Mike And The Mechanics - Let Me Fly (BMG)

I recently saw the band in York and they were excellent: a fine set of talented musicians.

Let Me Fly is their 8th album in their 32 year career. New vocalists Andrew Roachford and Tim Howar take over the vocals impressively from Paul Young and Paul Carrack.

The album is a mix of ballads and faster tracks. It is quite uplifting in parts, especially on Are You Ready? along with The Best Is Yet To Come. The lyric goes "the future is in your hands, the best is yet to come" The track is co written by Mike Rutherford, Andrew Roachford and Clark Datchler who you might remember as being the lead singer of Johnny Hates Jazz.

Are You Ready has Mike Rutherford's trademark guitar on the track and you instantly know that this is a Mike and the Mechanics song. On the sleeve notes Rutherford says the album returns to the early Mechanics sound and he has certainly achieved that in this new album.

High Life is another gem on the album with its memorable chorus. Not Out of Love is a typical Mike and the Mechanics track. It is really all about writing a good song.

I'll Be There For You would have been a song that Paul Carrack would have sung but Andrew Roachford takes it all in his stride.

All these songs can stand proudly against tracks such as Word of Mouth and The Living Years.

I give the album 3 out of 5.