Phil Collins documentary (YouTube)

Cafe Society
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If you are a fan of Phil Collins the YouTube channel Drumeo just put out a 2-hour documentary on him.

It covers pretty much everything he did. The quality is excellent (surprised it is on YouTube and not PBS).

Gotta say II am a bit shocked at Phil’s age. I know he was older than me but I grew up on his music (others too but Collins figured big in there).

There is not so much music…it is mostly them speaking with Collins about what was happening as he went as well as other musicians talking about him.

Enjoy! (again, 2-hours)

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I don’t own a single Genesis album, I’m a casual fan I guess, but Collins’ music has been a part of life for as long as I can remember. A few of my personal favorites includes “Land of Confusion,” “Can’t Dance,” and “That’s All,” but I’m almost always happy to hear him on the radio. With one exception. For years I would turn the radio to another station whenever “In the Air Tonight” started. I had heard that song one too many times and placed a five or six year embargo on it. Relations between the nations of Odesio and Collinsburg have been relatively normal for the last 25 years or so.

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My surprise was at how influential he was. I figured he was just some prog rock guy. Better than most but still…not someone who really influenced other musicians more than a little bit. It seems he had a much larger impact than I knew (deservedly so). I won’t say he was the best ever but his music matters.

Although some prog fans say Collins ruined it. If anyone wants to have that discussion go for it. I’m not sure I have a firm opinion on that.

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One of the most interesting things to me as a Texan about Collins is that this Englishman has a passionate interest in the Battle of the Alamo. He donated his collection of hundreds of artefacts from the battle to the custodians of the Alamo for preservation.

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TIL

Seems weird an Englishman would be so fond of the Alamo but why not? Kinda cool. Even better he has donated so much.

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Phil got hooked on the Alamo stuff watching movies and TV growing up.

I’m not sure what the status is today but there were some serious questions regarding the provenance of many of the items in his collection. The book Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth talks about the controversy in some detail.

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There are certainly plenty of Americans who have a thing for British history and literature. I’ll be dead in the cold, cold ground before someone tells me that upstart Norman invader was the true king of England. When I worked at a military museum, we had a frequent visitor from India who was crazy about the Civil War. Dude at that stuff up and when friends and relatives visited he’d bring them to the museum. You never know what might catch someone’s fancy.

I don’t know if anyone can have a career that’s so successful without influencing others. He was churning out so many hits in the 70s, 80s, and 90s.

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I recall taking a date to a Genesis concert in 1986, and she remarked that she didn’t know the group or any of their songs, but we had great seats, and she enjoyed the pre-show atmosphere. Then Phil Collins stepped out, and she went totally nuts. Yes, I dated a ding bat or two. :stuck_out_tongue: I had the time of my life that night.

Phil was everywhere in the 80s, quite the entertainer. Got mad respect for him, must watch the documentary.

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Is “Mama” on your list of overplayed Genesis?

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I’ve always liked Genesis in all of their forms. (Check my user name and avatar.) I prefer the music they made in the 70s, but they made some fine pop music in the 80s.

If Genesis was “ruined,” Collins had 1/3 of the responsibility.

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He was a great drummer, but I always thought he got a bit lucky as a vocalist.

IMHO at least, while he can sing in tune and has decent diction, he has an only adequate voice.
If you listen closely you can tell that his vocals are usually processed very heavily.

Can’t blame him: I’d have grabbed the opportunity if it had come my way…

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How would you compare him to Peter Gabriel? (They seem similar to me)

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I didn’t remember that song at all.

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:slight_smile:
quote=“Whack-a-Mole, post:12, topic:1011838, full:true”]
How would you compare him to Peter Gabriel? (They seem similar to me)
[/quote]

That’s an interesting question, I hadn’t really thought about it.

