STEVE HACKETT - Cured 40th Anniversary Interviews (2021)

Steve talks about the writing, recording and tour of his 1981 album, CURED - with Nick Magnus, John Hackett, Ian Mosely and Chas Cronk.

[@charlesnolan7602]

My first Steve Hackett show was the Cured tour at the Brandywine club, Glenn Mills, N.J., Friday November 13, 1981. Excellent gig, excellent album!

[@richardrobbins9660]

I had the cured album and loved it. I use to walk around listening to this lp continously. Didn't mind the pop sound at all. It's one of those Steve Hackett/Genesis LPS that matched my emotions at the time.

[@_PrimetimePranks]

Summers can't officially begin for me without hearing this album. A longtime favorite of mine!

[@naturesfinest4871]

Don't know if you'll ever read this, Mr. Hackett...but you're the greatest guitarist to ever go solo. Love your music, man.

[@rosspfeffer5185]

Thanks for this great video! It’s fantastic hearing how the album was put together, especially in meeting the challenges of the 80’s for prog musos. It’s a very strong album, though the vocals took some getting use to. It was helpful for me to understand the reasons behind that. As a Australian Anglophile, I have fond memories of being in England at the time with the ‘Overnight Sleeper’ track playing in the car cassette on a cold drive on a motorway at night. A great soundtrack for the moment. Magic!

[@gingernuts1967]

Loved this album, and still do.

[@ethelip5239]

Great guys! Cured was the 1st Steve Hackett cassette I found, as I was first getting into Genesis (in the early 90s) & I loved it! It helped bridge me back to all their classic ventures..

[@wajobu]

A great band during that tour. As a drummer I watched Ian in amazement at his seemingly effortless quick hands. Some of my photos from that tour are on Steve’s website.

[@laurabusse1832]

We're you by any chance at the genesis concert in Raleigh in Nov? 2 mo ago?

[@arthurmee]

I was shocked by this album on release, having bought all Steve's albums to date and seen him and his band perform twice in Birmingham 1979 and 1980. It was difficult to work out what the heck happened on first listening but I continued to listen despite the drum machine and the poppy nature of some of the songs. Even the cover was a complete change of style. Now all theose years have passed and I love listening to it. It brings back pleasant memories of summer in '81 and a new beginning for me too . . . Thanks Steve as ever and the band from that period. Still love you and your music , not to mention the sublime musical contributions to the greatest band Genesis.

[@Loveplus9444]

It's a lovely album. 💚 .

[@kennethenos2716]

One of my favorites I never understood why fans are so keen to bash on it. Times change. Technology changes. The market and music world is constantly in flux. If you're still able to submit top quality product and also be bold and exploratory with your work, then that's still a major victory in my eyes. And I'm damn grateful for it all 💕😎

[@Robgtr.]

I love this album. The melodies and songs have great hooks and are very catchy. Then there is the contrast with A Cradle of Swans and Overnight Sleeper. The chorus melody of Overnight Sleeper is so good.Someone should choreograph a dance to it!

[@calyx12001]

Hey Nick!! LOVE your 'Lost In Space' t-shirt!

[@Nick.Magnus]

It's still in pretty good nick considering I've had it for nearly 30 years!😉

[@hogweed1975]

Linn themselves released a Linn Drum programmed album that has gone on to be legendary and that indeed is an absolute masterpiece: A Walk Across The Rooftops, by The Blue Nile.

[@moishe43]

I love the song 'turn back time' the tinkly keyboard bit at the end is so gorgeous. I love Nick Magnus!!

[@cremersalex]

I love the linndrum!

[@claudevaillancourt3574]

Steve was my absolute musical hero at the time. I was such a Genesis fan and he was the one from the band still carrying the prog flame up to Defector. So this album was an absolute disapointment. I understand why he did it. The 80s were such bad years for music after the glorious 70s. So it was very hard to take. Not really his fault, because outside pressures forced him to do such an album, but that was not where his talent was. Pop was never something for him. In that sense, I cannot see how he would have been able to fit in the pop Genesis of the 80s. I am glad he was able to bounce back with Guitar Noir at the beginning of the 90s and to continue after that. You are still my musical hero Steve.

[@patrickr.452]

I have very fond memories of listening to this album on my Walkman wile in high school. It was a departure from his earlier stuff but I still vey much enjoyed the record.

[@BuroAan]

The end of a great series of albums. Luckely the first four are still sounding fantastic!

[@jeffbosch1697]

Though it's from Steve's next album, I've wondered since it came out whether Cell 151 was Steve showing Genesis how he would have contributed to Abacab.

[@geoffreylogsdon162]

I haven't even watched this yet but would like to comment that l was a fan of Genesis from 1976 on, and of all of Steve's solo work, until the late 80s, when l just couldn't keep up financially. I think l have heard somewhere that he is dismissive of this album...if so that is a shame! l thought it was excellent when it came out, and l still love it. What a lot of progressive musicians did during that "weird period" in the 80s is kind of dismissed out of hand. I may be in the minority but l love the experimentation that went on then, with the dreaded Linn drum machine and so forth. I still enjoy those records: Ant's Invisible Men and 1984, Ian Anderson's Walk Into Light and Under Wraps, Iva (Icehouse) Davies' Primitive Man, and Steve's Cured, and probably some others. It is so different from anything he ever did solo (with huge credit to Nick Magnus, of course). And there are some great songs on it, and his vocals are great. Laugh if you want but Picture Postcard and Overnight Sleeper are two of my all time favorite solo Hackett tracks. Hope I Don't Wake and Funny Feeling are very cool and catchy tracks. I just think it's a neat album. I am happy it exists! It is streets ahead of some very strange solo efforts by some of his ex-bandmates (see what l did there?).

[@geoffreylogsdon162]

Wow, yay! I am happy after watching this that Steve and Nick are proud of this masterpiece of a record! My fabulous taste in music is right on the mark as usual 🙂 I was reminded watching this of another progressive duo who "adapted" during that period were the peerless Godley & Creme, with their album Ismism (Snack Attack in the US), because John Acock worked on that album as well. Discussing Ismism is a whole other planet from this...a challenging album for me...why use drum machines when Kevin Fuckin' Godley is right there? And, it didn't dawn on me until many years later that many of the tracks on it could be considered Rap, a bit odd for a couple of proggy English blokes in 1981. Sorry, the mention of Acock made me think of that. Anyway, cheers to Cured!!

[@redchapelmusic1841]

would love to hear a re recorded version of that album with a real drummer and other vocalist if possible...but still love that record

[@chuckazeee]

“Cured” was extremely underrated, no where near as bad as many say it is, it was pretty good and like many probably would’ve sounded better with a true proper back up line up would’ve helped.

[@jrbergsten]

That’s King’s seat. 😘

[@georgedobbs2860]

Nick did a great job with the drum programming. At least as good as what Todd Rundgren did with synth drums around the same time.

[@seankayll9017]

Not sure why Nick felt he had to defend the album near the end of the video. It was and still is a masterpiece.

[@marccote3702]

Loved the man and his music. I quit with that album. No drummer and his signing was not for me. Still great artist.