The Spirit of Radio: Greatest Hits 1974-1987 gathers sixteen songs from Rush's Mercury years, from Working Man off the debut to Time Stand Still with Aimee Mann from Hold Your Fire. In between are Fly by Night, 2112 Overture with The Temples of Syrinx, Closer to the Heart, The Trees, Freewill, Limelight, Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta and Subdivisions, among others. Caress of Steel is the only studio album from that period not represented. Q called the title track "one of the great rock singles". The compilation was originally released in 2003 and went gold in both the US and the UK.

This edition is a 2LP, the first vinyl release of this compilation.