Been a while since I updated, so let's have a double barman when you're ready there please! First, I did mention at the beginning that I would be featuring albums from those members of Genesis who had solo careers (like, all of them) whether they ran concurrent to or took them away from the band. So far, we've only explored works by Tony Banks and Anthony Phillips, so let's try one from Mike.
Now, Mike began with fairly standard guitar-led prog fare when he released his two solo albums under his own name, but somewhat in the vein of his fellow bandmate he later began to move away from prog, as he formed a band of his own, which became quite popular in its own right (I bet there are people who don't even know he's the founder, or even a member) but mostly on the back of what can only be described as inoffensive pop, lord save us.
Thankfully, though, the first two albums released by Mike + The Mechanics can still lay some sort of claim to being at least semi-prog, at least the first one can.
Mike + the Mechanics - Mike + The Mechanics (1985)
The funny thing about this album is that I bought it, not because it featured Mike Rutherford; in fact when I purchased the album I was unaware it had any Genesis connections at all, although had I known it would have only strengthened my resolve to buy it. I decided to get the album on the strength of the first song I heard from it (on the radio, I think), which was in fact the opener, “Silent Running”.
I really loved this album. Yes, there are weak tracks on it, though they number very few, and there are no terrible tracks at all. But more than that, there are some absolute gems there. Conceived, as mentioned above, as a side project for Rutherford (whose solo album
Acting Very Strange I had already heard and liked), The Mechanics consisted of vocalists Paul Young (no, not
that one!) and Paul Carrack, Drummer Peter Van Hooke and keyboards man Adrian Lee, with Rutherford of course taking all guitar and bass duties. In addition to this, they operated something of an “Alan Parsons” setup vocally, with two other singers taking the mike (sorry!) for two of the songs, while Young and Carrack alternated.
As I said, the album opens strongly, on the powerful and dramatic “Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)”, which was in fact from the soundtrack to the film
On Dangerous Ground. It has a very Genesis-like intro, with humming synth and swirling keys, and then picks up on a really nice beat, until Carrack takes up the vocal, singing a song that warns of nuclear holocaust about to occur. It's mid-paced, very keyboard-driven, which is perhaps unusual for a project created by a guitarist, but it works very well. Carrack's vocals are clear and distinct, and he has a powerful voice which really suits the song. Of course, there is the obligatory and expected guitar solo from Rutherford in the song: no point being the focus of the project if you can't make your presence felt!
I could in fact see it sitting comfortably on their last (to date),
Calling All Stations. Interestingly co-authored by pop supremo B.A. Robertson, it’s six minutes long - no prog epic, certainly, but still quite a long track on any other album, and especially to start it. I will admit, there’s a major downturn then for the next track, but then, after “Silent Running” our Mike would have had to have come up with something pretty special, and he, well, did not.
Even at that, the rising squealing keys and ticking percussion that introduce “All I Need is a Miracle” do have proggy overtones, though once the song gets going it’s clearly a pop/rock love type song, and relatively throwaway. Probably why it was released as a single (though the opener was too) and did so well in the USA. Much poppier, more commercially accessible than its predecessor, it was made for the charts, and although both songs did very well when released, initially it would be “Miracle” for which Mike + the Mechanics would be remembered. Until of course, they had bigger hits.
But if you consider “All I Need is a Miracle” a blip, it’s soon overlooked as the quiet, almost cushioned drums of “Par Avion” whisper in, and we have the first ballad on the album. Of course every genre - mostly - has its ballads, and that fact alone doesn’t mark it out as being prog, and in fairness it probably isn’t, but then I could again hear this on a later Genesis album, maybe
We Can’t Dance or even earlier, maybe
Duke? A new voice to take the mike (sorry) here, one John Kirby, one of two tracks he guests on. Who is he? No idea.
Everything about this is understated: the melody, the percussion, the singing, all gives the impression of a very rare and delicate jewel being carried on a velvet cushion, from the chirping birds and crickets on the intro to the almost Phil Collins-like percussion, the keyboard sweeps, the flutelike passage right at the end. Fragile and lovely.
The quiet restraint of this song is upended entirely by the bombast and thumping attack of the obviously very angry “Hanging by a Thread”, with almost metal-style guitars and drums that just seem to want to punch your head in, Paul Young spitting out the lyric like an accusation. I like the fact that Mike and the Mechanics shuffle the vocalists around here, Young singing some tracks, Carrack others. Keeps it interesting. And Kirby too.
It’s also interesting that this is not altogether a guitar-heavy album; Rutherford made his name of course in Genesis as guitarist/bassist, though he does play keys too. Though not here. Then again, this isn’t strictly speaking a Mike Rutherford solo album, more a band he got together to play music with, but it’s nice to see he can put the axe down from time to time. Not so of course on the current track, which is very rifftastic, with orchestral hits from the synth and has quite the Genesis melody to it, very circa
Duke. Almost calypso-style then for “I Get the Feeling”, which makes me shudder a little, bringing back memories of Phil Collins on
No Jacket Required as the brass takes over, handclap beats and well, it’s just a pretty weak song, probably one of the weakest on the album, with Carrack back on vocals. Meh.
It’s pretty much top notch from there on in though, as we hit the manic “Take the Reins”, which ramps everything back up on a rock footing, the beat skittering along, the vocal reminding me of a steam locomotive puffing along, a certain air of Huey Lewis about it, then another standout is the gorgeous ballad “You Are the One”, where Kirby makes his second and indeed last contribution to the album. Beautiful piano from Adrian Lee, soft lush synth, just beautiful. And into yet another standout, the very prog-influenced “A Call to Arms”. This was in fact part of a song Rutherford wrote for inclusion on the
Genesis album, but nobody except him liked it, so he rewrote it for his own album.
I consider it a companion piece to “Silent Running”, linked musically as well as thematically; if any two tracks on this album can be considered prog-worthy, it’s those two, and the lyrics mesh too. If “Silent Running” is the warning about an impending (nuclear?) disaster - “Take the children and yourself and hide out in the cellar/ By now the fighting will be close at hand” - then “A Call to Arms” seems to me to be either the end of that conflict, or the fight back. Or maybe not. Anyway I link them in my mind and they definitely bookend the album and for my money give it its prog credentials. The sweeping percussion and synth that usher in the song, the pained, aching vocals of both Carrack and Young, the insistent thump of the drums all through it, the dark, ominous atmosphere that permeates the music, all make this a real treat to listen to.
It's a great song. Powerful, dramatic, effective and emotional. Opening with a gush of powerful piano and keyboards, it rides along on a punchy melody, with drums very reminiscent indeed of those used on "Mama", the opener to Genesis' 1983 album. Would have been a great closer, but there's one more track to go. Sadly, after the majesty of “A Call to Arms”, closer “Taken in” comes across very much as tacked-on, a filler track that should really not have been included, or at least should not have been the last track on the album. As I have said before, it's the last track on an album you're always left humming, and I'd much rather be humming “A Call to Arms” than “Taken in”, which is I feel very lightweight and inconsequential.
TRACK LISTING
1. Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)
2. All I Need is a Miracle
3. Par Avion
4. Hanging By a Thread
5. I Get the Feeling
6. Take the reins
7. You Are the One
8. A Call to Arms
9. Taken in
Rating: 8.6/10