That voice does not go with
that face.
On his last solo album
before reassigning lead singing duties to others in his hit band Mike
and the Mechanics, Genesis guitarist/bassist Mike Rutherford belts
out raw and throaty vocals on eight art rock/pop oddities that exude
quirky but compelling weirdness.
The compositions and musical
instrumentation are unsurprisingly very similar to Genesis, with a
bit of Oingo Boingo and The Police thrown in for good measure. The
latter comparison is not so much of a stretch, especially considering
that one of the drummers is Stewart Copeland and that Acting Very
Strange sounds like a distant cousin to fellow 1980s superstar
guitarist Andy Summers’ one and only rock vocal record, XYZ, but
jacked way up.
As for Rutherford’s earthy
singing voice, it sounds like a mix of Peter Gabriel, Keith Richards,
Joe Cocker, Ray Charles, Joe Elliott, David Lee Roth, etc.
This is not for every taste,
but the title track, “Maxine,” and “Hideaway” (future shades
of the Mike and the Mechanics hit “The Living Years”) are
definite must-listens.
--Raj Manoharan
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