SMALLCREEP'S DAY

Rutherford's first solo project came between And Then There Were Three and Duke by GENESIS. And a pretty good album this is. The group is perfect for this occasion: Noel McCalla (too unknown talent) on vocals, Morris Pert on percussion, Simon Phillips (who's heard on many Oldfield albums) on drums, and the old band mate Anthony Phillips (who left Genesis before really showing his multi- instrumental and writing skills) on keyboards. Mike naturally plays both guitars and basses. Production is modern and clean, more or less like on the mentioned Genesis albums.

Rutherford is the most AOR type of a songwriter in the Genesis camp, as was later demonstrated with Mike + The Mechanics. The pop songs of Side One are accessible AOR stuff, resembling more of the future eighties than the bygone seventies, but fairly listenable anyhow. Side Two is filled by a 7-part title epic of equally accessible 'prog pop'; that is, there are no majestic solos or other prog rock trademarks, it's just a narrative entity segued together. It works very well as it moves between various atmospheres. It's about a factory worker who tries to reveal the secrets behind the producing line.

For a collector of GENESIS-related stuff this offers a nice addition the same way as Tony Banks' debut A Curious Feeling (both being the only good albums in their solo discographies).