Defend Phil Collins

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I don't really like his voice but "In the Air Tonight" really is pretty cool in the atmosphere and synth and vocal production. It's definitely not generic adult pop. If Peter Gabriel sang on it, it would probably be considered a masterpiece. It's certainly a better song (and less cheesy and adult-pop) than "Sledgehamer". Also, I heard "Invisible Touch" on a car radio tonight and it was kind of a pick-me-up. I think everyone enjoyed it. Besides, he plays on Nursery Cryme, which I enjoyed for a while.

sundar subramanian (sundar), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 14:23 (twenty years ago) link

Agree (although I have grown to prefer Gabriel's work to Collins') that "In The Air Tonight" is considerably better than "Sledgehammer"
"Sledgehammer" (apart from the video) is hardly the artistic highlight of Gabriel's solo career though...

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 9 October 2003 08:43 (twenty years ago) link

Gail couldn't believe it when I told her the story about PC playing with the SME. "Phil Collins?" she exclaimed. "He couldn't improvise a hot water bottle out of my knickers!"

(this, btw, would also fit into the ILE "funniest things said while having sex" thread)

"No really, Gail, he was there and John Martyn was on guitar, and he talked him into playing and John Stevens said halfway through one improv piece "Right you lot, Phil and I are gonna have a little chat on the drums now so the rest of you cunts can just shaddup, alright?"

"Yes, that sounds like good old John," sighed G. Four-second pause. "Dirty old man that he was..."

(according to G, every Brit improv legend is or was a "dirty old man" heheh).

Anyway, as a drummer the boy Collins dun good on the John Cale Island trilogy and also on Bob Fripp's Exposure. The latter, come to think of it, is not currently available on CD either except as an expensive and not recommended import.

Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 9 October 2003 09:19 (twenty years ago) link

Collins' drumming on the earlier genesis rekkids (ie before he decided that trying to sound like j bonham was k-k3wl) is awesome.

Pashmina (Pashmina), Thursday, 9 October 2003 09:29 (twenty years ago) link

Doesn't he also play on Before and After Science? That's a great record.

southern lights (southern lights), Thursday, 9 October 2003 14:02 (twenty years ago) link

noone seems to be noticing the beautiful gift we've all been given: the mental image of Phil Collins and Johnny Rotten palling around.

Al (sitcom), Thursday, 9 October 2003 14:17 (twenty years ago) link

They were both Virgin artists, they were probably bonding over complaints about Richard Branson.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 9 October 2003 14:26 (twenty years ago) link

(Oh, I do generally prefer Gabriel's work to Collins' and certainly Gabriel's best moments outclass Collins'. It wasn't even something I needed to grow into. But the point of the thread was to defend Collins.)

sundar subramanian (sundar), Sunday, 12 October 2003 13:57 (twenty years ago) link

Reason #17: On Brand X' "Sun in the Night," he sings in Sanskrit. That's cool.

Joe (Joe), Sunday, 12 October 2003 14:04 (twenty years ago) link

someone (dan,i think,for some reason)once posted an epic description of a phil collins track that made it sound like the best thing ever,and i duly added it somewhere to my list of tracks to download
still haven't heard it
until then i'll reserve judgement...
fairly odd that he played with john cale though,and eno,i didn't know that...

robin (robin), Sunday, 12 October 2003 21:15 (twenty years ago) link

Reason #18: Home by the Sea.

damian_nz (damian_nz), Sunday, 12 October 2003 22:18 (twenty years ago) link

& Second Home by the Sea (more so)

damian_nz (damian_nz), Sunday, 12 October 2003 22:19 (twenty years ago) link

Genesis' self-titled (eponymous!) album must be one of my all-time desert island discs. Tracks like 'Mama' and 'Home by the sea / Second home by the sea' (as just mentioned by Damian) rival 'In the air tonight' for stunning atmospheric creepiness! 'Just a job to do' is a heart-pounding number about a hitman hunting his mark down (somehow early PetShopBoys in theme, like the direct opposite of 'One more chance'?). 'Silver rainbow' is the most surreal reference to sexual awakening and trepidation I've ever heard. (If anyone has a take on what 'It's gonna get better' is about, please post, as it has some obscure lyrics.) For those who just see 'That's all' in the track listing (the only hit off the album?) and pass on it, you don't know what you are missing!! Get yourself a copy now.

