Defend the Indefensible: Mike and the Mechanics' "The Living Years"

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Squeeze, these assholes and.....who is the third? Didn't he have a solo hit?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 27 June 2005 18:42 (twenty years ago)

Ace, "How Long." He did however have solo hits too -- "Don't Shed a Tear" in particular I think.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 27 June 2005 18:43 (twenty years ago)

Someone should lock him in the trunk of a car and drive it off a cliff into a perilous chasm filled with agitated snakes and quiksand.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 27 June 2005 18:44 (twenty years ago)

I believe he's dead. And I think you're the chief suspect.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 27 June 2005 18:45 (twenty years ago)

http://home.att.net/~leahland/nestles.jpg

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 June 2005 18:50 (twenty years ago)

I think we're forgetting the key soulful bit:

Say it looooooouud
(say it loud!)
Say is cleeeeear
(oh say it cle-ear!)

This song is NOT better than "Cat's In the Cradle" and while it doesn't save that song, it makes "Leader of the Band" look like a Dylan tune.

― Gear! (Ill Cajun Gunsmith) (Gear!), Monday, 27 June 2005 18:54 (twenty years ago)

Nope, alive and touring, Ned....you big tease.

http://www.carrack-uk.com/Paul-Carrack---intro-Sam-Mo.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 27 June 2005 18:59 (twenty years ago)

"Look! It's my dignity cowering in the corner!"

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 June 2005 18:59 (twenty years ago)

Tom Sizemore?

― Gear! (Ill Cajun Gunsmith) (Gear!), Monday, 27 June 2005 19:00 (twenty years ago)

Name people whose career arcs resemble that of Paul Carrack

― The Mad Puffin (The Mad Puffin), Monday, 27 June 2005 19:07 (twenty years ago)

"Don't Shed A Tear" is nice.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 27 June 2005 19:10 (twenty years ago)

There's no way in hell that "Time After Time" is worse than "Living Years", unless your ears are made of cheese.

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 27 June 2005 19:19 (twenty years ago)

It's...OH! I got it...It's not as cloyingly sappy as "Cats in the Cradle"

You can at least tap your toe to "Cradle" though now I do wonder what it would've sounded like had Ugly Kid Joe coverd "Living Years" instead.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Monday, 27 June 2005 19:27 (twenty years ago)

Oh, and Paul Young is the Mechanic who is no longer in the Living Years.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Monday, 27 June 2005 19:32 (twenty years ago)

There's no way in hell that "Time After Time" is worse than "Living Years", unless your ears are made of cheese.

So awesome-o.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 June 2005 19:34 (twenty years ago)

Oh, and Paul Young is the Mechanic who is no longer in the Living Years.

Not to be confused with that other Paul Young who took a putrid, runny dump all over "Love Will Tear Us Apart".

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 27 June 2005 19:35 (twenty years ago)

ten bucks says "The living Years" gets remade as a #1 smash by some Groban type in the next five years.

― Gear! (Ill Cajun Gunsmith) (Gear!), Monday, 27 June 2005 19:40 (twenty years ago)

... the same Paul Young who proposed a whole new system of home-ownership based the laying down of hats.

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 27 June 2005 19:56 (twenty years ago)

AARGH. based "on" the laying down of hats.

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 27 June 2005 19:57 (twenty years ago)

Although if the Good Paul Young were in Mike & The Mechanics we'd have the singer with the soul pretensions to give their corporate pop a hint of depth.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 27 June 2005 20:00 (twenty years ago)

OW. OW. OW. I think I just had an embolism...

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 27 June 2005 20:01 (twenty years ago)

I have heard of this 'depth'

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 27 June 2005 20:02 (twenty years ago)

Interesting. What is this 'depth' of which you speak?

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 27 June 2005 20:09 (twenty years ago)

The Bad Paul Young was incapable of a "Come Back & Stay" or "Everytime You Go Away".

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 27 June 2005 20:32 (twenty years ago)

And for that we are all thankful. But all this talk of cross-breeding Paul Youngs, good AND bad, with Mike & The Mechanics is doing nothing for my embolism.

Is it just me or is the badness of "Living Years" encapsulated by the line 'You can listen as well as you hear'...

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 27 June 2005 21:51 (twenty years ago)

That's actually a clever line.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 27 June 2005 22:55 (twenty years ago)

Because...?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 27 June 2005 22:59 (twenty years ago)

Cuz listening's different from hearing. Ned, all you need is a miracle.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 27 June 2005 23:25 (twenty years ago)

Error. Does not compute.

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 27 June 2005 23:46 (twenty years ago)

It's really really hard to make a song that bad.

