Cutting Crew
The Scattering

THE REVIEW

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".