Has no one noted what a brilliant 'video actor' Phil Collins is? Not every artist puts their *all* into their visual performance (nevermind exact proper lip-synching) as Phil Collins does. Like, in the video for 'Mama', he literally looks like he's going mad with rage, hatred and desire, and you really believe it, you can't take your eyes off him... It is hard to believe this is the same guy who's being all cheery and silly in some of his other videos. That's what I love about Phil Collins, he is so multifaceted, as well as multi-talented. I don't claim to love *all* his songs (some of them I downright can't stand) but I don't turn my nose up at him as a musical artist. It takes talent to write a good pop tune, and that Phil Collins has written so many well-loved hits is testament to his song-writing skill, on top of being a brilliant drummer, a very decent keyboardist, and emotive vocalist. Now that I think about it, Phil Collins was the first pop artist I ever got into as a teenager. Ah, memories! :)

Joi Raida, Monday, 13 October 2003 02:24 (twenty years ago) link

someone (dan,i think,for some reason)once posted an epic description of a phil collins track that made it sound like the best thing ever,and i duly added it somewhere to my list of tracks to download

Haha that was me, babbling about "Domino"!

So what about that New Toyota Ad with Phil Collins?

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 13 October 2003 13:35 (twenty years ago) link

RFI: Is there really such a thing as the 'Hip Hop Tribute Album to PC'?

-- Fabrice

Yes. I used to have a copy, but I left it on my desk and it was the victim of office theft. It's hillarious, and again the word here is 'unintentionally'.

Anna (Anna), Monday, 13 October 2003 13:48 (twenty years ago) link

Is that you Patrick?

Baaderist (Fabfunk), Monday, 13 October 2003 13:49 (twenty years ago) link

the ODB 'cover' of Sussudio is soooo disappointing when you think how great it sounds on paper, but i've said that before

stevem (blueski), Monday, 13 October 2003 13:50 (twenty years ago) link

say WHAT??

Baaderist (Fabfunk), Monday, 13 October 2003 13:52 (twenty years ago) link

Video Director [headphones blasting, eating sandwich]: "So at this point you're inside the castle and...who's playing the guitar solo?"
Phil: "DARYL STEURMER"
Video Director: "GREAT!!! Great sandwich!!!"

Joe (Joe), Monday, 13 October 2003 13:53 (twenty years ago) link

one month passes...
He wrote and sang "It's No Fun Being an Illegal Alien". Then he and his Genesis cronies wore sombreros in the promo video. A real caring class act all the way is Phil C. Oh, wait a minute ...

Flaming Jugend, Tuesday, 18 November 2003 04:23 (twenty years ago) link

five months pass...
Whoever above liked "No Reply At All" is OTM. In fact, if you took the first 6 songs from Abacab and the good ones from Face Value (I'm thinking "The Roof is Leaking," "Droned," "You Know What I Mean," "Tomorrow Never Knows," maybe "Hand in Hand" for the drumming), you'd have the best album of 1981 and one of the decade's top 5, no problem. Of course, he does a lot of crap; he can't write a coherent lyric about a social concern (with the exception of poor frontiersmen whose roofs are leaking); and he's guilty of Pete Townshend's disease of throwing useless slow interludes into otherwise catchy, fast songs; but he does have some stone classics. '83's "It's Gonna Get Better" is also great. And did anyone ever notice that the verse melody of his Tarzan song "Son of Man" is ripped right off the verse melody of Husker Du's "Sorry Somehow"?

dr. phil (josh langhoff), Monday, 26 April 2004 14:46 (twenty years ago) link

Oh yeah, and "Like China" is fucking hilarious, particularly when you hear it as an Onion-style point/counterpoint with Michael W. Smith's '87 "Old Enough To Know."

dr. phil (josh langhoff), Monday, 26 April 2004 15:37 (twenty years ago) link

Actually made a few good albums before COMPLETELY RAPING AND DESTROYING GENESIS AND TURNING THEM INTO A HORRIBLE SHIT-80'S POP ACT.

(I'm speaking of Trick of the Tail and Abacab)

uh, Monday, 26 April 2004 20:02 (twenty years ago) link

To be fair, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford contributed their fair share of turning Genesis to shit as well. Listen to such albums they made as Bankstatement, Acting Very Strange...hell, any Mike and the Mechanics album. Seems they had alarmingly high rates of Collins-envy.

