Phil Collins - Time for re-evaluation?

[bouncer_the_dog]

Do you like Phil Collins? I've been a big Genesis fan ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke. Before that, I really didn't understand any of their work. Too artsy, too intellectual. It was on Duke where Phil Collins' presence became more apparent. I think Invisible Touch was the group's undisputed masterpiece. It's an epic meditation on intangibility. At the same time, it deepens and enriches the meaning of the preceding three albums. Christy, take off your robe. Listen to the brilliant ensemble playing of Banks, Collins and Rutherford. You can practically hear every nuance of every instrument. Sabrina, remove your dress. In terms of lyrical craftsmanship, the sheer songwriting, this album hits a new peak of professionalism. Sabrina, why don't you, uh, dance a little. Take the lyrics to Land of Confusion. In this song, Phil Collins addresses the problems of abusive political authority. In Too Deep is the most moving pop song of the 1980s, about monogamy and commitment. The song is extremely uplifting. Their lyrics are as positive and affirmative as anything I've heard in rock. Christy, get down on your knees so Sabrina can see your asshole. Phil Collins' solo career seems to be more commercial and therefore more satisfying, in a narrower way. Especially songs like In the Air Tonight and Against All Odds. Sabrina, don't just stare at it, eat it. But I also think Phil Collins works best within the confines of the group, than as a solo artist, and I stress the word artist. This is Sussudio, a great, great song, a personal favorite.

 

[butchersapron]

that song was amazing with the builders that they made on computers

Yet to be matched for CGI

 

[isitme]

Yet to be matched for CGI

you just can't buy quality

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

my mate's dad

 

[D]

One of my favorite radio programs, in fact, my most favorite one, This American Life - http://thislife.org/ - did an episode not too long ago about breakups. One of the segments was about a woman - one of the show's producers - who had split with her boyfriend and wanted to write a breakup song. So she called Phil Collins for advice and he answered.

Aha! Found the episode.

Listen to it here.

 

[Vintage Paw]

I like Phil Collins.

 

[Detroit City]

I like Phil Collins.

so do i...but that doesn't necessarily mean i listen to him anymore

 

[_pH_]

I like Phil Collins.

you're a wrong'un too then VP

 

[DJWrongspeed]

At least when he was in the Genesis prog years , the hair and falsetto seemed to work > Carpet Crawlers

'In the air tonight' is obviously a good song but then it does seem to have gone downhill badly from there.

 

[Hi-ASL]

'Good' in what recently-invented sense?

 

[Yossarian]

He doesn't need to be evaluated, he needs to be eviscerated.

 

[Hi-ASL]

Or, failing that, evaporated.

 

[mauvais]

Inevitable, but hey...

If we're allowed that, I'm having this:

 

[rekil]

What with the times being what they are and everything, I can't tell who is being "4 real" here.

 

[Sunspots]

If we're allowed that, I'm having this:

Good call. (-I'd forgotten about the Collins connection with that one!)

 

[rekil]

Chris Rea donated 25000 pounds to the tory party apparently. Has Collins ever put his money where his mouth is?

 

[Bakunin]

Chris Rea donated 25000 pounds to the tory party apparently. Has Collins ever put his money where his mouth is?

I liked Chris Rea until you wrote that.

 

[Awesome Wells]

Phil Collins was a pretty good drummer.

 

[Kaka Tim]

His music is bland, corporate orientated shit.
His politics are shit.
He comes accross as a totally arrogant twat.

Not much left to like or re-evaluate after that.

 

[ouchmonkey]

Chris Rea donated 25000 pounds to the tory party apparently. Has Collins ever put his money where his mouth is?

In the sense of buying homes abroad and threatening to leave the country (as if we should care) if a labour government was elected, then yes.

As a bonus he had a big hit with a song bemoaning homelessness while buying all his superflous extra homes.

he's such an arse.

 

[lights.out.london]

is he really as bad as you think he is?

Yes.

 

[TitanSound]

Phil Collins was a pretty good drummer.

IS MAN, IS!!

