Fairly Recent Rutherford Ric Pic

[byu]

Found this 2011 Pic of Michael on a fan Facebook page.
Photo: Mike in his home studio in spring 2011 with a 12-string Rickenbacker guitar. Courtesy of APA PictureDesk.

Mike Rutherford 2011

[sasquatchgeoff]

Good to see him with a 12-string in his hands.

[Billsbro]

Yeppers! He looks great too.

I have so many great memories of Mike on stage with a 12 (or a doubleneck), head back, eyes closed...what a fine musician!

[jdogric12]

Very cool, thanks for posting! So would that be a mid 60's to early 70's I suppose?

[jps]

I have so many great memories of Mike on stage with a 12 (or a doubleneck), head back, eyes closed...what a fine musician!

Same here. I also remember him playing his RM1999, in fact my very first vision of him was Mike playing the RM in April 1972.

[Billsbro]

I have so many great memories of Mike on stage with a 12 (or a doubleneck), head back, eyes closed...what a fine musician!

Same here. I also remember him playing his RM1999, in fact my very first vision of him was Mike playing the RM in April 1972.

Lucky (and wise) boy!

My first was 1976 at The Beacon Theater.

[jps]

I have so many great memories of Mike on stage with a 12 (or a doubleneck), head back, eyes closed...what a fine musician!

Same here. I also remember him playing his RM1999, in fact my very first vision of him was Mike playing the RM in April 1972.

Lucky (and wise) boy!

My first was 1976 at The Beacon Theater.

Trick Of The Tail! They did two nights here and I went to both shows. WMMS broadcast the second night, I think I still have a cassette of the show. It was great to see Collins and Bruford do the double drum solos. \m/

[Billsbro]

Yeppers! Bruford was delightfully loose yet did a fine job anchoring when Phil sang. And the double drumming was great fun to watch. The cool thing about that tour was that they used many of the slides and movies from the Peter era so for those like me that missed that we caught a taste of those years. And Phil was scared to be up there so he did a great job trying to recreate Peter's vocal lines.

But lest we stray too far from the theme, Rutherford was in many ways the foundation of the band. As Squire is to Yes, Rutherford was to Genesis. I was mesmerized by his bass, his 12-string, and especially, his Taurus Bass Pedals!

[jps]

...Rutherford was in many ways the foundation of the band.

I think Hackett was a major contributor/foundation of the band, perhaps more so that Mike, really. Listen to Life Within A Day and you will hears lots of the old Genesis in it.

[jdogric12]

Everyone has their favorite, but I think Genesis is one of those bands where every single member brought something so unique you can't attribute the band's sound to any one or two members specifically. I'm tempted to argue that Banks was "the" Genesis sound, but I would have to admit that's my bias, and Rutherford's and Hackett's contributions were just as important.

Jeff, what took you so long to chime in?

[jps]

Jeff, what took you so long to chime in?

I had to come up with some good hillbilly phrasing.

you will hears lots of the old Genesis in it.

[jps]

Lucky (and wise) boy!

More luck than wise, really. At the time no one had ever heard of Genesis in the US; we went to see It's A Beautiful Day and Genesis just happened to be the opening band, on their first ever US tour. You have no idea how mind bending they were at the time, to hear and see! A friend kept yelling "MORE MASKS!!!"

And, Jim Carrey was nowhere to be found.

[Billsbro]

...Rutherford was in many ways the foundation of the band.

I think Hackett was a major contributor/foundation of the band, perhaps more so that Mike, really. Listen to Life Within A Day and you will hears lots of the old Genesis in it.

Oh, I wasn't trying to say that Rutherford was the only key element to the band (nor would I say that Squire is the only key element of Yes). Rather, I was a) trying to stay on topic and b) trying to fight that old stereotype of the bassist as near-insignificant. I was mostly trying to emphasize both of them as MYSTICAL, hard-to-pin down, essential players. The guy practically glowed.

To me, Genesis was such a perfect blend of the players...more than many bands, Genesis in the early years was the essence of a blended sound and SO different than any other band. Each player brought so much yet worked hard to compliment the other players and especially, play to the song. As a matter of fact, the charm of the band was that while each player's sound and composing style stood out they formed a coherent whole most of the time. Serving the song seemed to be the goal. Paradoxically, while they had a recognizable "sound" and song style, their various albums (remember those things?) featured songs that often had extreme contrast...say, "More Fool Me" versus "Selling England..." They felt free to be all over the map and many of us loved them for that. Hard to pin down, eh?

Yet, while they had that recognizable and blended style, for big fans like us, it was always apparent how individual each player was. Hackett: SO different than most guitarists in technique and sound. He was never afraid to use his guitar to create sound effects and ethereal pads. He could also blast an aggressive solo. And such a quirky sense of humor. Banks: unique among keyboard players and a true composer in the classical sense (check out his recent classical efforts). He could rock the organ like his predecessors but jumped on the mellotron and ARP keyboards. His soul seemed to reside in the piano though. Collins: an amazing drummer that combined, delicacy and power, jazz elements and unique sounds...and a fantastic voice! And Rutherford: jack of all trades...acoustic and electric guitar, a unique voice on bass (such phrasing and rhythmic intensity/innovation), powerful Taurus, huge composition chops, and lovely backing vocals. Gabriel: a bulldozer of a vocalist yet capable of those breathy and subtle phrases...a powerhouse of lyrics and song shape...truly bizarre in so many delightful ways! And all of them were classic BRITS...elegant and polite yet that showing that acerbic and cutting wit and humor!

Genesis was my favorite band in my youth and I could go on and on! Can you tell? And (topically speaking) those Rickenbackers were elemental to their early sound.

[Billsbro]

Lucky (and wise) boy!

More luck than wise, really. At the time no one had ever heard of Genesis in the US; we went to see It's A Beautiful Day and Genesis just happened to be the opening band, on their first ever US tour. You have no idea how mind bending they were at the time, to hear and see! A friend kept yelling "MORE MASKS!!!"

And, Jim Carrey was nowhere to be found.

An excellent point! Genesis was such an under-publicized band until 1977 or 1978. One had to be lucky to have older and deep friends/brothers in order to be turned onto them.

What an experience to have seen them on that first tour. Hats off to you, Sir!

[jps]

...Banks: unique among keyboard players and a true composer in the classical sense (check out his recent classical efforts). He could rock the organ like his predecessors but jumped on the mellotron and ARP keyboards. His soul seemed to reside in the piano though....Gabriel: a bulldozer of a vocalist yet capable of those breathy and subtle phrases...a powerhouse of lyrics and song shape...truly bizarre in so many delightful ways!.

Tony was no slouch on guitar, either. He played plenty of guitar during the early days. And, Peter did a lot of flute playing, and could play a mean kick drum, too!

Several times during that first show Peter told some cool stories, some about that F'ing mellotron that Tony was playing. Did I mention there were some technical glitches during the show?