Monday, 1 February 2016

That's Entertainment : Phil Collins


There’s a girl that’s been on my mind…all the time.  Su-su-Sussudio.  

Phil Collins.  Deadset ****ing champion!


Yep.  You read right.


I like Phil Collins.  And have no fear, this isn’t some Patrick Bateman-esque monologue.

I just like his songs.

A great drummer, lead singer of Genesis and a massive selling solo singer of the 1980’s and 1990’s, there was a time in Australia when Phil Collins couldn’t go a whole seven minutes without one of his tracks being played on the radio.

And the good news - for fans of good news…he’s re-releasing ALL his solo studio albums in 2016 with ALL the bells and whistles.

I got in to Phil Collins as he was monstering the airwaves and charts around 1985 with his album No Jacket Required, that was home to HUGE hits like Sussudio (a song he wrote in his stu-stu-studio), One More Night, Don’t Lose My Number, Who Said I Would and the sublime Take Me Home.  I actually had a live bootleg copy of his No Ticket Required concert and it was ace!  Chockfull of all the hits from his previous two solo albums, it contained hit songs like the atmospheric In The Air Tonight, You Can’t Hurry Love, Against All Odds, Easy Lover and Like China.

In the other years, he was performing with Genesis and acting in movies like Buster where he delivered a lovely version of Groovy Kind Of Love (yep…I am a sap!) [the better version is on Serious Hits Live] [[And it’s a great song to sing in the car or the shower…just saying]].  

Yet, by 1989, he delivered …But Seriously, another album full of chart hits like Another Day In Paradise, I Wish It Would Rain Down, Something Happened on the Way To Heaven and That’s Just The Way It Is.  In fact, Another Day In Paradise was the first ever mini-CD single I bought (and the last, if memory serves, as the format was discontinued because most people at the time had tray CD players and these smaller discs would only sit on the spindle to be spun).

Taking the album on tour, it culminated in Serious Hits Live and then another period of sustained Genesis success in 1991/92.

The follow up albums in the 1990’s were still successful and one of my faves was Dance Into The Light. 

Feeling the brunt of critical criticism, changes in taste and smaller sales saw Phil move out of the charts and work for Disney, and release hits collections, collect divorces, release covers albums and dance in to retirement.

An amazing drummer who has guested on plenty of other peoples songs over the years, Phil has remastered his previous 8 solo albums and intends to record a new album too.

And sure, he was overplayed.  He walked a fine line between cheesiness and sophistication.  But he always sounded great.  It’s funny how a contemporary wave of pop/rock bands/artists are paying him more credit and he’s gone from being a superstar, to a reviled creature and back to some iconic status.  That said, Phil Collins did write a good pop song.  A lot of them.  Anyway, never really cared for the knockers or the critics.  I’ll always have him on my Sony Walkman, Discman or I-pod and that’s just the way it is.  So when you’re feeling blue, all you have to do…is whack on some Phil Collins.   





That’s Just The Way It Is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdFtcAa_pYk









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