HYPE-STICKERS on front. Unopened/new vinyl, factory sealed and in excellent condition. Slight bend at front bottom left. A few creases near edges. Minor wear to corners. (Notch in bottom-right.)
Living Years, by Mike + The Mechanics, reached no. 13 on the Billboard 200 and no. 2 on the UK Albums Chart. 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 current pregnancy, which nearly ended in the death of the child. The baby (Rutherford's third) was safely delivered in November, and Rutherford said that the relief made him feel "like a new man". The first single taken off the album, Nobody's Perfect, peaked at no. 63 on the Billboard Hot 100. The next single off the album, The Living Years, was a worldwide no. 1 hit, reaching that mark on the Billboard Hot 100. The title song was co-written by Rutherford and B. A. 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 no. 62 on the Billboard chart. 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).