Mike & The Mechanics Hits - Mike & The Mechanics

Mike & The Mechanics - Hits I am still busy transferring CD's to iTunes and I am getting to the last 100 or so now. This is a CD that my wife originally bought, one I had already purged for 'Living Years' so I have taken the opportunity to listen to it again, though from memory it was not great. I like the fact that in the inner booklet they state clearly that these 'hits' were hits in various places in the World, not just UK. The 'Hits' span 11 years from 1985 (Silent running) - 1996 (All I need is a Miracle '96). The band were/are: Paul Carrack (used to be in Squeeze) Paul Young (used to be in Sad Café), Paul died of ...  Read the complete review

Over a 10 year period Mike and The Mechanics have produced some fine music. Their Hits album contains all the singles from 1985 to the remixed 'All I Need Is A Miracle' in 1996. Mike is of course Mike Rutherford of Genesis fame and the concept of Mike and The Mechanics came from the stop-go nature of the later Genesis as Phil Collins pursued a parallel solo career and even dabbled in the old acting game. The stop-go nature of Genesis also led to the same lack of continuity about Mike and The Mechanics. There have been periods of productivity with long gaps in between. Whether this has helped or hindered the band depends on your point of view. It can be argued ...  Read the complete review

Mike and the Mechanics first got together in 1985 during the recording of Genesis’ “Invisible Touch”, when Mike Rutherford made contact with two of his old mates, Paul Carrack and Paul Young. Not that Mike Rutherford was tired of making music with Genesis, - oh no. What it was was, he thought that if the three of them got together they could write in a different, more melodic manner. As a result of this collaboration, and as this album clearly demonstrates, the music of Mike and the Mechanics is focused on easily remembered melodic rhymes which reflect “life, the universe and everything”, to paraphrase the much ...  Read the complete review

Mike & The Mechanics Hits is one of my favourite CD albums. General information The compilation CD was released in 1996 and is a collection of the most successful songs recorded by Mike and The Mechanics during the course of their eleven year association. Mike & The Mechanics, also known as Mike + The Mechanics + Paul Carrack, were a British rock/pop band, which formed in 1985 and ended in 2005 following the death of Paul Young. Its main former members were Mike Rutherford (Guitar), Paul Carrack(Vocals/keyboards), Paul Young(Vocals), Gary Wallis(Drums), and Adrian Lee(Keyboards). The life and the soul of the ...  Read the complete review

There is just one word for this CD - brilliant. It's the first album I have ever bought that has not had the must-skip tracks - every track is magnificent, from the fast-moving and louder 'Word of Mouth' to the soft rock of 'Beggar on a Beach of Gold' and 'Looking Back Over My Shoulder' to 'The Living Years', possibly the most poignant track ever recorded. Although the album was released in 1996, and some of the tracks date back to the mid-late 80s, it has dated unbelievably well - it is as fresh today as the day it was produced. Although this is essentially a secondary project after Genesis, many of the tracks are ...  Read the complete review