Defended!

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 00:40 (twenty years ago)

eight years pass...

utterly necessary

― Euler, Tuesday, 3 December 2013 14:18 (twelve years ago)

handsome devils

http://eil.com/images/main/Mike+%26+The+Mechanics+-+Living+Years+-+PRESS+PACK-453387.jpg

― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 3 December 2013 14:19 (twelve years ago)

Townsend and the girl on the right side obv the best looking

― Euler, Tuesday, 3 December 2013 14:25 (twelve years ago)

I always get it mixed up with Back in the High Life Again which is an awesome song

― Dan I., Tuesday, 3 December 2013 22:30 (twelve years ago)

Yes! Those Steve Winwood songs have aged remarkably well. Another good one is "Still In The Game" which MTV used to play at least once an hour in its first year of existence.

― kornrulez6969, Tuesday, 3 December 2013 22:43 (twelve years ago)

The Living Years was like a breath of fresh air after the dystopian nightmare of Silent Running.

― kornrulez6969, Tuesday, 3 December 2013 22:46 (twelve years ago)

five years pass...

this record sells like crazy on discogs. for whatever reason I assume it's to Russians.

― pippin drives a lambo through the gates of isengard (Sparkle Motion), Wednesday, 20 March 2019 06:53 (seven years ago)

I hate this song with the white-hot thermonuclear intensity of 1,000 suns, but maybe (?) it's existence is redeemed by the fact that it s l o w l y creeped into the musical terroir enough to where Mike Rutherford's guitar rhythm in the intro, via a crazy butterfly-effect that in all likelihood never happened (but stay with me), eventually bubbled up at random occurrences (dentist offices, Ralph's aisles, oil-change outlets) just often enough to inspire the intro to a damn good song ("So Special") from one of my favorites of '16 (The Loudspeaker EP) by MUNA.
https://open.spotify.com/album/05QlkSlB3MxfqtjiurXxe0

Or, MUNA may simply be fans of Genesis/Rutherford (I hear an echo of "Throwing it All Away" from "Invisible Touch" in their "Promise")

― Prefecture, Wednesday, 20 March 2019 15:09 (seven years ago)

two weeks pass...

It's too LATE when we DIEEEE

― Buttigieg comes right from the source (Neanderthal), Saturday, 6 April 2019 21:14 (seven years ago)

die listening to this song more like

― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 6 April 2019 21:18 (seven years ago)

Have to admit we dont see eye to eye here

― findom haddie (jim in vancouver), Saturday, 6 April 2019 21:30 (seven years ago)

I do not like this song, also it's of the same level of quality as Africa by Toto and lots of people seem to like that for some reason.

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 6 April 2019 21:34 (seven years ago)

cmon, Africa is fuckin' When The Levee Breaks compared to The Living Years

That said I recently read Rutherford's memoir of the same name and it was pretty good

― Paul Ponzi, Saturday, 6 April 2019 22:46 (seven years ago)

well, parents put their kids in British public schools with the expectation that those kids can form paragraphs.

― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 6 April 2019 22:50 (seven years ago)

Every generation
Hates this fuckin song

― Buttigieg comes right from the source (Neanderthal), Saturday, 6 April 2019 23:23 (seven years ago)

There's no song I hate more in the world. My friend Adam knows this and used to call my answering machine and singing it softly every six months or so. It is so awful.

― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Monday, 8 April 2019 14:23 (seven years ago)

I was about to fulminate on how Paul Carrack has never sung or played on anything decent whatsoever, then I remembered he sang on Squeeze's "Tempted". Apart from that it's been a 50-year reign of terror. Even his early 70s prog band (Warm Dust) were shit. Checking him on Discogs, it seems he has over 50 releases (albums, singles and DVDs) on his own label since 2000 or thereabouts. 50! Who the fuck needs 50 Paul Carrack records?!

― Zeuhl Idol (Matt #2), Monday, 8 April 2019 15:06 (seven years ago)

I do not like this song, also it's of the same level of quality as Africa by Toto and lots of people seem to like that for some reason.
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, April 6, 2019 9:34 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm.

― ☮ (peace, man), Monday, 8 April 2019 15:21 (seven years ago)

I have childhood fondness for both this and Silent Running, but Over My Shoulder was the bane of my ITV Chart Show-watching existence for what seemed like an eternity when I was a teenager.

― Chuck_Tatum, Monday, 8 April 2019 15:25 (seven years ago)

i kind of like 'how long' tbh xxp

― kolarov spring (NickB), Monday, 8 April 2019 15:26 (seven years ago)

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