The Living Years

March 2, 2015
Rutherford, bassist and guitarist for the renowned progressive-rock band Genesis, gives thisautobiography the same title as his emotional number-one hit song with Mike + the Mechanics; the song is about Rutherford's recently deceased father, whose unpublished memoir inspired his book. Rutherford recounts the origin of Genesis at Charterhouse, a boarding school in the English county of Surrey, where he, guitarist Anthony Phillips, keyboardist Tony Banks, and vocalist Peter Gabriel met and formed a band that pioneered the mix of theatrical elements with odd lyrics and complex song structures. After Gabriel's departure in 1975 for a wildly diverse solo career, drummer Phil Collins took over lead vocals and brought Genesis to even greater commercial heights amid his own solo success. Refusing to dwell too much on particularsâthe band's final two albums receive surprisingly short shrift, as do stories about rock-and-roll excessâRutherford writes with British wit, charm, and honesty. His depiction of the rigid Banks is less than favorable, for example, and there's little emotion in his description of the departure of guitarist Steve Hackett. This book is being heavily promoted as the first memoir by a member of Genesis and is already a bestseller in Britain.

December 1, 2014
A genial, gentlemanly memoir about a band that has weathered plenty of upheaval without apparently suffering much strife.Though it borrows its title from the biggest hit from Rutherford's offshoot band, Mike and the Mechanics, the focus and justification for the book lies with its subtitle. Many readers would likely prefer a book by or about that band's higher-profile frontmen-Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins-but founding guitarist Rutherford proves well-positioned to tell the tale, as one of only two members to remain throughout the band's extended tenure. If you're looking for sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, this isn't your book, and Genesis isn't your band. Formed by schoolboy friends, later adding drummer Collins and guitarist Steve Hackett, Genesis had a unique musical evolution from seated musicians updating British folk to progressive conceptualists with a high-tech stage show. They were never a band of virtuosos, but they were more creatively ambitious than folky. They were also a band that valued the song rather than seeing it as a vehicle for instrumental showboating, and it was one in which most of them contributed to the material. During their popular ascent, it was thought at the time that they were dealt a devastating blow with the departure of Gabriel, yet Rutherford explains, "[t]here's only so long you can carry on productively without shaking things up and now that he had gone we felt like a new band." Collins took over vocals and then raised his own profile with a successful solo career (while remaining part of the band). "Our small cult audience had become a big cult audience," writes the author, who doesn't seem to have let any of it go to his head. Aside from the occasional marijuana mishap with the law, the author has seemingly lived a very stable life as a band mate and family man. The death of Rutherford's father frames the narrative, establishing a reflective tone that the memoir sustains.

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.