Prior to recording Cured, Hackett disbanded the group with which he recorded Spectral Mornings and Defector. Only Hackett's brother, John, and keyboardist Nick Magnus remained from that band. That led him after the Defector tour to be exhausted, and recuperated in Brazil where he spent three months working on new songs.
The album is much more pop-oriented than Hackett's previous work, although there are distinct elements of progressive rock. The album is largely a collaboration between Hackett and Magnus. All drum parts were provided by a drum machine due to a limited budget, programmed by Magnus, and Hackett performed all the vocals, making this the first album for him to do so. It was also the first album on which Hackett played bass guitar, something he would not do again until 2019's At the Edge of Light. Production-wise, Hackett cited this album as his least favourite.[4]
Track listing
All songs written by Steve Hackett, with additional writers noted.