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"...Another Day In Paradise..."
In March 2023 - it's been over 42 years since I played some of these albums and I have to say - what with the 2015 and 2016 Abbey Road Remasters – the first four from the Eighties - "Face Value" (February 1981), "Hello, I Must Be Going!" (November 1982), "No Jacket Required" (February 1985) and "...But Seriously" (November 1989) stand up so well – especially his account-opener, the third and the fourth mega-seller "...But Seriously" that as I recall pushed over 3-millions sales in the UK alone.
All four along with another quad from his later career up to 2010 have been gathered together in this November 2017 not-much-frills but great-value-for-money gather-em-all-up 8-disc Box Set from the mighty trio of Atlantic, Warners and Rhino. Each features 2015 and 2016 Remasters done by the much respected Audio Engineers NICK DAVIS and MIKE SHOWELL at Abbey Road Studios and come in oversized gatefold card sleeves with updated facial artwork (no booklets or overall inlay either). Lot to get serious about - to the details of the first four...
UK released November 2017 - "Take A Look At Me Now...The Complete Remastered Studio Albums" by PHIL COLLINS on Atlantic/Warners/Rhino 0603497865192 (Barcode 0603497865192) is an 8CD Box Set offering 2015 Remasters of his Studio albums between 1981 and 2010. They play out as follows...
CD1 (47:55 minutes):
2015 Remaster by Nick Davis, Mastered Mike Showell at Abbey Road
1. In The Air Tonight [Side 1]
2. This Must Be Love
3. Behind The Lines
4. The Roof Is Leaking
5. Droned
6. Hand In Hand
7. I Missed Again [Side 2]
8. You Know What I Mean
9. Thunder And Lightning
10. I'm Not Moving
11. If Leaving Me Is Easy
12. Tomorrow Never Knows
13. Over The Rainbow
Tracks 1 to 13 are the debut solo album "Face Value" – released February 1981 in the UK on Virgin Records V 2185 and on Atlantic Records SD 16029. Produced by PHIL COLLINS and HUGH PADGHAM – it peaked at No.1 in the UK and No.7 in the USA
CD2 (45:56 minutes):
2015 Remaster by Nick Davis, Mastered Mike Showell at Abbey Road
1. I Don't Care Anymore [Side 1]
2. I Cannot Believe It's True
3. Like China
4. Do You Know, Do You Care?
5. You Can't Hurry Love
6. It Don't Matter To Me [Side 2]
7. Thru These Walls
8. Don't Let Him Steal Your Heart Away
9. The West Side
10. Why Can't It Wait 'Til Morning
Tracks 1 to 10 are his second solo album "Hello, I Must Be Going?" – released November 1982 in the UK on Virgin Records V 2252 and in the USA on Atlantic 7 80035-1. Produced by PHIL COLLINS and HUGH PADGHAM – it peaked at No.2 in the UK and No.8 in the USA (title is a Marx Brothers quote from the Movie Animal Crackers)
CD3 (50:52 minutes):
2016 Remaster by Nick Davis, Mastered Mike Showell at Abbey Road
1. Sussudio [Side 1]
2. Only You Know And I Know
3. Long Long Way To Go
4. I Don't Want To Know
5. One More Night
6. Don't Lose My Number [Side 2]
7. Who Said I Would
8. Doesn't Anybody Stay Together Anymore
9. Inside Out
10. Take Me Home
11. We Said Hello Goodbye
Tracks 1 to 11 are his third solo album "No Jacket Required" – released January 1985 in the UK on Virgin Records V 2345 (LP) and VCD 2345 (CD) and in the USA on Atlantic Records 7 81240-1 (LP) and 7 812400-2 (CD). Produced by PHIL COLLINS and HUGH PADGHAM – it peaked at No.1 in the UK and No.1 in the USA
CD4 (59:49 minutes):
2016 Remaster by Nick Davis, Mastered Mike Showell at Abbey Road
1. Hang In Long Enough [Side 1]
2. That's Just The Way It Is
3. Do You Remember?
4. Something Happened On The Way To Heaven
5. Colours
6. I Wish It Would Rain Down
7. Another Day In Paradise
8. Heat On The Street
9. All Of My Life
10. Saturday Night And Sunday Morning
11. Father To Son
12. Find A Way To My Heart
Tracks 1 to 12 are the CD album for "...But Seriously" – released November 1989 in the UK on Virgin CDV 2620 and Atlantic 82050-2 in the USA. Produced by PHIL COLLINS and HUGH PADGHAM – it peaked at No.1 in both the UK and USA. As was customary with releases in the middle to late Eighties because of the formats extended playing time capabilities over vinyl – the CD variant offered Two Bonus Tracks - "Heat On The Street" and "Saturday Night And Sunday Morning". The 10-track LP in this case on Virgin V 2620 also had a radically altered track line-up. To sequence the LP...
