the sax ending almost reminiscent of a hard film soundtrack certainly does not improve the situation. "Can't Let Go," has a promising start, with a crescendo of drum machine and keyboards suggesting a surge in tone and which instead soon flows into a rather banal guitar riff and yet another simple, simple little song that goes by like a breath of wind. Worth noting is only a fairly Hackett-like guitar interlude and nothing else. Finally, we come to the track that lifts up the fortunes of the entire work a bit, "Nightmare-The Air Conditioned." Here we stand before something remarkable, with a start of distorted guitar and the "distance" effect that seems to produce a long lament. The entrance of Magnus' keyboards is decidedly "symphonic," and from that moment on, it continues in a decidedly pleasant manner with a nice bass line (pardon, keyboards that simulate it) that continues for the entire duration of the piece. Here, after the first two verses, Steve interposes everything with truly great solos, then returns to the theme until the end. With "Nightmare," Hackett opened his concerts during the 1981-1982 period.

The following "Funny Feeling" plunges us back into depression given its musical poverty, a little funky-like song that is truly sappy and romantic in the worst sense of the term. Everyone gets up instead for the next "A Cradle of Swans." Definitely a beautiful piece of classical guitar played at the highest levels of which Hackett is capable, therefore wonderfully well. Slow initial arpeggio and a motif that crescendos to the finale played quickly. Almost attached to this piece, the next "Overnight Sleeper" begins with a very fast classical guitar arpeggio. An orchestral effect on Nick Magnus' keyboards and a fast rhythm make you think of a night train with the electric sliding with long notes almost like a violin, and after this decidedly enchanting start, it returns fully to the easy-listening atmosphere, that is, the one that almost totally permeated "Cured."

The closing of the album is entrusted to yet another little song that certainly does not make itself unforgettable and is titled "Turn Back Time," with a muffled nightclub ending, almost as if Hackett wanted to recall piano bar origins he doesn't have.....

Clearly, the London artist has created much else in his brilliant career, and unfortunately, the lackluster vein will continue even with the following "Highly Strung," albeit to a decidedly lesser degree, but that's another story that if you have the indulgence to read, I will write about in due course.