Cursed

Cursed is the sixth album by English rock band The Scaramanga Six. Background The songs for Cursed were originally intended for what would have been the fifth Scaramanga Six album, A Pound of Flesh. This album was scheduled for recording in 2006 with producer Tim Smith, who'd produced the band's third and fourth albums. Versions of tracks were recorded and a single, "Walking Through Houses", released before Smith was felled by a disastrous combined heart attack and stroke, leaving him unable to continue. Having become close friends with Smith, the band felt unable to replace him and complete the album sessions, later admitting "we simply couldn't go back to these recordings without him and recoiled to contemplate what to do next." The initial solution was for The Scaramanga Six to write and record a new album of new songs, which duly became 2009's Songs of Prey album. ("We wanted to pay tribute to the man who had inspired us and felt that to carry on with as much bombast as possible was the best way.") The band hoped to wait and resurrect the uncompleted Pound of Flesh work once Smith had recovered. However, when the devastating long-term effects of Smith's condition ensured that it was unlikely that this plan could be carried out, Steven and Paul Morricone opted to revisit the Pound of Flesh songs in 2010, finding a way of making use of the existing songwriting while honouring the memory of Smith and the original sessions.