That's the funniest conversation I have with people who knew he was a drummer before taking up role as frontman/songwriter. When did he stop being a good drummer? He never did so don't use the past tense

I actually owe my taking up the drums to Phil Collins and Chester Thompson. My dad was a big Genesis fan and I saw their drum duet at Knebworth in '91. Plus Collins played on a few of the older songs. For his time he was an incredibly talented player, a good prog drummer thinking outside the box.

So people can what they like about his songs, politics or whatever. He is awesome in my eyes as he started me off doing something I fucking love doing

 

[kyser_soze]

All that 80s AORy stuff is like an unpleasant tickling.

You're listening to music, which should be pleasurable, you're listening to musicians with a reasonable level of talent, something else that should be pleasurable.

But it isn't. It's like someone doing bad tickling on you, the kind that makes you hurt, not laugh. The kind you really, really want to stop.

That's what Phil Collins is like for me. He needs to go away.

 

[albionism]

In the sense of buying homes abroad and threatening to leave the country (as if we should care) if a labour government was elected, then yes.

As a bonus he had a big hit with a song bemoaning homelessness while buying all his superflous extra homes.

he's such an arse.

This

 

[albionism]

Anyone remember that sketch from Alexi Sayle which was about the injustices of life and started with the line " Jimi Hendrix, dead.....Phil Collins ALIVE!"

 

[albionism]

Jimi Hendrix - Dead....
Jimi Hendrix - dead. Phil Collins - alive. Ginger Rogers - dead. Sue Pollard - alive. Francis Bacon - dead. That bloke out of Kula Shaker - alive. Death be not proud - who wrote that? That's right, it was John Dunne. He of course has snuffed it, whereas Sir Andrew Lloyd Stinking Sir Bloody Webber is still stinking bloody with us! Shakespeare - dead. The wankers who wrote 'Three lions on a shirt! Football's cummin 'ome!' - still alive. Bill Shankley - dead. Graham Taylor - alive. Karen Carpenter - dead. The carpenter who fucked up my bleeding kitchen! Alive! It's as if God has developed a nasty mean streak. Anybody the least bit decent and wallop! Up they go! And what are we left with? The shite - that's what! I'll give you some more examples - bloke down the pub who said he'd do my accounts and introduce me to some powerful people in American television - dead. Bloke down the pub, 120 years old, spits in his beer, tells me about the great war - doesn't sound so bleedin great to me - he's still alive. Bloke down the pub owes me 80 quid - dead. Bloke down the pub who says he's going to rearrange my testicles if I don't find the electric hedge trimmers that he lent me six months ago - alive, alive, cockles and muscles bleedin o! Bill Hicks, John Lennon, Orson Welles - dead. Michael Bolton... Michael bleeding Bolton - alive. Roger Whittaker... Roger leaveitalone bleeding stinky poxy Durham Town Whittaker still bleeding alive! I'll give you another example - bloke down the pub, he said to me 'Charlie,' cos he's always too pissed to remember my bleeding name, he said 'Charlie, life is like a double-decker bus. It's red, it's got an upstairs and a downstairs. Sometimes there's a conductor, but these days usually just a driver.' And yes, you've guessed it - he's still alive, the twat! I mean if you're mean, if you're selfish, if you've got no bleeding talent you can do what you like forever. But if you're the least bit good, if you're the least bit talented then...... No. It's alright. I'm shite!

 

[Nanker Phelge]

I had a neighbour who played Phil Collins' Another Day in Paradise non-stop, morning til night, at full blast - after six months I went after the cunt with a hammer, and got nicked.

He wasn't hurt, but only because I couldn't get beyond his security door.

Plod let me off after I explained the circumstances, and agreed to pay for any damages to the door/windows that I attacked.

They also warned him against playing anymore Phil Collins.

Phil Collins is shit!

 

[rekil]

In the sense of buying homes abroad and threatening to leave the country (as if we should care) if a labour government was elected, then yes.

As a bonus he had a big hit with a song bemoaning homelessness while buying all his superflous extra homes.

he's such an arse.

That's just regular twatcraft though. I'm talking about going above and beyond the call of duty as Rea has done.

 

[D'wards]

8 years on from op, and now the man is on the comeback trail, despite looking awful and the fact his voice is all but gone - is it time for a re-re-evaluation?

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

While I don't like his music, he's not as shit as all that, and oddly I appear to own five of his singles. More than prince or Madonna.