Joe (Joe), Tuesday, 27 April 2004 01:44 (twenty years ago) link

They don't have clean slates either, you're right.

uh, Tuesday, 27 April 2004 01:49 (twenty years ago) link

to avoid confusion, I meant Trick of the tAil and Abacab were the quality albums.

uh, Tuesday, 27 April 2004 01:57 (twenty years ago) link

can't write a coherent lyric about a social concern (with the exception of poor frontiersmen whose roofs are leaking)

"it's no fun/being an illegal alien!"

Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 27 April 2004 02:38 (twenty years ago) link

three years pass...

holy shit new modern drummer has FOURTEEN PHIL COLLINS BEATS

cutty, Friday, 24 August 2007 00:53 (sixteen years ago) link

"He's totally punk rock, he's got on sneakers and a suit! It's crazy!"

zaxxon25, Friday, 24 August 2007 12:33 (sixteen years ago) link

per the Miami Vice argument upthread, Phil actually had a song on the Miami Vice 2 sdtrk, one of his best solo songs, 'Take Me Home.' fcking great tune.

the table is the table, Friday, 24 August 2007 14:01 (sixteen years ago) link

do you still subscribe to modern drummy, cutty

Jordan, Friday, 24 August 2007 14:05 (sixteen years ago) link

Phil is an Honorary Negro. That's all the justification he needs.

The Reverend, Friday, 24 August 2007 18:00 (sixteen years ago) link

four months pass...

I hate myself for reviving this thing TWICE, but I just listened to Hello I Must Be Going, and he can do the untrustworthy-cad-narrator as well as Randy Newman. Not all the time, but when he's on. "Like China" is probably the smartest song ever about defloweration. "Don't Let Him Steal Your Heart Away" is probably bad advice.

Also, my wife learned in her master's percussion methods class that Phil has an official cadence named after him. You know what it sounds like. DA-dum!, DA-dum!, DA-dum!, DA-dum!, dum-dum ("I can feel it coming in the air tonight...."). It's also in "Thru These Walls" and probably a ton of other shit.

dr. phil, Monday, 14 January 2008 16:42 (sixteen years ago) link

Not that Phil needs any more defending, but: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy52yueBX_s

rogermexico., Monday, 14 January 2008 17:08 (sixteen years ago) link

Har!

dr. phil, Monday, 14 January 2008 17:24 (sixteen years ago) link

Has no one noted what a brilliant 'video actor' Phil Collins is? Not every artist puts their *all* into their visual performance (nevermind exact proper lip-synching) as Phil Collins does. Like, in the video for 'Mama', he literally looks like he's going mad with rage, hatred and desire, and you really believe it, you can't take your eyes off him

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 14 January 2008 17:31 (sixteen years ago) link

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...there's a weird subgenre of music like this, all the prog dudes really embraced the 80s, like the 80s yes albums, and asia, stuff like that...maybe rush's 80s albums like signals and grace under pressure have that same vibe (tho rush wasn't really prog exactly)

M@tt He1ges0n, Monday, 14 January 2008 17:37 (sixteen years ago) link

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QZOc-DbE5ko

Lolpez, Monday, 14 January 2008 18:57 (sixteen years ago) link

"the "gangsta" way he dealt with his wife's affair with his decorator (ie, an ultra-spiteful appearance on TOTP with a tin of paint on the piano)."

anyone have a youtube of this?

r1o natsume, Monday, 14 January 2008 19:03 (sixteen years ago) link

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.

Geir Hongro, Monday, 14 January 2008 19:59 (sixteen years ago) link

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.

Patrick South, Monday, 14 January 2008 20:29 (sixteen years ago) link

All Rush from '78-82

Bill Magill, Monday, 14 January 2008 20:31 (sixteen years ago) link

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.

dr. phil, Monday, 14 January 2008 21:36 (sixteen years ago) link

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.

The Reverend, Tuesday, 15 January 2008 07:46 (sixteen years ago) link

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

sonderangerbot, Tuesday, 15 January 2008 16:15 (sixteen years ago) link

Defend Phil Collins

No.

Bo Jackson Overdrive, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 03:42 (sixteen years ago) link

never ban Bo Jackson Overdrive

The Reverend, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 03:52 (sixteen years ago) link

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

Autumn Almanac, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 03:56 (sixteen years ago) link


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