Side 1: Tracks 1, 2, 12, 5 and 11
Side 2: Tracks 7, 9, 4, 3 and 6
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The lack of annotation robs you of useful info – especially when it comes to the brilliant musicians he regularly used as his studio band (Daryl Stuermer later with Genesis and Dominic Miller of Sting’s band on Guitars - Leland Sklar, Nathan East and Pino Palladino on Basses) alongside those tasty guest spots - Helen Terry of Pink Floyd’s The Great Gig In The Sky fame, Sting, Peter Gabriel, David Crosby, Stephen Bishop, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Shankar, Earth Wind & Fire and The Phoenix Horns, Arif Mardin String Arrangements – you get the picture.
For instance as Track 12 on the debut "Face Value" fades out, it segues into a Hidden Acapella cover version of the famous Wizard Of Oz song "Over The Rainbow" – it only lasts for 20-seconds or so but is not credited on the LP. The rear sleeve artwork here also stays faithful to the original LP by not printing the Bonus Track at the end of Side 2 so that it appears that his cover of The Beatles Revolver track "Tomorrow Never Knows" finishes the LP. For these CD Remasters and Reissues, Collins has also changed the artwork to a face shot of him in older age rather the 1981, 1982 etc versions.
For your info – friend and pal to Collins, Stephen Bishop provides backing vocals for "This Must Be Love" on the debut and the gorgeous/painful "Do You Remember?" on the "...But Seriously", Eric Clapton plays guitar on the terminally sad "If Leaving Me Is Easy" on the debut and "I Wish it Would Rain Down" on platter number four, while the legendary Producer and Arranger to so many stars Arif Mardin does gorgeous Strings work on "If Leaving Me Is Easy" and especially the stunning "You Know What I Mean" when it just Collins and the cellos carrying the loneliness and hurt. Other big contributors include Shankar who would of course feature on so many 80ts albums by Peter Gabriel, Saxophone Solo from Ronnie Scott on "I Missed Again" and the horns of Earth, Wind And Fire. And there are others too.
The Phenix Horns and serious session Saxophonists Don Myrick and Gary Barnacle are all over the big breakthrough LP "No Jacket Required" in 1985 that hit the number one spot on both sides of the pond. "Take Me Home" on Side 2 of that album features a bevvy of backing vocals – Helen Terry, Phil, Peter Gabriel and Sting.
A box set like this allows you to dip in too - surprises come in the shape of the sparse but emotive "The Roof Is Leaking" on the feeling-for-his-place debut – a tale of a man with a wife expecting, kids cold and another bad winter on the way. Jo Partridge of The Kiki Dee Band puts in superb slide guitar work that puts a menace in the lyrics of a desperate man looking for light up ahead. Daryl Stuermer of Sweetbottom (who contributes subtle banjo plucks) would later become guitarist with Genesis for long stretches. Collins then stretches out musically with the brilliant hum/instrumental "Droned" – both Shankar and Stuermer making their instrument contributions stand out. The Arif Mardin strings on the heartbreak of "One More Night" – the start of his obsession with Soul and R&B covers of the Sixties and Seventies when he did The Supremes hit "You Can't Hurry Love" for the second LP "Hello, I Must Be Going!"
The Children From The Churches of Los Angeles provide the nah-nahs throughout the brass-funky gem that is the Side 1 closer "Hand In Hand" on the debut – an instrumental that is still so damn contemporary (someone plays this on the radio and you're gonna want know who it is and then by surprised by the name outcome). You can so hear how Phil Collins has the knack for a hit hook – it might not get there without words – but what a great listen forty-plus years down the road - the Remaster kicking as those fantastic E, W & F horns rock your living room.
Too much success seems to put a hex on some artists – the public's viewpoint easily forgetting the body of work. Wildly successful for much of that decade, he seemed to slide for everything after – at least in the eyes of the public. But this set only amplifies what I loved about Phil Collins songs – they hit the feet and the heart. There are so many returned moments of pleasure here that remind me of his uncanny knack with a melody and touching lyrics - always the strongest arrow in his hugely successful six-decade career from 1969 to 2023. Top stuff my son...
