Hits - Collins, Phil (CD 1998)

Many have called Phil Collins bubblegum rock. If that s the case, by all means please give me more bubblegum!

This version of Phil s greatest hits contains 16 songs. For a career that hasn t always been solo, that s not a bad number of quality hits. Of course, I don t agree with all of them, but the album flows well anyway. This is great Friday afternoon office music to get you cranked up for when the quitting whistle blows and you yell YABA DABA DOO and slide down the brontosaurus tail and into your car oh wait sorry got a little carried away there.

This album has a couple of songs provided by Phil for soundtracks. Some of these movies may not have been cinematic masterpieces but certainly containing a Phil Collin s song didn t hurt them. Against All Odds showed Rachel Ward at her almost worst but the song is a love story in all senses of the word. Separate Lives comes from White Nights , the 1985 ballet/tap classic with Gregory Hines and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Marilyn Martin s vocals actually steal this hit from Phil in my view. For anyone old enough to remember, In The Air Tonight played as well on Miami Vice as Phil did himself.

The least liked song on the album for me is You Can t Hurry Love. Phil may be able to cover Cindi Lauper with True Colors but he can t cover Diana Ross and the Supremes. Sorry Phil!

Phil has plenty of friends that are willing to help him out on this compilation. The supporting cast reads like a who s who of the music industry:

Babyface
David Crosby
Eric Clapton
Philip Bailey
Peter Gabriel
Sting

If you have never seen the video version, I would highly recommend checking it out. The video of I Wish It Would Rain Down not only takes you through the entire Broadway career of Phil as an aspiring actor in a series of plays in 5:28 but also shows that Clapton looks as great playing as he sounds. The ending is classic humor at it s best when the director suggest cutting Clapton to save the budget.

The video for Take Me Home shows Phil leaving to run to the store and along the way he manages to visit some of the wonders of the world. The frequent flier miles for this video alone must have been amazing. Knowing the video makes it the perfect song to wrap up the album.

Not since Chicago has anyone combined a horn section as successfully with rock music as Phil does. Anyone capable of listening to Sussudio without their foot at least starting to tap on its own, needs to go get checked out by a doctor.

If you need proof of Phil s musical capabilities, listen to Both Sides of the Story then realize that he plays every instrument and does all vocals. Maybe Phil and Enya need to collaborate on an album? *grin*

The playlist follows:

Another Day In Paradise
True Colors
Easy Lover
You Can t Hurry Love
Two Hearts
I Wish It Would Rain Down
Against All Odds
Something Happened On The Way To Heaven
Separate Lives
Both Sides Of The Story
One More Night
Sussidio
Dance Into The Light
A Groovy Kind Of Love
In The Air Tonight
Take Me Home

Thanks for reading!

P.S. If you are male and can listen to In The Air Tonight without turning it up until your speakers start to dance across the floor and *not* do your best to play air drums you also need to see someone about the aliens living in your body!