Your favorite PHIL COLLINS studio album

I always find it best to vote instinctively rather than ponder over the choices. So I immediately went for Face Value and Both Sides but really I find a level of consistent brilliance and invention on all the albums right up to and including Dance Into The Light (Testify didn't register with me and still fails to while Going Back, whilst respectable enough, will never replace the original versions of those songs for me.

So, why Face Value and Both Sides? Well, his debut album just bristles with enthusiasm and spontaneity. The strength of Phil's material is in its immediacy (his songs don't hang around waiting to be liked, as one critic put it) and his ability to capture magic in a bottle is second-to-none. He doesn't overwork the material, he uses his demos and gets the very best session player onboard to replicate what he's recorded on his own. On Face Value, he has Ravi Shankar, Eric Clapton, John Giblin, The Phenix [sic] Horns, Alphonso Johnson, Daryl Stuermer and Stephen Bishop on hand to bring his demos to life. And how!

Face Value remains his most satisfyingly diverse collection of songs, which is why it's in my top two.

Now, we come to Both Sides. Phew, this is a difficult listen! I don't mean that in the same way that Metal Machine Music is a difficult listen or Trout Mask Replica is a difficult listen. The music on Both Sides is as beautifully constructed as anything he's arranged before. But the lyrics really plumb the emotional depths of a man in misery. Torn between two lovers, he knows that ultimately happiness can be found with neither of them and he lays out his feelings on this album in a brutally honest way. Musically, this album is his greatest achievement. And he pulls it all off with some very convincing sounds on the emulator.

Both Sides is as close to perfection as he's ever got but it's a far from cheery listen.

Hello.... & Both Sides for me

Hello and Face Value. But Seriously would be third.

I would like Both Sides a lot more, if it had been recorded with a complete band. As Phil played all instruments, the overall sound of the album is a bit poor.

Quote from slowdancer

Hello and Face Value. But Seriously would be third.

I would like Both Sides a lot more, if it had been recorded with a complete band. As Phil played all instruments, the overall sound of the album is a bit poor.

It sounds like a very well polished bunch of demos, doubtless the intent. I understand your reasons for not liking it; I think this was the album that actively divided the fanbase. For me, that was a good thing; the previous songs were so well produced, even the more diverse stuff sounded radio friendly. With Both Sides, he was more concerned with the emotion of the songs than how professionally produced they were, which is why they only had minor touch ups in the studio.

No Jacket Required and But Seriously.

But Face Value and Hello could be switched out for But Seriously at any time.

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On Face Value, he has Ravi Shankar, Eric Clapton, John Giblin, The Phenix [sic] Horns

Actually the "Shankar" who appears on FACE VALUE is a different person from Ravi Shankar:

Shankar on Wikipedia

"Face Value" and "Hello I Must Be Going" for me - I really wish I had seen him on his tour with the "Hot Tub Club" (a la, the Perkins Palace show). I like about half of "No Jacket Required" too (namely, the album minus the singles - I'll keep "Take Me Home" though and include "We Said Hello Goodbye" too).

The next two are good, but "Phil-Collins-saturation" had taken over the planet by then. So, I'd gone off Phil's solo stuff a bit then.

DITL and "Testify" make me utter the opening of "Dance on a Volcano" - "Holy Mother Of God..." (When I first heard DITL, I said out loud, "You left Genesis to make this?!?!")

And, I like "Going Back" - it's cute and unpretentious.

Any of the first five on any given day, and there's plenty to like about DITL as well, but not quite as much as the others. I voted for Face Value and Both Sides though.

Face Value & Hello, I Must Be Going!

Am I the only person who thinks it's vaguely possible to rank Phil's studio albums from best to worst int the order they were released? How many artists could you make such a dubious claim for? It's a bit simplistic though, because I always have trouble with NJR & BS. Those two are pretty much level with each other but when it comes down to it I go with NJR because of Take Me Home.

Regarding the 'brutal honesty' of Both Sides in my view it was much bleaker & more honest on the first two albums.

Quote from FeelItComing

Face Value & Hello, I Must Be Going!

Am I the only person who thinks it's vaguely possible to rank Phil's studio albums from best to worst int the order they were released? How many artists could you make such a dubious claim for? It's a bit simplistic though, because I always have trouble with NJR & BS. Those two are pretty much level with each other but when it comes down to it I go with NJR because of Take Me Home.

Regarding the 'brutal honesty' of Both Sides in my view it was much bleaker & more honest on the first two albums.

We are like the exact opposite But I have a huge fondness for the music of that peak shoulder pad era.

Quote from genesis1964

Hello.... & Both Sides for me

Same, but I like Both Sides best.

No Jacket Required.

I love every song on it and this album can always put me in a good mood.

