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Rating:
These Cutting Crew deserved a longer and more solid career... instead, we have to settle for the four albums they released—the first three as young men a quarter of a century ago and the last one as a result of a relatively recent, partial reunion. "The Scattering" is the second in chronological order and managed at the time (1989) to fulfill the task of not making us miss the excellent debut "The Broadcast," but none of the singles released managed to make a significant impact on the charts as had happened with the irresistible "(I Just) Died In Your Arms" three years earlier and so, without the commercial traction of a true hit, the album saw only decent results.
For those who don’t know or remember them, Cutting Crew is an Anglo/Canadian quartet of soft but well-paced pop rock, arranged and played with class and measure. In terms of genre, we’re in the realm of Genesis in the Collins era but better, because the layers and keyboard arpeggios of producer Peter John Vettese (a former Jethro Tull) are actually superior to the miserly contributions to the cause from the involuted Tony Banks post-70s, while the guitar lacework and breaks of the brilliant and much-missed Kevin McMichael surpass those of the mediocre emergency Genesis soloist Mike Rutherford, and finally, the voice of Nick Van Eede is much more evocative and thrilling compared to that of the gifted Phil Collins.
Three song gems stand out among the eleven on this album, in my opinion: considering them in order of appearance on the tracklist, the first is the eponymous track of the work which benefits from an entire section of Celtic bagpipes, pumping very British and bucolic sensations into the usual, rounded, and melodic pop proposal of the band.
Another pinnacle of the work, probably the absolute one, is the ballad "Reach For The Sky" which boasts a fine melody in the chorus, not for nothing placed right at the introduction of the song, as well as a particularly sensitive and inspired guitar solo work by the excellent McMichael, a musician who played sparingly yet tastefully and intelligently, with results of consistent and special quality and effectiveness. To have the proof, you can listen to what the guitars do on "Fate of Nations," an excellent album by Robert Plant from 1993: it’s all the handiwork of the late Canadian guitarist.
Finally, splendid is the album's closure, entrusted to the solo piano and the intense and romantic voice of Van Eede: "(The Great One-handed) Brag" is an ultra-melancholic and truly touching song, especially if you allow yourself to concentrate on its listening by also following the lyrics. The slightly hoarse and very dynamic timbre of Van Eede, his remarkable interpretative talent, his artistic passion here bloom luxuriantly and make it a real pity that the unfocused Genesis of the mid-90s, also abandoned by Collins and for the last time still eager to go on, discarded this exquisite singer at the final round of auditions, preferring the more obscure and much less moving Ray Wilson for their career epitaph "Calling All Stations".
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
04 Everything but My Pride (05:09)
Eede/MacMichael
If you should walk away
take this broken heart
and if you walk away
you'll never know what's left behind
go on and get away
don't you leave a trace
and as you walk away
you can take most every...
everything but my pride
everything but the rings on my finger
everything but my pride
i like the room this way
i like this bed unmade
we never laughed enough
but you laugh alone today
so don't you ever say
you feel that you've had all you can take
you've already taken...
everything but my pride
everything but the rings on my finger
everything but my pride
everything but the rings on my finger
i never thought it'd come to this
(keep walkin')
never known a night like this
(keep walkin')
never thought you'd walk away
(keep walkin')
but you did
when we'd almost made it
everything (but my pride)
everything (but the rings on my finger)
everything but my pride
you can take everything but you'll leave me
leave me with my pride
everything,
everything but my pride
everything but the rings on my finger
08 Reach for the Sky (05:04)
Eede/MacMichael/Farley
Reach for the sky babe
make it to heaven
before your dreams grow old
reach for the sky babe
it's over your shoulder
reach for your dawn's own light
i don't believe in miracles
but i do believe in fate
and i do believe it's calling your name
don't depend on lucky breaks
if luck is on your side
it's just the joker playing in your game
you can see the chances coming
but you look the other way
at the risk of sounding helpless girl
that's where we went wrong...
reach for the sky babe
make it to heaven
before your dreams grow old
no one's so blind girl
it's over your shoulder
reach for your dawn's own light
don't tell me you're not satisfied
don't tell me you can't wait to find
a reason for the rocks upon your road
educate your appetite
with a capital "A"
learn to let me help you share the load
but you keep me at your distance
as the tears begin to show
so i really hope you make it girl
before i go
reach for the sky babe
make it to heaven
before your dreams grow old
no one's so blind girl
it's over your shoulder
reach for your dawn's own light
(it's all up to you)
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