But Seriously - Collins, Phil (CD 1989)

"But Seriously" is Phil Collins deepest and probably most popular album. The songs are catchy, the music's intriguing and the lyrics are oftentimes interesting to listen to. True sometimes Phil gets a little preachy here(For example "Another Day in Paradise" is a good song but it gets too wrapped up in it's message) but overall the album isn't bad.

The first song is probably the worst song on the album. "Hang in Long Enough" starts off pretty good with a jazzy opening filled with trumpets and a brass section along with the usual steady drumbeat and then Collins voice enters and it's strong and full of vigor as always. The problems with the song are it's weak chorus, which wastes some good verses, and it's end wherein Phil and company try to act as if they're the Grateful Dead and start wailing away. Sorry Phil...I've learned over the years that your strength is generally your voice and that the best part of your band are the Phoenix Horns(a group of brass players that have been with Phil since his second album). It's not a bad song actually but compared to much of the rest of the album it is.

The second song is in stark contrast to "Hang in Long Enough". "Thats just the way it is" is a sparse beautiful balladic number with David Crosby backing Phil Collins. Collins generally does his best singing and his best work on ballads mainly because his voice has this passionate quality to it that comes out during ballads. It starts slow with a nice little drumbeat and then is interjected with keyboards. The lyrics are interesting and although I've never understood the whole song exactly what I've been able to catch is that two people are having troubles but they are sticking together through it although I can't be sure. Sometimes Phil is an easy guy to interpret--Sometimes he isn't. Usually it doesn't matter. This is one of my favorite songs on the album. Slow, passionate, beautiful...It's all you can want in a Phil Collins balladic number.

"Thats just the way it is" is followed by the similar ballad and big hit song "Do you remember?" which is my favorite single off this album. It's similar in composition to "Thats just the way it is" except Stephen Bishop is backing Phil instead of David Crosby and the music is stronger and more of the song here. "Do you remember?" though is one of those songs where the lyrics are easy to interpret and were helped out by one of my favorite Phil Collins videos. I only saw it once but the one time I saw it it made an impression on me(It's the reason I bought this one...Way back in 1990. It's the second tape I ever bought).The song is about a couple who have broken up. Phil's still in love with her though even though he knows he shouldn't be because she seems to hate him now. She blames him for everything and he feels that she's the one to blame. It's heartfelt and actually quite sad. Beautiful music though and Phil's voice crackles with emotion. Simply wonderful.

"Something happened on the way to heaven" is a faster number and it's not bad although I was never much for it.It starts off well with the horns blazing(I love the Phoenix horns...Man do they know how to wail!) and then goes into Phil singing about a relationship that has fallen apart.(Most of Phil's songs seem to be about that subject) The verses are decent although I think that the chorus is the best part of the song. He wants her back but she doesn't seem to want him back even though he keeps apologizing and pleading his case. Finally he says he's not going to leave without her because he loves her. It's not a bad song and I like the horns and Phil's vocals. This is just one of these songs that they overplayed on the radio so often that it got to the point where I couldn't stand listening to the song. It's still a good one--it just get's really repetitive and old at times.

"Colors" is a strange semi-epic in the Genesis mode.From 1981 to 1997, Phil Collins successfully balanced a lucrative solo career along with participation in one of the better rock groups from the late 60s/early 70s. Genesis was known for it's long progressive rock type epics until about 1977 or so and this song is a throwback in a sense in that it is a typical Phil Collins song worked to be an epic. It's split basically in two parts. In part one, the song is slow and achingly painful. It gets preachy as Phil points out children who are starving and pointing out people who are in terrible shape. So of course Phil Collins asks "Who do you blame for this?". The answer--Who knows? It's just a look at a typical third world country and a look at poverty in general. Again very preachy but somehow it manages to overcome that mainly because of Phil's vocal work and the nice slow music. Then this song breaks into another part--A faster-oriented more instrumental part. It continues the preachiness of the first part but rather he says something that I find true--"No matter what you say it never gets any better...No matter what you do we never see any change." It's a political song aimed at all these third-world governments especially with it's lyrics like "You can keep your toy soldiers to segregate the black and white" and "You decide to sit in judgement and try to play god yourself" . An interesting song that isn't always successful but does work generally.

