Mike Rutherford - Acting Very Strange (1982)

As the bassist, then later the guitarist as well, for Genesis, Mike Rutherford came up with some indelible riffs that made his band's songs sound grand during their progressive phase and catchy in their pop phase.  But while his contributions helped expand Genesis's music, it was a different story for Rutherford when he tried his luck as solo artist, his own efforts being somewhat derivative of Genesis's better moments.  So it makes sense that Acting Very Strange, his second solo album, sounds like a collection of overproduced demos for a full Genesis album.

Recorded and issued in 1982, Acting Very Strange straddled the line between seventies art rock and what was quickly the mainstream rock sound of the eighties - synthesizers,  loudly mixed snare drums, and glossy production.  This formula may have worked for Genesis and a couple of other acts in the early 1980s,  but here it only plays up Rutherford's shortcomings.  His singing - this is the only solo project he's ever done with himself on vocals - vaguely reminds one of his old bandmate Peter Gabriel, but it's too stodgy to be effective.  The bass lines, normally Rutherford's forte, are hard to discern in the mix,  and the musicians - including the Police's Stewart Copeland on drums - are no more than competent.  The power ballad "Maxine" (co-written with British producer Pete Bellotte) is indicative of this LP's problems; it's overburdened with a hard-rock arrangement moving along a tempo that's much too slow.

Acting Very Strange wasn't a total washout for Rutherford, though.  Songs like "Halfway There" and "Who's Fooling Who" are energetic toe tappers, and "I Don't Wanna Know" cheekily keeps your attention with an arrangement that sounds like a record needle stuck in the groove. The album goes out with a nicely crafted piece of MOR-flavored rock, "Hideaway," with a delectable guitar solo for good measure.  Overall, this LP provided Rutherford with a template for the basic synth-rock sound that would give his group Mike + the Mechanics its identity.  That may be the biggest irony here; Rutherford tried to stand on his own without a Phil Collins or a Paul Carrack as a foil, yet Acting Very Strange only demonstrates how much he belongs in a band.  The title of the album's sixth track sums up Rutherford's problem as a solo act: "Couldn't Get Arrested."