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

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

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

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")

It's too LATE when we DIEEEE

die listening to this song more like

Have to admit we dont see eye to eye here

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.

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

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

Every generation
Hates this fuckin song

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.

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?!

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.

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.

i kind of like 'how long' tbh xxp

so do grocery stores

i actually like over my shoulder

weird to google and see that over my shoulder didn't even get into the top 10 in the uk because it felt like it was on the radio all the time for a couple years

M&tM are opening for Phil Collins in June? Oh, the unfulfilled expectations of deluded Genesis fans

silent running is miami vice rock, so much better than this

Predicted Brexit.

I was a kid when this song came out, my mom always played the Adult Contemporary stations in the car growing up, IDGAF I love this song, come at me

Only wish ya coulda told us

IT'S TOO LATE WHEN WE DIE

I liked the pre-chorus to this song better when Linkin Park stole it for "Breaking the Habit"

I would shoot this song if I could.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, June 27, 2005 1:04 PM bookmarkflaglink

SHOOT IT LOUD

Remember first knowingly hearing this in the early 00s as I "faced-up" the paint isle in the mount vernon b&q. Dont understand why that's stuck with me so much, maybe because the combination was so dispiriting

Aisle even, cripes.

Honestly dont mind "over my shoulder" mind you

The BBC dubbed Carrack "The Man with the Golden Voice",[3] while Record Collector remarked: "If vocal talent equalled financial success, Paul Carrack would be a bigger name than legends such as Phil Collins or Elton John."[4]

say it louuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuud