Hits - Collins, Phil (CD 1998)

Ah, Phil Collins. My first memory of his music would be when I was, hmm, about 10 or so, and my parents persistently played one of his CDs (can t remember which...) in the car. It prompted me on many occasions to demand that they turn the awful music off , despite the fact I actually quite liked some of his songs. Why? Well, when you were 10, surely you wouldn t readily admit to liking music that your parents liked? Or perhaps that was just me, and my intolerable stubbornness beginning to surface at an early age? Well, either way, there, in a nutshell, was my introduction to Phil Collins.

Ten years later and you d think my musical tastes would have changed. Well, okay, they have of course, but one thing has remained fairly constant my admiration of Phil Collins and his cheesy pop music, and hence my purchase of Hits a couple of months back. I use the quote marks on pop because although the overriding theme of Hits is one of pop music, many other styles of music are infused throughout, making it somewhat more varied and less dull than your average pop fare. Then again, with a musical career spanning over 20 years, you d expect different styles to be incorporated I suppose, to fit in with the times if nothing else.

As far as an introduction to Phil Collins career goes, Hits is almost, almost perfect. It contains most of his solo singles (fans of Genesis expecting to find any of their material here will be disappointed, there is none), as well as the customary new track to satiate the avid collectors too. Among the notable absentees, however are Phil s debut single I Missed Again , which although not a great song really should be here on the basis that it was his first single, and Don t Lose My Number , which is a great song, and would have fit in beautifully anywhere on Hits . Mind you, criticizing Hits on the basis that a couple of tracks are missing seems somewhat silly considering that the album clocks in at a hefty 75 minutes, and short of making this a double album and cramming it with other, less impressive efforts from Phil s career, there s little that could be done to accommodate these other tracks, short of removing other songs (which wouldn t be good).

Another Day in Paradise kicks off proceedings with a simple, melodic keyboard riff backed by quiet guitar before Phil s vocals come in. What follows is a five-minute tale of homelessness and helplessness, where Phil largely avoids being overly soppy until he comes out with Oh Lord, is there nothing more anybody can do / Oh Lord, there must be something you can say . It s a good, song unlike most slower, sadder songs it is undeniably catchy, but it is a rather odd, downbeat way to start an album. This would have been far better off sandwiched in the middle-end part of Hits , but my gripe is a minor one, and I may be suffering from overly fussy syndrome again...

I m not, however, being overly fussy when I say that Phil s remake of Cyndi Lauper s True Colours (this is the new song, incidentally) is absolutely hideous. I wasn t a big fan of the original (three stars, maybe...), but it was certainly bearable, which is more than can be said for this version of it. Phil tries to give the song a more laid-back, almost R&B vibe, but it ends up sounding tuneless, emotionless, and lots of other words ending in less that I can t be bothered to mention, for fear of sounding repetitive.

The bright, breezy fast-paced pop-rock of Easy Lover , a duet with Phil Bailey (of Earth, Wind and Fire , if you re wondering) marks an immediate return to form, however, as does his cover of You Can t Hurry Love (apologies can t remember who performed it originally and can t be bothered to search and find out). Both songs showcase Phil in his natural environment singing bouncy, upbeat pop tunes in his own, almost flawless style.

Things slow down a little on Two Hearts , a mid-tempo, indescribably cheesy (just listen to that keyboard/synth intro...), yet remarkably pleasant-sounding pop ballad. It s a song you can t imagine anyone but Phil singing, let alone actually singing it well...

I must admit I d never heard I Wish it Would Rain Down prior to purchasing Hits . If there s one reason I m glad I bought this album, this is it. A duet with the legendary Eric Clapton (my initial thoughts: how the hell is that going to work!? ), it is an amazing song, incorporating one part blues (Clapton s soloing), one part rock (the chorus, which manages to sound joyous and mournful at the same time, it s difficult to describe, just listen...), one part pop (the verses), and adding a touch of gospel (what sound like a small gospel choir joining proceedings during the second and third chorus), and swirling it all into over five minutes of pure bliss. The best individual track here, without a doubt. In response to How the hell is that going to work!? , my answer, upon listening, would be, bloody brilliantly .