"I wish it would rain down" is a decent song with one major problem--There isn't much meat to it. Phil basically repeats a chorus over and over while Eric Clapton comes in and blasts a nice little guitar solo. That's the basic structure of the song. It doesn't mean anything obviously but the music is nice and the background singers do a nice job backing Phil here. From what I've heard, Clapton did this as a return favor to Phil since Phil had helped produce some of Clapton's mid-80s albums. It's not a bad song--It has nice music and all but it's just one of those wherein Phil didn't really do anything lyrically. The chorus doesn't even really go with the very few verses that there are.

"Another Day in Paradise" was Phil's last number one hit and although it's a good song it's kind of faded with age. The lyrics are a little bit too preachy(even more than "Colors" I think which was an extremely political song) and the music is fairly slight and not too interesting. The song is stark and somewhat preachy obviously in it's moral of treating the homeless better because they're stuck in the gutters while we're enjoying our "paradise". The song got extremely overplayed and that might account for my mood about the song. It's a good song but not a great one. The saving grace in fact is David Crosby on backing vocals and Phil himself who's voice rings with a tinge of sadness.

"Heat on the Street" is a pleasant throw away of a song. It's not good--It's not bad. It's pleasant and decent but it's basically just a throw away. The second half of the album in fact is much weaker than the first half. The horns here are nice and the music is interesting but the lyrics are kind of "blah" and the song itself really isn't good for anything but background music.

"All of my life" is a pretty good song with a wonderful opening with a saxophone blaring and then leading into a drumbeat that leads into the extended keyboard parts that make up the song. It's slow, rhythmic and simply nice. Phil then starts to sing about how he wishes he could go back and change things in his life. He's regretting words he said, things he did in the past and how he basically messed up his love life. It in fact goes well with "Something happened on the way to heaven". It also goes well with his second album which was all about doomed relationships and Phil's trying to fix them or wanting to fix them. I've always wondered how much Phil's failed first marriage has played into songs like these as they always seem so personal and extremely sad in their emotional content and in the way Phil sings. This is a pretty good song although perhaps not as strong as it could be. The best thing about it is the saxophone.

"Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" is a minute long instrumental by Phil and company. It's fodder but good fodder.

"Father to Son" is a preachy song but it's one I've always liked mainly because I never really had a father myself and I sometimes wonder if I did if perhaps he would've helped me in life like the father in this song does with his song to his son. So what's the song about? Basically a father is talking with his son about growing up and about how as a father he'll always be there and love. Phil sings that even though it's hard, if he wants to be with a girl he should make the first move and he shouldn't be afraid to get laughed at or hurt because as Phil says "You're gonna get hurt someday anyway". The music isn't much--In fact there isn't much music to the song at all. The lyrics though are interesting and I like the song because of them and because of the overall idea of the song. I especially like the last part wherein Phil as the father says to the son "I'll always be with you don't forget" and "If you look behind you, I will be there". Touching...Very touching.

The last song is "Find a way to my heart" which the magician David Copperfield always seems to use in his magic shows. Don't ask me why. It's the one song on here that I think should've been released as a single but wasn't.It starts off strange with a deep bassy sound and drums and then gets lighter. In fact this is probably the happiest Phil Collins song on the album as he basically says that if you can find a way to his heart he will always follow you. A love song of sorts I guess. The chorus is simple and nice and the horns and band play along capably. It makes for a perfect pop single and a perfect end to an otherwise sometimes depressing sad album.

So what do I think? Well this isn't my favorite Phil Collins album but it's probably second on my list. It has some problems. It gets preachy at times and not all of the songs work. However despite that it has some great songs and some interesting content and thus I give it four stars and definitely recommend it.