There are many reasons I love Phil Collins. These reasons include but are not limited to:
1) “Easy Lover”, “Sussudio”, “Don’t Lose My Number”, “I Don’t Care Anymore” and “Illegal Alien”
2) The fact that a short, average looking guy can sell millions and millions of records.
3) He has a son that looks just like him (when he was younger)…and his son makes music AND likes dudes (and appears to be a guy’s guy…me likey!).
Aside from Prince (who didn’t really give me the time of day, probably because I wasn’t an attractive young lady), Phil Collins is the celebrity I was most excited to have the potential of meeting. I dragged my boss at the time to a taping for a VH-1 concert he was doing to promote the “Brother Bear” soundtrack and practically wet my pants when I got to shake his hand and tell him I was a big fan. He was quite polite and gracious AND he was shorter than me. Ha!!!
Phil apparently has a nerve condition which rendered him temporarily unable to drum, which BLOWS since it meant that Genesis was unable to perform at their recent Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame induction. However, his condition has not kept him out of the studio. He is putting the finishing touches on an album of covers. Phil has long been vocal about his love for R&B music, and this collection, entitled “Going Back”, will feature Phil singing many of his favorite soul hits. Many of the songs will be Motown covers, but I also noticed a Curtis Mayfield song in there. And he’s doing right by the material by inviting several of the legendary Funk Brothers (Motown’s in-house band) to perform on the album. However, I think I’m kinda sick of the whole covers album trend, and I can’t help but think of Rod Stewart’s very ill-advised (but commercially successful, so what do I know?) last decade or so of covers albums.
While it’s probably foolish to expect an album from Phil on the level of “Face Value” or “No Jacket Required”, his last studio effort, “Testify”, wasn’t a bad idea. While I’m glad he hasn’t let his injury get him down (he’s apparently well enough to be going back on tour now), I’ve gotta admit that the prospect of this covers album-no matter how noble in intention-kinda gives me the heebie-jeebies.
2 comments
Greg says:
Apr 22, 2010
I’ve built up a certain amount of respect for Phil Collins over the years. For a guy with a largely conservative pop fanbase, he was pretty damned eccentric. You’d never see a pop singer today record anything like “Mama” or “Land of Confusion.” Plus, he was a great musician, and I think he had a sizable influence over the sound of Peter Gabriel’s “Melt,” so I have to give him kudos for that alone. But you’re definitely right about there being an overabundance of shitty Motown covers. At the very least, I think this is the first one that the Funk Brothers have been involved with, so that has to count for something.
blerdwords says:
Apr 24, 2010
He’s an excellent musician and a very underrated vocalist. A lot of his/Genesis’s music from the late Seventies and early Eighties is really good.