I just figured I’d give the bugger his own thread rather than various observations spread over several posts.
I never realized he was so short until today. 5’6"?? That’s shorter than Dustin Pedroia.
I saw he, Tony Banks, and Mike Rutherford in a clip this month promoting their documentary. Tony and Mike look great. I wish I could say the same for Phil.
It was noted in the music threads how ubiquitous Phil was in having number one songs with Against All Odds and Separate Lives…those two songs are actually quite good, even though “Against All Odds” is a reject song from Face Values
Speaking of which his first two albums are great…and then Suissudio happened.
There is a God because Phil Collins is suffering and can’t play?
Harsh and not needed.
I get it - past his first solo album and moving Genesis towards pop with Invisible Touch, doing Tarzan, etc. - he totally went commercial. As a musician, I say: more power to him if it worked for him. Not my taste, but also not my call.
Quincy Jones has 100% jazz cred - grew up playing trumpet and apprenticing with legend Clark Terry - and then produced the ultimate commercial album, Thriller. So?
I’m only 38 so maybe I don’t remember Phil Collins in his earliest days but do people really look down on his output at this point? I think the Tarzan sound track is by far the best Disney soundtrack. The composition is outstanding. As far as Genesis goes I don’t get it. Were they some niche underground alternative band and then showed up with Land of Confusion?
Well, in the 1970s, Genesis was led by Peter Gabriel. They had a loyal cult audience, and did a lot of loooong organ-heavy songs about the Meaning of Life.
By the late Seventies, Gabriel was gone, and Phil was promoted to lead singer. The remaining members decided that the art-rock movement was petering out and that the band needed shorter, more pop-oriented songs. Phil took most of the blame for that, but if you listen to Mike + the Mechanics, you realize that Mike (and probably Tony) fully AGREED with Phil that the band needed to be less pompous, less long-winded, and more radio-friendly.
Obviously, a lot of their older fans weren’t pleased. If you LIKE “Supper’s Ready,” then “Misunderstanding” won’t be your cup of tea, and you probably curse Phil for the band heading in that direction.
But I think Phil, Mike and Tony were just being realistic. Anyway, given a choice between playing “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” for 2,000 nerdy male fans (like me) and playing “Invisible Touch” for 20,000 people (more than half of them girls!), what would YOU do?
I don’t get the hate. Very good songwriter, very good singer for pop and ballads.
At worst, he was dorky and quaint in a very non-rock-star kind of way. Even at the height of his stardom, he seemed like a man who went to bed at 9. Phil Collins is the kind of man who has a second-favorite pair of slippers. He’s definitely a man uniquely suited for scoring Disney animated films.
Ah, good summary. I completely forgot that Gabriel, Genesis and Mike and the Mechanics were tied together like that. I used to know that but haven’t thought about it in so long that I forgot. I guess I can see how the early Genesis fans would rebel against the Phil era then.
Say what you like about Phil’s treacly pop-song era, he’s one of the most talented and underrated rock drummers of all time. A big reason why Calling All Stations sucked as much as it did wasn’t because of the new singer (Ray Wilson, who actually wasn’t half bad) but because of the studio scabs hired to replace Phil on drums. Totally killed the Genesis sound.
I have nothing against Phil Collins - he has a distinctive voice and he’s decent as far as '80s New Wave pop singers go, and I’m not ashamed to say I’ve been known to rock out to Invisible Touch or Can’t Hurry Love or even In The Air Tonight.
That being said, I can’t actually visualize him in my mind without instead thinking of his portrayal on South Park.
Remember that Trey Parker and Matt Stone lost the Oscar for Best Song to Phil Collins one year. They’ve held a semi-facetious grudge against Phil ever since.
I liked his solo album Both Sides. The rest is mainly crap, with the occasional good song in there just to show he has talent. The Tarzan soundtrack was also decent, but not that amazing.