We skip a few albums in Mike's back catalogue as some of them aren't available on vinyl ("Tres Lunas", "Light and Shade", "Music of the Spheres", "Tubular Bells 2003") and some I haven't bought because I don't care for them much ("The Millennium Bell", "Guitars").
When "Man on the rocks" was announced towards the end of 2013 I immediately ordered the limited edition coloured vinyl and the three CD box set from the Universal webshop. However, it seems I forgot I had done this and, as two of everything turned up on release day in 2014, I assume I must have duplicated my order at some stage (I paid twice you understand). Thus, I have two copies of the numbered double LP which is pressed on coloured vinyl and limited to 500 copies.
I am not a big fan of this album and I think I know why. I used to work with someone who wrote songs for a hobby and he would pay a company to make professional demonstration recordings from his rough sketches. Whilst most of the songs he created were fairly adequate, the execution of the session musicians rendered them completely dull and soulless. This record is essentially the same thing.
All of the songs here are all fairly standard AOR fair and demonstrate the level of competence you would expect from a seasoned songwriter. Yet, for the first time Mike chose to allow a group of session musician to play the music. Not even the brilliant production skills of Stephen Lipson could rescue these lifeless recordings and I would question just how enthusiastic Mike was about this whole project. For me it feels like there is a gap between the composer and the performers that robs the material of any zest, feeling or emotion.
The vocalist for all of these songs is a man I had never heard of before called Luke Spiller from the band The Struts. Luke does a good job, but he was essentially a session musician and doesn't sound invested in the songs to my ears. Another element that feels at odds with the material is Luke's age. When the singer belongs to a completely different generation to the composer, it seems inevitable that lyrics lose impact.
Songs like "Moonshine" and "Sailing" are undoubtedly catchy, but they lack any kind of spark that would make you want to listen to them again. By some fluke (or exchange of cash) the song "Nuclear" made its way onto the trailer for the video game "Metal Gear Solid V", but no matter what exposure it had, this album was never going to sell well given its lacklustre realisation. The album struggled to number 12 in the charts and not even me buying it four times could get it any further.
This album is an anomaly in Mike's back catalogue and its lack of success must have contributed to his decision to move further away from the music industry (I suspect he was already halfway out of the door when this record was made). Interestingly the CD box set features a disc of demos where Mike sings all of the songs himself. Now, by his own admission Mike is not an accomplished singer, but these version sound more earnest and credible than the contents of this LP. 1/5