They are obviously both ‘OK’ singers…after all they have sold millions more records than I ever will…:slight_smile:

But neither is what I would call a great singer? I’ll have to listen to some of their work as an A-B comparison, I guess…

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In basic terms I would classify Gabriel’s body of work as being more “prog” and Collins more “pop” (his stint with Brand X being an exception)

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Thanks for the link @Whack-a-Mole. I’ve been waiting for our network engineers to troubleshoot a VPN connection issue at work, so (luckily?) I had a couple of hours to kill this morning.

I’m a huge Genesis fan, though I kind of got tired of them in the mid-80s with Phil Collins’ overexposure. I thought it was a good documentary, although I’m not sure they needed to spend 15 minutes on the “In The Air Tonight” drum fill. And I’m a little disappointed that there were no interviews with Mike, Tony, Pete, or Steve. Oh well.

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Argh. The gated reverb retold yet again. It was nice that Peter and Phil were playing / toying around together. in 1980 I reckon the first song it was used on was ‘Intruder’ from PG’s “melt” album.

I recall going up to Syracuse from NYC. My brother was a college DJ (WAER) and was flipping through the new arrivals. When I saw Phil’s face on one, I said "Oh, there’s a song on that which is getting lots of airplay in NYC. I looked at the back cover, “Yeah this one, 'In the Air Tonight. Starts off slow then Phil starts beating the shit out of his drum-kit.”

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I liked him better after Genesis broke up. I though his “Can’t Hurry Love” video was kind of his breakout.

I heard him interviewed a couple of months ago and he seemed a bit resentful that he was the ‘short, fat bald guy’ (his words) in a sea of rock gods.

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No joke, his Tarzan music was amazing.

Funny thing is, Disney rehired him for Brother Bear and he was excited to work with them again…only to find out they did not want him to sing most of the songs on Brother Bear. Then again, they let him co-write the entire score to the movie, so it worked out OK. It isn’t as good, though.

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Lots of photos of drum kits.

Drummers who sing? Phil rarely did both at once yet I’ve seen Don Henley do both.

Two drummers? Calling Billy Kreutzman and Mickey Hart who improved every show. Butch Trucks and Jaimoe? Okay they don’t sing. I’ve seen Genesis four times and always looked forward to Los Endos (once also Duke’s Travels) with Chester Thompson. Alas, the last time was the second to last show at London 02 and it was just his son. Last Domino tour, indeed. And delayed three times from 2020.

It was notable they played “Duchess” for the first time since the 80’s, a song about a singer who’s best times are long past.

Phil was sitting on a chair for that O2 show and it was profoundly sad. I went with my wife who knows how much I like Genesis (maybe having “Selling England By The Pound” framed on the wall helps) and tried to lower expectations.

We had watched some of the London Lyceum show from the Duke tour where Phil is a force of nature. Dunno what to make of how dilated his pupils were – and he was doing his cymbal dance and if there was a minute without vocals he was running up to be behind his kit.

My brother gave me “Duke” the year it came out: “Behind the lines” then later two minute plus intro to “Turn it on again” : “All I need is a TV show. Thaaat and the radio”

Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford wrote almost everything, so yes their absence was notable. And we’re going to talk about the gated reverb and no Peter Gabriel?

So it was like: “Here’s my documentary about Jerry Garcia” and Bobby, Phil, Billy or Mickey do not say a word.”

I laughed at how Phil almost equivocates his solo “Behind the lines” in the same way Vanilla Ice says he was not really sampling Queen/Bowie in “Under Pressure”

Let’s talk about Robert Plant and Led Zep, yet nothing about his Live Aid / Concorde flight and how – I have heard how in Philly they had just shown Queen’s show in Wembley on the screens and Plant & Page knew the act they’d be following. No mention? C’mon, blame it on the other drummer Tony Thompson (as he has done) or Plant sucking (as both he and Jimmy Page have) or that it was just profoundly sad all around.

And dammit, show at least a clip of any of the Lyceum shows. I was too young and too far away to see them, yet that is how I want to remember him.