Mike & The Mechanics

Mike & The Mechanics were formed by Genesis band member Mike Rutherford in 1985 and have in recent years reformed with a new line-up. Ahead of a tour to mark 25 years since their biggest hit, The Living Years, this collection takes you through all their radio-friendly hits from the last three decades.

15 of the songs are remastered, including the terrific opening 6 minutes of the band's best song Silent Running. Full of sweeping atmospheric keyboards, the song stands up as well now as it did when it first charted in 1985. Over the next ten years the band featured regularly on radio, with songs that were made for the airwaves, among them Over My Shoulder, All I Need Is A Miracle and Word Of Mouth. Better than those though is the tale of a lonely and abandoned wife, Another Cup of Coffee, which shockingly never made the top 40.

The band's pomp came with Paul Carrack leading most of the vocals, alongside Paul Young from Sad Cafe. After Young's death in 2000 the band were put on hold, until 2004, but the subsequent Rewired album failed to capture former glories. When Rutherford re-launched the band a few years ago, Carrack chose to not to re-join and Rutherford was joined by Andrew Roachford and Tim Howar. The crisp sound has continued as the single Try To Save Me from 2013 demonstrates, although the new song When My Feet Don't Touch The Ground lacks a bit of a punch.

An extra CD is also available of the collection, with rarities including the previously unreleased song One By One featuring Young and Carrack. At the same time as this best of is released, a 25th Anniversary Edition of the album The Living Years is also made available - featuring that huge number one of course and the excellent Nobody's Perfect. There is also a live CD, containing a cracking version of Silent Running.