Defend Phil Collins

i was listening to "abacab" the other day...it's such a weird album, sort of mainstream 80s pop, but there's still odd structural and instrumental passages that betray that they used to be prog chops dudes, strange mix and i kind of love it...

This goes for a lot of late 70s/early 80s AOR by musicians with a prog background.
Not a fan of "Abacab" though.

What are some other good examples of prog bands getting poppy, yet remaining great?

The best I can think of is Le Orme's late '70s albums (particularly 'Storia O Leggenda'). They always seemed more inspired to me compared to their more famous early '70s work.

All Rush from '78-82

I'd forgotten about these when I revived, but here's some PC "fan fiction" that might appeal to readers of this thread. See if you can spot the familiar ILXor in the second one!

They must have thought we had a butler.

There is a married bachelor, therefore the moon is made of green cheese.

Enter Kogan, a Hispanic (we won't insult him by assuming Mexican) haircutter and zapatarist who owns the joint and digs the Latin hip hop.

It's easy to only remember In The Air Tonight on Miami Vice, but he did convincingly portray a coke dealer creep aswell!

Defend Phil Collins

No.

never ban Bo Jackson Overdrive

Bo is rong. Wind & Wuthering is reason enough to not murder Phil Collins completely.

well actually I did like A Trick of the Tail and Abacab. My vitriol is mostly for his solo career (although yes, "in the air tonight" ist neato)

Pigeons Ep was good genesis past Wind and Wuthering.

I'll admit to not having heard Wind and Wuthering so I have no opinion on it.

on some Who video he's interviewed about keith moon's death. he said, "yeah, when i heard about it, i called up townshend and said, 'listen...'" right here you think he's gonna say, "i'm really sorry about keith, he was amazing, my condolences" etc. etc. nope. he says, "listen, if you need a drummer...."

he had his moments, but phil in the Who fills me with terror. nonetheless, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkOLi7iXR1k

My vitriol is mostly for his solo career

TS forgiving talented people for turning shit because they were good once vs burning them for turning shit

Tough decision

Phil Collins solo:
"In The Air Tonight" and the entire "Face Value" album
"Thru These Walls", "I Don't Care Anymore" and several great songs from the followup
"Against All Odds"
"Take Me Home" (and some lesser known gems from the same album such as "Long Long Way")

Nuff said.

Admittedly, it has been pretty depressive from the 90s onwards though.

He sounded great on a recent reunion tour recording I heard. Especially on oldies like "In The Cage". I have no stomach for ballads a la "Hold On My Heart", etc, tho. Still, I Defend the man!

Oh, and Wind And Wuthering is excellent.

Best ever album to play on a cold windy morning.

phil doesn't need you guys

bone thugs got his back

i have affection for his first three solo albums, which my dad played endlessly when i were wee.

"Easy Lover" and "In The Air Tonight" are probably better than your favorite singer's best songs. "Land of Confusion" too for that matter. I know nothing about his drumming but I don't care about prog rock at all. He should have always been making pop music.

The restaurant I'm currently working at recently hosted a party (complete with a DJ) for a bunch of teachers and administrators from a local highschool, with about 70% of the attendees being black people in their 30's and 40's. The DJ put on "Easy Lover" at one point and it was just like he put on Cameo or something. Good Times.

Land of Confusion was a Genesis t00n! booyah! (not that he probably didn't have most of the say behind it, but)....

....don't care about prog rock?

...DON'T CARE ABOUT PROG ROCK?

Selling England by the Pound > every Phil Collins solo album!

"Easy Lover" and "In The Air Tonight" are probably better than your favorite singer's best songs

fuck yes. this has been stuck in my head for days and i don't mind one bit

Gated drums and his daughter is cute.

His music doesn't sound the least bit stale....I have to give him credit for that.

"Behind the Lines" is in my head right now. The solo version allegedly inspired by listening to high-speed rewind of the midtempo band version. It is a good track. I'm also thinking about some of the more spacious and well-constructed fills in "I Missed Again."

phil noooooo

http://www.spinner.com/2009/09/10/phil-collins-may-never-drum-again-due-to-spinal-injury

Awww what. I mean he'd retired anyway after the last tour... now I wonder if that was why? but still its sad when injury affects a person's main kill/talent.

He was brilliant in A Hard Days Night.

i've had Take Me Home in my head every day for a month

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbkL4OKcZCQ

the Brand X stuff is kinda stuffy fusiony jive, but i also kinda dig it and phil is NEXT LEVEL drums on that

I like Phil but what in the heck happened to his voice on 'Going Back'?

Dunno. I think "Going Back" is a surprisingly good album. A much better 2010 covers album than Peter Gabriel did, which surprises me in a way because I didn't expect Phil top top Peter in 2010 (well... didn't ever, in fact...)

Phil Collins contemplates suicide, the Alamo, and camera artifacts that disguise themselves as paranormal energy

(you think I'm joking here?)

"Phil Collins will just disappear or be murdered in some hotel bedroom, and people will say, 'What happened to Phil?' And the answer will be, 'He got murdered, but, yeah, anyway, let's carry on.' That kind of thing."

In a cosmic sense this is true, I guess. But among other things he is ignoring who will win an Oscar for their tender and sensitive portrayal of Phil Collins getting shot in a hotel bedroom.

Meryl Streep?

Dir. by Todd Haynes

Tonight...

Tagline: He didn't see it coming.

as a sidenote: the covers album has been a surprise commercial success (what else is new). Following in the footsteps of McDonald, Stewart, etc, yawn.

Easy Lover will get pretty much any party going.

As does his cover of "You Can't Hurry Love."

I agree it isn't exactly the most original idea, but he does it great, with respect to the originals. His somewhat smoother versions of Stevie Wonder ballads from the 70s are not quite up there with the 60s covers though.
Still, his best album since "...But Seriously..." so the success is deserved.

xpost true, true. but is it more likely to deliver the dance than the diana ross version? i guess the phil version would be more likely to have the lads dancing around too..

They aren't really all that different from each other, are they? Except one has a male singer and the other one has a female one, but I guess the voice singing isn't the most important aspect when it comes to dancefloor appeal.

Aw...

http://www.philcollins-fr.com/Discographie/albums/12goingback.jpg

*murders phil collins in some hotel bedroom*

"I don't want to sound like a weirdo. I'm not Shirley MacLaine..."

Eh?

I think his voice sounds weird these days as he drops all the songs' keys by a whole tone or so he doesn't physically capsize. Did so on the recent-ish Genesis tour. Saw him do the Motown covers on the telly, he barely had to break a sweat.