I usually prefer Phil s up-tempo songs to his slow, quiet ballads, but Against All Odds is an exception. A simple, piano-led tear-jerker of a song, backed up later by Phil s drums, this is what I could imagine boybands nowadays sounding like if they were actually good (a strange, bewildering concept, I know...). Vocally, this is Phil at his most emotional, especially towards the end when he really lets himself go.

Something Happened on the Way to Heaven is a song that I feel has been rather overlooked by many people. Led by a combination of brass, guitar, and simple two-note piano, it s a blockbuster of a song it s cheesy yes, but it s joyous, epic, and infectiously catchy, too.

After such a great start (track #2 aside), it s almost inevitable that the Phil Collins Hits Express will start to come off the rails at some point. Separate Lives , a duet with Marilyn Martin (of whom I know nothing) is that point. It s an inoffensive, slow ballad that is certainly not unbearable, but is somewhat dull, and often becomes skip fodder , as I like to call it. Both Sides of the Story also suffers from being dull in comparison to most of its predecessors. It s a more up-tempo pop song, which fails to really go anywhere until Phil s vocals become a little distorted for a while in part of the chorus and the song threatens to progress, but doesn t, unfortunately, aside from the drums getting louder and more intrusive...

For One More Night read Separate Lives . Listenable, but Phil seems generally more suited to up-tempo pop-rock than slow ballads that chug along pleasantly enough, but unspectacularly.

Sussudio seems to borrow the synth backing from "1999" by Prince (it doesn t actually they just sound terribly similar), intermixed with Phil s don t-sound-like-Prince-at-all vocals. It s a song I can best describe as quirky irresistibly catchy in a cheesy pop tap-along sense, but like the few tracks that come before it, it is a little dull, and grates on me after a while.

Dance Into the Light marked a welcome return to form for Phil after several years in the wilderness. It has a very upbeat, cheerful, dance-ish, Latin feel to it. You will, undoubtedly find it very, very difficult not to sway at least, if not break out into dance while listening to this, I assure you. A song that s best listened to on a hot summer s day with the sun glaring through a window at you.

Again we enter slow, pleasant, yet too dull piano-led ballad territory with A Groovy Kind of Love . Another song that despite sounding pleasing enough, doesn t really go anywhere in its three-and-a-half minutes.

In the Air Tonight was Phil s first real hit single. It has a much darker, more brooding tone than anything he s done since. The song is amazingly simple, just Phil s vocals to a very quiet percussive/keyboard backing for the most part, until the drums explode fantastically into life late on. Don t listen to very loudly on headphones while snoozing if you don t know what to expect when the drums kick in it will scare the living daylights out of you. Top quality.

The only song that could possibly have been used to close this collection is Take Me Home . The tune is marred somewhat by over-elaborate, over-loud percussive effects, but it remains a beautiful song, threatening to burst into melodic life throughout the verses, and duly obliging in the chorus. A fitting end.

To sum up this collection in a couple of sentences, Phil Collins is cheesy 80s pop-rock personified. If you like the genre, you will like this, and even if you don t you could do worse than giving Hits a whirl. Highly recommended by both myself and my parents!

Track listing:

1. Another Day in Paradise ( * * * * )
2. True Colours ( * )
3. Easy Lover ( * * * * )
4. You Can t Hurry Love ( * * * * )
5. Two Hearts ( * * * * )
6. I Wish it Would Rain Down ( * * * * * )
7. Against All Odds ( * * * * )
8. Something Happened on the Way to Heaven ( * * * * * )
9. Separate Lives ( * * * )
10. Both Sides of the Story ( * * * )
11. One More Night ( * * * )
12. Sussudio ( * * * )
13. Dance Into the Light ( * * * * )
14. A Groovy Kind of Love ( * * * )
15. In the Air Tonight ( * * * * )
16. Take Me Home ( * * * * )

Albums by Phil Collins (solo):

Face Value (Atlantic) (No rating)
Hello, I Must Be Going (Atlantic) (No rating)
No Jacket Required (Atlantic) (No rating)
But Seriously... (Atlantic) (No rating)
Both Sides (Atlantic) (No rating)
Dance Into the Light (Atlantic) (No rating)
Testify (Atlantic) (No rating)
Hits (Atlantic) ( * * * * )