Date: Fri, 1 Mar 1996 08:24:49 +0100
From: r_200s2_dm@southampton-institute.ac.uk (ER)
To: PAPERLATE@ansto.gov.au
Subject: M&TM Q Magazine Review
Sender: paperlate-owner@ansto.gov.au
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: r_200s2_dm@southampton-institute.ac.uk (ER)
I apologise now for the length of this mailing!
Here's the review from Q magazine on Mike and the Mechanics 'Hits'
Some people are just plain greedy. Not content with his one third stake in Genesis, Mike Rutherford has, over the past decade, built up a nice little earner on the side with M&TM, all with very little fuss or fanfare. Although hardly the kind of music to endanger the prickly heat of keen anticipation or an authentic dazzling light on the road to Damascus kind of experience, there has always been a basic decency to what they do. It's only when all their brighter moments are laid end to end like this however, that their worth seeps through.
The blue collar name may be something of a throwaway but it suits the band's style and purpose to perfection. Rutherford himself remains a star in name only, patently disinterested in the pomp and preening this secondary success has presented him with. Happier in the studio than on stage, the deal has been simple enough. He writes the songs, usually in conjunction with either produced Chris Neil or B.A. (Bang Bang) Robertson, and then gets either Paul Young (the Sad Cafe one) or Paul Carrack (ex-Squeeze, ever-patchy solo career) to sing them. Every three years or so an album filters through. There's maybe a tour to promote it. Nothing too taxing.
Hits is simply as good as its word: 13 tracks taken from the four albums to date, including three from last year's BOABOG, which may be considered just a touch premature. No matter, the lovely, wistful Over My Shoulder, in particular, sits easily alongside more established favourites like Silent Running (ODG) and Nobody's Perfect, although the tampering with All i Need Is A Miracle proves to be, at best, a little unnecessary. These are all songs that are uniformly high on melody and craftsmanship, with mercifully no hidden agenda. The concerns are suitably adult, never more so than on the genuinely touching Living Years, where the potentially hazardous sentiments and even a children's choir are negotiated with striking ease by the undervalued Carrack. In fact, as white soul voices go, he's right up there with Michael McDonald on a Time and Place, capable of balancing restriaint with spiked emotion. The Mechanics' self-effacing nature seems to suit him, too.
As a sideline for all concerned, M&TM have probably gone further and lasted longer than anyone could have originally predicted. With quiet efficiency Rutherford has somehow survived the excesses of progressive rock to
(oops bugger, I missed a bit!)
With quiet efficiency Rutherford has somehow survived the double handicap of a posh education and the excesses of progressive rock to put together something that may fly in the face of fashion but which unquestionably speaks to more people than many of us are sometimes prepared to accept. That's no small triumph.
**** (out of a maximum of five)
Critic: Peter Kane.
All in all, a remarkably good review for a Genesis-related act!
Dave