Quote from FeelItComing

Am I the only person who thinks it's vaguely possible to rank Phil's studio albums from best to worst int the order they were released? How many artists could you make such a dubious claim for? It's a bit simplistic though, because I always have trouble with NJR & BS. Those two are pretty much level with each other but when it comes down to it I go with NJR because of Take Me Home.

Regarding the 'brutal honesty' of Both Sides in my view it was much bleaker & more honest on the first two albums.

Every song on Both Sides is about something in Phil's personal life. You cannot say the same about Behind The Lines, The Roof Is Leaking, Droned, Hand In Hand, Tomorrow Never Knows, Like China, Don't Let Him Steal Your Heart Away, Thru These Walls and The Westside. Even In The Air Tonight is not specifically about anything.

And neither Face Value or Hello I Must Be Going are especially bleak. Songs such as I Missed Again, Thunder And Lightning and I'm Not Moving for example have quite an up feel about them. As Phil put it "I'm down but I'm getting up".

Now take pretty much any song from Both Sides. There's very little that's radio friendly about that album. It's reflective and inward looking as opposed to being another bid for a hit in the charts.

Of course you're entitled to your opinion. You can say black is white if you want to see the world that way. But you directly called my quote into question so I'm justified in responding.

Oh, and yes there are plenty of artists whose work has declined since they started. Paul McCartney comes immediately to mind. Phil Collins doesn't.

Quote from Nienna

No Jacket Required.

I love every song on it and this album can always put me in a good mood.

I'm just working on an edit of the album to listen to in the car (because there's no way I'm putting my prized digibook in the car). I'm working with John Potoker's remixes from the 12ers album, taking the bits I like and editing them into the album tracks (I think John Potoker did some excellent work both with Phil's stuff and the Genesis singles from Invisible Touch). In addition, I've found a place on the album for Easy Lover (again, using parts of the John Potoker remix), Separate Lives, I Like The Way (his Michael Jackson-esque B-side) and There's Something Going On (the song he did with Frida. Although it's closer in time to Hello I Must Be Going, the song has a driving, dance feel to it that fits better on No Jacket Required.).

And I agree, No Jacket is great at lifting one's spirits.

Quote from StillCan'tDance

Every song on Both Sides is about something in Phil's personal life.

We Wait And We Wonder?

Face Value is easily my favourite. I chose Tarzan as my second; I love the songs on that and it brings me back to my childhood. But No Jacket Required and Hello could just as easily have had my second vote.

Quote from StillCan'tDance

Every song on Both Sides is about something in Phil's personal life. You cannot say the same about Behind The Lines, The Roof Is Leaking, Droned, Hand In Hand, Tomorrow Never Knows, Like China, Don't Let Him Steal Your Heart Away, Thru These Walls and The Westside. Even In The Air Tonight is not specifically about anything.

And neither Face Value or Hello I Must Be Going are especially bleak. Songs such as I Missed Again, Thunder And Lightning and I'm Not Moving for example have quite an up feel about them. As Phil put it "I'm down but I'm getting up".

Now take pretty much any song from Both Sides. There's very little that's radio friendly about that album. It's reflective and inward looking as opposed to being another bid for a hit in the charts.

Of course you're entitled to your opinion. You can say black is white if you want to see the world that way. But you directly called my quote into question so I'm justified in responding.

Oh, and yes there are plenty of artists whose work has declined since they started. Paul McCartney comes immediately to mind. Phil Collins doesn't.

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Well, OK, we will have to agree to disagree, I'm afraid. In my view just because songs are about someone's personal life doesn't make them intrinsically better than other songs. In any case you deliberately omitted the songs from HIMBG which are bleak, which I talked about in another thread - Thru These Walls (even if that isn't about his own life) I Don't Care Anymore , Do You Know, Do You Care & Why Can't It Wait 'Til Morning. The songs you mention from FV may be uptempo, but the subject matter is dark.

As far as declining quality, this is my opinion. I don't like the later albums as much as I like the earlier ones. I did say it was a dubious claim.

Quote from A Whorish Ant

We Wait And We Wonder?

Ah..apart from that one!

Quote from FeelItComing

Well, OK, we will have to agree to disagree, I'm afraid. In my view just because songs are about someone's personal life doesn't make them intrinsically better than other songs. In any case you deliberately omitted the songs from HIMBG which are bleak, which I talked about in another thread - Thru These Walls (even if that isn't about his own life) I Don't Care Anymore , Do You Know, Do You Care & Why Can't It Wait 'Til Morning. The songs you mention from FV may be uptempo, but the subject matter is dark.

As far as declining quality, this is my opinion. I don't like the later albums as much as I like the earlier ones. I did say it was a dubious claim.

Hahah, yes I "deliberately omitted" those songs because you're right and I'm wrong