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Living Years
Studio album by Mike + The Mechanics
Released	24 October 1988 (US) 14 November 1988 (UK)
Recorded	18 April – 18 August 1988
Studio	The Farm, Surrey
Genre	Rock soft rock pop rock
Length	47:11
Label	Atlantic, WEA
Producer	Christopher Neil, Mike Rutherford
Mike + The Mechanics chronology
Mike + The Mechanics (1985) Living Years (1988) Word of Mouth (1991)
Singles from Mike + The Mechanics
"Nobody's Perfect" Released: 17 October 1988 "The Living Years" Released: 27 December 1988 "Nobody Knows" Released: 3 April 1989 (UK) "Seeing Is Believing" Released: April 1989 (US)

Living Years is the second album by Mike + The Mechanics, released in 1988. The album reached number 13 on the US Billboard 200 and number 2 on the UK Albums Chart.

History

Mike Rutherford began writing songs for the album in September 1987, shortly after the conclusion of Genesis's Invisible Touch Tour. However, he found himself immediately stricken with writer's block, a circumstance he attributes to stress over the complications with his wife's pregnancy, which endangered their child's life. The baby (Rutherford's third) was safely delivered in November, and Rutherford said that the relief made him feel "like a new man". In January he entered an extremely prolific songwriting period, and by the end of the month he had what he and producer/co-writer Christopher Neil felt was a good album's worth of material. In light of this, Neil wanted to move up the recording sessions, which had been scheduled for April. Rutherford vetoed the idea, however, and with his burst of inspiration still running, most of the songs that eventually appeared on the album were written over the next two months.

The first single taken off the album, "Nobody's Perfect", did not perform as expected, peaking at number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number 80 in the UK, despite being used in a major advertising campaign in the latter territory. However, things changed dramatically with the next single off the album, "The Living Years", which was a worldwide hit, reaching the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart the week ending 25 March 1989 and number two in the United Kingdom, held off the top for three weeks over January and February 1989 by Marc Almond and Gene Pitney's reworking of "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart.". The song also reached number one on the Australian ARIA singles chart the week ending 13 May 1989.

The title song was co-written by Rutherford and BA Robertson, both of whose fathers had recently died. However, the lyrics were written solely by Robertson, and dealt with Robertson's strained relationship with his father and the birth of his son three months after his father's death. Paul Carrack, who would sing lead on the recording, had himself lost his father when he was only eleven years old, and he continues to feature the song regularly in his solo performances.

A third single off the album, "Seeing is Believing", reached number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Phil Collins and Tony Banks, Rutherford's Genesis bandmates, made a guest appearance playing the riff on "Black & Blue" (a sample by Banks of Collins and Rutherford playing a riff during the Invisible Touch sessions).

The Living Years Deluxe Edition was released on 20 January 2014, featuring extensive liner notes by journalist Mario Giammetti, a new recording of the hit song with Andrew Roachford on vocals and a bonus CD of live and rare tracks.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic

AllMusic's retrospective review summarised 'Slickly produced with rich vocals from Paul Carrack and Paul Young, The Living Years moves smoothly between anthemic ballads such as the title track and more up-beat numbers such as "Seeing Is Believing."' They commented that the album was inconsistent, however, at times venturing into genres that the group could not handle convincingly.

Track listing

Personnel

Mike + The Mechanics

• Mike Rutherford – guitars, bass
• Paul Carrack – vocals (lead: 2, 4, 7, 10)
• Paul Young – vocals (lead: 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9)
• Adrian Lee – keyboards
• Peter Van Hooke – drums

Additional personnel

• Sal Gallina – keyboards
• BA Robertson – keyboards
• Alan Murphy – guitars
• Martin Ditcham – percussion
• Luís Jardim – percussion
• Christopher Neil – backing vocals
• Alan Carvell – backing vocals
• King's House School Choir – choir on "The Living Years"
• Michael Stuckey – choir master

Production

• Christopher Neil – producer
• Mike Rutherford – producer
• Nick Davis – engineer
• Paul Gomersall – assistant engineer
• Terry Irwin – assistant engineer
• Halpin Grey Vermeir – cover design
• Geoff Halpin – photography
• John Swannell – photography

Charts

Certifications

References

1. "RIAA".
2. "BPI".
3. "Music Week" (PDF). p. 56.
4. "Great rock discography". p. 324.
5. Mike + the Mechanics UK charts history, The Official Charts. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
6. Neer, Dan and DeWitt Nelson (1988). Mike on Mike II , Atlantic Recording Corporation.
7. Mike Rutherford Biography (Includes info on Mike and the Mechanics) Retrieved 6 December 2010.
8. ^ Orens, G. (2011). "The Living Years – Mike + the Mechanics | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
9. "Living Years". ARIA. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
10. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 6333". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
11. "Living Years". Album Top 100. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
12. "Offiziellecharts.de – Mike + The Mechanics – Living Years" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
13. "Living Years". RMNZ. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
14. "Living Years". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
15. "Living Years". Schweizer Hitparade. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
16. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
17. "Mike + Mechanics Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
18. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
19. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
20. "Part of Mike and Mechanic's ARIA Albums chart history 1988 to 2022, received from ARIA in 2022". ARIA. Retrieved 3 December 2023 – via Imgur.com.
21. "Canadian album certifications – Mike & The Mechanics – The Living Years". Music Canada.
22. "British album certifications – Mike & The Mechanics – The Living Years". British Phonographic Industry.
23. "American album certifications – Mike & The Mechanics – The Living Years". Recording Industry Association of America.

• Mike + The Mechanics albums
• 1988 albums
• Albums produced by Mike Rutherford
• Albums produced by Christopher Neil
• Atlantic Records albums
• Warner Music Group albums
• Virgin Records albums