Mike and the Mechanics is an English rock supergroup formed in Dover in 1985 by Mike Rutherford, initially as a side project during a hiatus period for his earlier group Genesis. The band is known for hit singles "Silent Running", "All I Need Is a Miracle", "Taken In", "The Living Years", "Word of Mouth", and "Over My Shoulder".
Genesis is the twelfth studio album by English rock band Genesis, released on 3 October 1983 by Charisma and Virgin Records in the UK and by Atlantic Records in the US and Canada. Following the band's tour in support of their 1982 live album Three Sides Live, Genesis took an eight-month break before they regrouped in the spring of 1983 to record a new album. It is their first written and recorded in its entirety at their studio named The Farm in Chiddingfold, Surrey, and the songs were developed through jam sessions in the studio with nothing written beforehand. Hugh Padgham returned as their engineer.
"Hey There" is a show tune from the musical play The Pajama Game, written by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. It was published in 1954. It was introduced by John Raitt in the original production. In the show, Sid sings it to a recording device, telling himself that he's foolish to continue his advances to Babe. He plays the tape back, and after responding to his own comments, sings a duet with himself.
Mike + The Mechanics is the debut album by the Genesis bassist and guitarist Mike Rutherford's band Mike + The Mechanics in 1985. The album reached number 26 on the Billboard 200 album charts and had three hit singles. "Silent Running", featuring lead vocals by Paul Carrack, and the uptempo "All I Need Is a Miracle", featuring lead vocals by Paul Young, both reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at numbers 6 and 5 respectively, with the former also peaking at number 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The third single off the album, "Taken In", was a lesser hit, reaching No. 32 on the Hot 100 and No. 7 on the Adult Contemporary chart. "Silent Running" and "All I Need is a Miracle" were also hits in the UK, reaching numbers 21 and 53 in the UK Singles Chart respectively.
Living Years is the second album by Mike + The Mechanics, released in 1988. The album reached number 13 on the US Billboard 200 and number 2 on the UK Albums Chart.
"All the Way" is a song published in 1957 by Maraville Music Corporation. The music was written by Jimmy Van Heusen with lyrics by Sammy Cahn.
"Dance the Night Away" is a song by American hard rock band Van Halen, and written by its group members. It is the second song from their 1979 album Van Halen II. While the rest of the songs from this album had existed in various forms since their days doing demos and playing clubs, this song was possibly the only song written during the recording sessions for the album.
"Follow You Follow Me" is a love song written and recorded by English rock band Genesis. It was released in March 1978 as the first single from their ninth studio album, ...And Then There Were Three... (1978). The music was composed by the band, and the lyrics were written by bassist and guitarist Mike Rutherford. The single became Genesis' first top 10 hit in the UK and first top 40 hit in the US, reaching No. 7 and No. 23 respectively.
"Taking It All Too Hard" is the sixth track from the 1983 album Genesis by Genesis. It is known for Tony Banks' work on his Yamaha CP-70 electric piano. It included the eighth track from the album, "Silver Rainbow," as the B-side.
"The Living Years" is a soft rock ballad written by B. A. Robertson and Mike Rutherford, and recorded by Rutherford's British rock band Mike + The Mechanics. It was released in December 1988 in the United Kingdom and in the United States as the second single from their album Living Years. The song was a chart hit around the world, topping the US Billboard Hot 100 on 25 March 1989, the band's only number-one and last top ten hit on that chart, and reaching number-one in Australia, Canada and Ireland and number 2 in the UK. It spent four weeks at number-one on the US Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. Paul Carrack sings lead vocals on the track.
"Old Time Rock and Roll" is a song written by George Jackson and Thomas E. Jones III, with uncredited lyrics by Bob Seger. It was recorded by Seger for his tenth studio album Stranger in Town. It was also released as a single in 1979. It is a sentimentalized look back at the music of the original rock 'n' roll era and has often been referenced as Seger's favorite song. The song gained renewed popularity after being featured in the 1983 film Risky Business. It has since become a standard in popular music and was ranked number two on the Amusement & Music Operators Association's survey of the Top 40 Jukebox Singles of All Time in 1996. It was also listed as one of the Songs of the Century in 2001 and ranked No. 100 in the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Songs poll in 2004 of the top songs in American cinema.
"And the Cradle Will Rock..." is a song written and performed by Van Halen. It appears on their 1980 album Women and Children First and was released as a single. It is also the first song released by the band that featured the keyboard playing of Eddie Van Halen.
"I Wanna Go Back" is a 1984 song by American rock band Billy Satellite, written by band members Monty Byrom, Danny Chauncey, and Ira Walker, that achieved major popularity when recorded by Eddie Money in 1986. Another version was recorded by former Santana/Journey keyboardist/singer Gregg Rolie for his self-titled 1985 debut solo album.
"Misunderstanding" is a song by English rock band Genesis, released on their 1980 album Duke. It reached No. 14 in the U.S. and No. 42 in the UK. Its highest charting was in Canada, where it reached No. 1 and is ranked as the seventh biggest Canadian hit of 1980. It was also featured on the band's 1982 double-album Three Sides Live, where it led off side three.
"You Got Lucky" is the first single from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' album Long After Dark. The song peaked at #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart, where it stayed for three weeks at the end of 1982. Somewhat unusually for a Petty song, guitars give up the spotlight to allow synths to carry the song's main structure.
"Holly Holy" is a song written and recorded by Neil Diamond with instrumental backing provided by the American Sound Studio house band in Memphis. Released as a single on October 13, 1969, it was a successful follow-on to "Sweet Caroline", reaching #6 on the U.S. pop singles chart by December. The song also reached #5 on the Easy Listening chart. It became a gold record and then eventually a platinum record.
"All I Need Is a Miracle" is a song performed by English pop rock band Mike + The Mechanics. Written by guitarist Mike Rutherford and producer Christopher Neil, it was first included on their 1985 self-titled debut album, and later released as a single in early 1986 in the USA, where it reached number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was sung by Paul Young on both the original recording and the 1996 re-recording for the band's Hits compilation album.
"Silent Running " is a song performed by Mike + The Mechanics. Written by Mike Rutherford and B. A. Robertson, it was the first track on the 1985 self-titled debut album of Mike + the Mechanics. It was also released as the band's first single, peaking at number 6 on 8 March 1986 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and number 1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, where it stayed for five weeks. It reached No. 21 in the band's native United Kingdom.
Solitaire is the thirty-first studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released in the fall of 1973 by Columbia Records and was an attempt to move away from his formulaic series of recent releases that relied heavily on songs that other artists had made popular.
I Am Woman is the third studio album by Australian–American pop singer Helen Reddy, released on 13 November 1972, by Capitol Records. The album included her second recording of the song that gave the album its name, which was also the version that spent a week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The album debuted on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart in the issue dated December 9, 1972, and reached number 14 during a 62-week run, and in Canada's RPM magazine it peaked at number seven. On March 7, 1973, the Recording Industry Association of America awarded the album with Gold certification for sales of 500,000 copies in the United States, and Platinum certification for sales of one million copies came on December 5, 1991. On July 22, 2003, it was released for the first time on compact disc as one of two albums on one CD, the other album being her 1973 release Long Hard Climb.
