The 1980 Listening Post - Mike Rutherford - Smallcreep's Day

Mike Rutherford - Smallcreep's Day

#43

February 15 1980

Mike Rutherford

Smallcreep’s Day

Genre: Prog Rock

2.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Out in the Daylight (I think…it’s about 18 minutes into Side One’s suite)

I don’t remember Genesis sounding like a cross between The Who, Yes and Pink Floyd, but, in retrospect, maybe that’s exactly the Venn Diagram where they lived.

With the band on hiatus and nothing to do, I guess 1000 piece puzzles weren’t interesting enough to Mike so he took an obscure surreal book about an assembly line factory worker and wrote half an album about it. And, look, factory work was a nigh on obsession with some of our best 70s British rockers. Their fathers and uncles and peers no doubt toiled in those buildings for life and that took its toll.

This is an interesting prog experiment that is benign enough but, as I have said in other reviews, concept albums, story albums, are just just difficult for me to follow. I’ve often found that the the form doesn’t really work for me, I can’t follow a story told in elliptical rhymes and metaphoric instrumental passages. It took me forever to really understand the story of The Wall, until it was depicted for me, and Tommy…well, I was just confused.

Look, I know that’s a failing of mine but, at least the aforementioned had hummable, catchy tunes that propelled the albums beyond their narratives.

That doesn’t happen here. Thing is, when Side Two abandons the story (I guess it’s completed by the Suite), the collections of songs are just boring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OieZn8Ko5uY

The 1985 Listening Post - Mike + the Mechanics - Mike + the Mechanics

Mike + the Mechanics - Mike + the Mechanics

#383/1019

October 5 1985

Mike + the Mechanics

Mike + the Mechanics

Genre: Prog Rock

3.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Silent Running

All I Need is a Miracle

Take the Reins

Of all the post/side Genesis projects this is the one that, to me, sounds the most like Genesis. Well, latter day Genesis. 

It’s really hard to argue with the comfortable familiarity of the hits from this thing. They were ubiquitous. They show up on every classic rock/80s/AOR radio station/playlist ever. They are evergreen hits of the era. And I can’t really argue with that. They are confection. When you have the Pauls (Carrack & Young) as your lead vox, their smooth anonymity can carry just about any Genesisian tune. 

Beyond those hits, though, it’s a pretty pedestrian offering. The songs are bouncy enough, sure. And they could be plugged into any radio station playlist. And that’s the best thing I can say here.

I know you’re looking up and saying “Take the Reins? Really?” What can I say, it made me happy. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/mike-the-mechanics-us-release/936165213

Listening Post: Genesis + Mike +the Mechanics

I couldn't listen to The Living Years. I just couldn't........


Genesis – Calling All Stations – 1997

What. The. Fuck. Is. This?
Peter Gabriel soundalike Ray Wilson was brought in by Rutherford and Banks to take Phil Collins' place after he left for good. The result is, well, it's nowhere near the MOR that I've come to be used to since Duke.
It's darker and more aggressive. The title track has a post industrial feel to it. (Jumping on trends, are we?) As if someone was following Gabriel's lead, finally, but doing it 30 years later so it sounds more like the pap that Queen was peddling in their later days. If the song didn't just disappear into ether I would actually say I kind of liked it, but it feels unfinished. “Congo” could have benefitted from Collins' mirthful gravitas, and some editing.
Allmusic.com put it best: It wants to be an art rock album, but not at the expense of losing the pop audience.
And that pretty much sums it up.
A worthless spin.

Grade: D
A Side: –
BlindSide: The Dividing Line
DownSide: The rest...


Mike + The Mechanics – Mike + The Mechanics – 1985

The Paul & Paul project! Paul Carrack! Paul Young! And that big ol 80s sound.

“Silent Running” is one of the two hits you remember from this record and Paul Carrack sounds SOOOOO much like Phil Collins on a song that sounds like it was written BY Phil Collins that I wonder: Did Mike Rutherford sit at home and think: “Fucking drummer. I can write that shit. I'll prove it!” And then this came out of him?
Cause. Wow. And just what is the deal with Paul Carrack? He was in Ace, then he wasn't. Then he was in Squeeze. Then he wasn't. Then he's here. Then he's elsewhere. Is he just the nicest guy in the world or the guy you THINK is the nice guy and he really sucks. Cause he brings a load of treacle to everything he touches.
(editor's note: I think I'm burning out hard on this kind of mid-80s pop/pap.)
It's really impossible to be unbiased when listening to this stuff, that electronic drum just dates the shit out of this crap. Maybe it's great. I don't know. I know it's mid-tempo and all sounds like it fell off the soundtrack to St. Elmo's Fire, but those drums! Blech blech blech.

That said, “All I Need is a Miracle” is a great little single. And “I Get the Feeling” would have been a great Donald Fagen tune. “You Are the One” is the kind of horrible crap that...I have no metaphor. It's awful.

The smooth jazz songs on this record are completely inoffensive. The rock is also toothless. Most of that sounds like a cross between 80s Queen and Sparks.
The record is perfectly designed to sell to the boomers of the era. It's a record I expect to hear sold to 35 year olds of the era. 25 years later, it's a relic. A relic written and performed by professionals, though. I'll give them that.

Grade: D+
A Side: Silent Running, All I need is a Miracle
BlindSide: Par Avion, I Get the Feeling, Take the Reins
DownSide: You Are the One, Taken In