Mike + The Mechanics – Looking Back- Living The Years” – Vinyl Review
8th April 2025I spent some time listening to Mike + The Mechanics’ “Looking Back—Living The Years” record, and truth be told, the experience felt like an unexpected embrace from someone who once sent you to your room for attitude. It’s tender rock with a distant, contemplative gaze. It’s your father’s unprocessed emotions transformed into musical form.
Mike + The Mechanics represents what materialises when Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford decides to channel his inner world through sophisticated synth arrangements. What presumably began as a fleeting side project evolved into a musical entity that has somehow persisted beyond trends, fashion cycles, and multiple waves of what’s considered musically significant. They embody the sonic equivalent of a homemade dinner that consistently carries undertones of bittersweetness and complex flavour notes.
The record begins with their distinctive, recognisable approach—keyboard work that conveys the emotional spectrum of an ageing electronic instrument, spacious percussion that reverberates as if trying to recapture its prime, and guitar work that respectfully occupies the periphery like a quiet family friend. Everything sounds meticulously produced. Dramatically presented. Wearing unnecessary leather despite perfectly comfortable weather conditions.
The vocal performances shift between weathered wisdom and emotional vulnerability. At times, it resembles someone wrestling with their history through musical expression. Other moments suggest a passionate amateur who wandered into the recording session believing it casual but investing genuine sentiment into every syllable. There’s a certain fragility in how lyrics are delivered that resonates unexpectedly—reminiscent of someone maintaining composure during an emotional speech.
Each song plays like an emotional time capsule—less “remember when?” and more “I can’t believe it’s gone.” This isn’t just a walk down memory lane; it’s a full-blown funeral procession with harmonies. They don’t just sing about the past—they cradle it like it’s a chipped family vase your grandma swore was from Italy but was probably just from Tesco in 1973. Still, it meant something. Still does.
The slower, emotional tracks don’t gradually approach—they ambush without warning. Just when immunity to sentimental hooks seems established, a minor chord progression appears and suddenly memories surface of heartbreak experienced in some nondescript location years ago. It’s obvious emotional manipulation. Completely transparent. And frustratingly effective nonetheless.
Mike + The Mechanics have transcended band status. They’ve become an emotional state. A gentle melancholy. An uninvited reminiscence. They accompany the revelation that you’ve possibly become what you once ridiculed—and, strangely, acceptance follows.
Dad rock? More accurately, music-that-summons-your-former-self. And its presence lingers longer than anticipated.
Score 8/10
Track List
Double-LP
Side 1
Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)
All I Need Is A Miracle ‘96
The Living Years
Word Of Mouth
Side 2
Over My Shoulder
A Beggar On A Beach Of Gold
Another Cup Of Coffee
Taken In
Side 3
Nobody’s Perfect
Everybody Gets A Second Chance
Nobody Knows
Seeing Is Believing
Side 4
The Road
The Best Is Yet To Come
Don’t Know What Came Over Me
Out Of The Blue
Label – Craft
Release – 4th April 2025
