Acting Very Strange

Rutherford opted to do the lead vocals on the album himself, simply because, in his words, "It does feel odd when someone does... a solo album and they don't sing, because the voice is so much the character of a song. So I thought, 'What the hell? I'm gonna give it a shot.'"[4] However, this proved to be easier said than done; he recounted that recording the backing tracks for the album was very easy and enjoyable, but that the vocals were "hard work".[4]

Stewart Copeland became involved in the recording because he and Rutherford were on the same polo team. Copeland did session work very rarely during his time in The Police. Recording at The Farm gave them a sound unique to Genesis and Genesis members' solo projects that were recorded therein.

Looking back on Acting Very Strange in later years, Rutherford was not proud of the album, saying he felt that the songs were very good but poorly executed on the actual recordings. He singled out "Hideaway" as the only track which he felt worked.[4] Dissatisfied with his solo work (and with his vocals in particular), Rutherford curtailed his solo career to form Mike + The Mechanics.[4]

"Halfway There", "I Don't Wanna Know" and "Maxine" were performed live on Mike + The Mechanics' first tour in 1986, with Paul Young singing lead vocals on all three songs.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[5]

In their retrospective review, Allmusic said that most of the songs were weak, and that even the few good ones would have been better had Rutherford not done the lead vocals himself: "There's no denying his sincerity, but he should let his fingers do the talking."[5]

Another song recorded during the album sessions, "Calypso", was released as the B-side to the single "Hideaway". Remixes of "Acting Very Strange" and "Couldn't Get Arrested" were featured on a 12" single and also used as B-sides for "Acting Very Strange".

• Mike Rutherford – lead and backing vocals, bass guitar, guitar, keyboards
• John Alexander – guitar
• Daryl Stuermer – guitar
• Paul Fishman – keyboards
• J. Peter Robinson – keyboards
• Stewart Copeland – drums
• Pete Phipps – drums
• Gary Barnacle – saxophone
• Luke Tunney – trumpet
• Steve Gould – backing vocals
• Noel McCalla – backing vocals
• Dale Newman – backing vocals
• Martyn Ford – string arrangements and conductor

• Producer – Mike Rutherford
• Assistant Producer and Engineer – Nick Launay
• Assistant Engineer – Geoff Callingham
• Recorded at The Farm, Surrey.
• Equipment – Dale Newman, Geoff Callingham, Steve Jones and Geoff Banks.
• Tape Operator – Howard Gray
• Cover Coordinator – Bill Smith
• Photography – Gered Mankowitz

Album