Mike Rutherford’s favourite British albums
Understandably, most folks split Genesis into two distinctive arcs: the Gabriel years, and the Collins years. On the surface, it seems to fit. When Peter Gabriel fronted the band, they were one of the most exciting, eclectic groups in Britain. Prog mavericks of whom you could never quite predict the next move. When Phil took over, they went pop. ‘Invisible Touch’, ‘Follow You Follow Me’, ‘Turn It On Again’, you know the drill.
This isn’t entirely unfair, as Collins and Gabriel weren’t just the lead singers in their tenure fronting the band. They were also in charge of the musical direction of the whirlwind outfit. This does throw the efforts of Mike Rutherford hugely under the bus, though.
As their lead guitarist, it was his creative nous and technical ability that allowed them to blow minds during the likes of ‘The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway’. His songwriting skill and dab hand with a pop hook were instrumental in creating their run of hits in the late 1980s. A run more astronomically successful than anyone would have expected of a prog band made up of men on the cusp of turning 40.
Not to mention going on to be the titular ‘Mike’ of ‘+ The Mechanics’ fame in 1985 and having a hugely successful career with them too. So, what records inspired a man like that? During an interview with The Express in 2017, Rutherford sat down and detailed his favourite albums. Each of them seemingly combines both sides of his career, as expansive and experimental as they are popular and catchy.
He begins the list with a very obscure pick, though. Some no-hopers called The Beatles jumping on the hippy money-train in 1967 with an album called Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band, can you believe that?! Of the album, Rutherford said, “Growing up, The Beatles were my favourite artists. There were two fabulous singers, but the quality of the songwriting is what moves me.”
The Beatles would go on to become a yardstick for his entire musical journey going forward, even branching out from the ever-reliable John and Macca to cover George Harrison’s classic White Album number ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ in concert for decades to come. In the same article, he goes on to talk about another record that would have blown a young guitarist’s mind, The Kinks’ self-titled debut album from 1964.
“When I first heard ‘You Really Got Me’ at school, the guitar riff excited me more than any I’d heard. It was just so raw and wild. They went on to write some incredible, eloquent songs,” he astutely observed. While The Kinks might go down in history for their early proto-metal stylings, echoes of Genesis and, in particular, The Mechanics’ pop elegance can be found in the witty, literate pop of the Davies brothers’ later career.
He’d have to wait seven years for an album by The Kinks’ peers The Who to hit in the same way, though, with 1971’s Who’s Next joining this murder’s row of hits: “My generation was the first to have its own culture as kids. The Who had a rebellious, antiestablishment streak, and they still sound good.”
As much as prog would have a different kind of reputation, The Who also opened up the minds of their impressionable listeners with extended keyboard solos and songs about Meher Baba on this very record. Thus, it makes sense Rutherford and Co were listening intently.
