Mike Rutherford : Smallcreep's Day

Schmetterling

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Mike Rutherfords first solo album was recorded in 1979 and released in 1980. The album was produced by Genesis producer David Hentschel and the musicians involved were as follows :

The album title and the concept for side one which is presented as one long track divided up into sections as shown below came from the 1965 book of the same name by Peter Currell Brown.

This album always struck a chord with me personally due to it's similarity to Genesis music and production at the time and for that reason remains in a coveted spot on my playlist today. (Tony Banks first solo offering entitled "A Curious Feeling" was also released around the same time but it somehow didn't press the right buttons for me so I don't listen to it at all)

The track listing is given below and is shown as it appeared on my original vinyl copy which I still have. As already mentioned, side one is basically one long track which tells something of the story of "Smallcreep" : a downtrodden factory worker who one day radically decided to take the law into his own hands and went exploring around the factory to see what came out at the end.

The second half of the album consists of independent stand alone tracks.

I was always interested in Rutherfords choice of vocalist for this album : Noel McCalla, who I think is more of a blues singer but who delivers a fine performance throughout. As far as I'm aware this album is McCallas one and only venture into the world of prog.

For anyone who became disillusioned with the musical direction Genesis took in the 1980s, and who hasn't already heard this album, I can recommend giving it a listen as the entire album has that same kind of satisfying Seconds Out/Wind and Wuthering type sound and production, due largely to Hentschel of course but the Genesis feel on it is still very strong and certainly much closer to what had gone before than Rutherfords later albums..

Cover design by Hipgnosis who I always thought were a bit dodgy....and I can only find a small-ish image of it to upload...

And without being pedantic : is that apostrophe in the title placed in the correct position because it always seemed to me that it wasn't...??

Side One
  1. "Smallcreep's Day" (24:41)
    I. "Between the Tick & the Tock" – 3:59
    II. "Working in Line" – 3:08
    III. "After Hours" – 1:44
    IV. "Cats and Rats (In This Neighbourhood)" – 4:51
    V. "Smallcreep Alone" – 1:24
    VI. "Out into the Daylight" – 3:53
    VII. "At the End of the Day" – 5:38

    Side Two
  1. "Moonshine" – 6:26
  2. "Time and Time Again" – 4:54
  3. "Romani" – 5:27
  4. "Every Road" – 4:15
  5. "Overnight Job" – 5:44
496_smallcreepsday_lp_canada_front.jpg
 

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