UPDATE (10/24/2013): This set has been pushed back to January 20, 2014 (and duly retitled) to better coincide with some more Mike + The Mechanics events in the coming year, including a U.K. tour in the winter of 2014, a forthcoming memoir from Rutherford and a planned reissue of The Living Years for its 25th anniversary.
Original post (9/12/2013):Although Phil Collins was the one member of Genesis it was impossible to escape during the '80s, thanks to an increasingly popular solo career and some phenomenal production credits, he was far from the only one of the trio with a solo hot streak in that decade. This year, Universal U.K. will honor the other major Genesis spinoff - guitarist/bassist Mike Rutherford's Mike + The Mechanics project - with an impressive double-disc compilation.
Singles 1986-2014 traces, in two discs, the complete history of the band, from their mid-'80s hits "All I Need is a Miracle," "Silent Running" and "The Living Years" to their most recent album, the U.K.-only The Road in 2011. Of course, Rutherford was hardly on his own in the band; the band's output through 1995 also featured a lineup that included Adrian Lee (of Cliff Richard's touring band) on keyboards, drummer Peter Van Hooke (chief rhythmatist on Van Morrison's late '70s/early '80s output) and the knockout punch of vocalists Paul Young (the late Sad Café frontman, not the blue-eyed soul singer of the '80s) and Ace/Roxy Music/Squeeze soul survivor Paul Carrack. (Rutherford, Carrack and Young were the de facto lineup for 1999's Mike & The Mechanics; after Young's death, the duo carried on the name for 2004's Rewired, which Van Hooke co-produced. The Road did reunite Rutherford with producer Christopher Neil, who produced or co-produced all of the band's classic albums.)
The new set features hits and selections from every one of the band's studio albums on Disc 1, while Disc 2 features 17 rare B-sides and non-LP tracks - including two unreleased tracks, the new "When My Feet Don't Touch the Ground," and "One by One," an outtake with the vocal talents of both Carrack and Young prominently featured. If you're a fan, this looks like quite a set.
Look for Singles 1986-2014 on October 21; Amazon U.K. currently lists single and double-disc versions, though it erroneously states the 2CD version to have a DVD. The full specs and pre-order links are after the jump!
Singles 1986-2014 (Universal U.K., 2014)
Amazon U.K.: Standard 1CD / Deluxe 2CD
Disc 1
- Silent Running (on Dangerous Ground)
- All I Need is a Miracle
- The Living Years
- Word of Mouth
- Over My Shoulder
- A Beggar on a Beach of Gold
- Another Cup of Coffee
- Now That You've Gone
- Taken In
- Nobody's Perfect
- Everybody Gets a Second Chance
- Nobody Knows
- Seeing is Believing
- A Time and Place
- Whenever I Stop
- Perfect Child
- Reach Out (Touch the Sun)
- Try to Save Me
Disc 2
- When My Feet Don't Touch the Ground
- One by One (featuring Paul Young & Paul Carrack) *
- Nobody Told Me
- I Think I've Got the Message
- Too Many Friends
- You Never Change
- Always the Last to Know
- You Don't Know What Love Is
- Boy At the Front
- My Crime of Passion (Acoustic)
- Little Boy
- Help Me
- Revolution
- I Get the Feeling (Live)
- Taken In (Live)
- Word of Mouth (East West Mix)
- Too Far Gone
Disc 1, Tracks 1-2 and 9 from Mike + The Mechanics (Atlantic/WEA, 1985)
DIsc 1, Tracks 3, 10 and 12-13 from Living Years (Atlantic/WEA, 1988)
Disc 1, Tracks 4, 11 and 14 from Word of Mouth (Atlantic/Virgin, 1991)
Disc 1, Tracks 5-7 from Beggar on a Beach of Gold (Atlantic/Virgin, 1995)
Disc 1, Tracks 8 and 15 from Mike & The Mechanics (Virgin, 1999)
Disc 1, Track 16 from Rewired (Rhino/Virgin, 2004)
Disc 1, Tracks 17-18 from The Road (Arista/Sony Music (U.K.), 2011)
Disc 2, Tracks 3 and 12 from "A Beggar on a Beach of Gold" CD single #1 (Virgin, 1995)
Disc 2, Tracks 4 and 10 from "Stop Baby" CD single (Virgin, 1991)
Disc 2, Tracks 5 and 14 from "The Living Years" 12" single (Atlantic/Virgin, 1988)
Disc 2, Tracks 6 and 8 from "Another Cup of Coffee" CD single (Virgin, 1995)
Disc 2, Track 7 from "Over My Shoulder" CD single (Virgin, 1995)
Disc 2, Tracks 9 and 11 from "A Beggar on a Beach of Gold" CD single #2 (Virgin, 1995)
Disc 2, Track 13 from Rude Awakening: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Elektra, 1989)
Disc 2, Track 15 from "Word of Mouth" CD single (Virgin, 1991)
Disc 2, Track 16 from "A Time and Place" 12" single (Virgin, 1991)
Disc 2, Track 17 from "Silent Running" 12" single (WEA, 1985)
Don says
Glad there will finally be a compilation with the original version of "All I Need is a Miracle" instead of that dreadful remix. Also, I notice there are b-sides on Disc 2 that come from "Stop Baby," which is not on Disc 1.
Rob C says
This looks fantastic! It isn't a complete singles collection - Stop Baby isn't here - but it's very nicely compiled.
Rich Dudas says
Can't wait to get these !! I always loved Mike & The Mechanics -- and Paul Carrack !!!