Now that the dust has settled and the man himself has clarified what is going on, I decided to also chime in.
I first caught the news via The Onion through their man-in-the-street section, chuckled and figured, good riddance, Phil’s body of work for the last 20 years bored me to tears. Then more jibber jabber kept coming; hard to believe with all the 24-hour coverage of Charlie Sheen plus some little nuclear accident in Japan.
Leave it to Sound Opinions to reopen the story for me. The hosts mentioned Phil having a personal Web site too. Their brief discussion made me rethink my hasty dismissal.
During my formative musical years, he did have great material. How he squeezed it all in from 1980-1990 was astounding because a drug addiction would’ve surfaced by the mid Nineties. He did though because Genesis became a larger, more successful band while he juggled it with an impressive solo career.
Peter Gabriel’s departure did seem to leave Genesis in a bad spot but I think the remaining four members knew that the Prog Rock they were doing had run its course. Hell, even Peter was delving into new things from around the world before Paul Simon made it safe for Americans. Anyway, Genesis took the gamble with Phil becoming the new singer, something I recall they were reluctant to do since few bands did and it confused audiences. I guess they never paid much attention to the Eagles.
So as the Seventies ended, Genesis made the shift to mainstream AOR with Pop-friendly elements in “Follow You Follow Me,” a tune I still love. However, being an AM listener until late 1981 my introduction to them was “Turn It On” and “Misunderstanding” from Duke. Great demonstrations of Phil’s singing. Around the time I made the great leap forward to WDBR-FM (I had grown tired of AM’s poor reception and WCVS became AC, aka Wuss Rock) Abacab was released. This was the album which got me hooked at 13 and it remains their all killer no filler record. Plus I feel it bridges the band’s Prog Rock roots with the refined Power Pop they had perfected through producer Hugh Padgham (Police, Split Enz, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Julia Fordham and XTC). Other surprises occurred while I got into them. I learned that Phil was the drummer; they were right, it was a weird realization and I didn’t know jack about the Eagles then either. The bigger bombshell was hearing from a DJ about the original singer while introducing “Games Without Frontiers.”
One positive side effect from moving to Houston was the Classic Rock education I received through KLOL. This FM legend (killed around 2004) taught me the essentials on Genesis history while throwing in solo material from Peter, Phil and guitarist Mike Rutherford. The self-titled 1983 release was great but it was no Abacab. Its stronger memory for me was getting to see Genesis before we moved to India-no-place. Live shows were definitely Phil’s strength. He was funny, engaging and certainly the public face for Genesis. When they toured, the drums and bass were handled by people who usually were part of Phil’s solo act, namely guitarist Daryl Stuermer (a native from Milwaukee!). Phil would get behind his kit for key stuff: the extended jam on “Abacab” and a few faves from the Seventies. Little did I know how lucky I was. Genesis transformed into a crappy stadium act after this tour.
Phil’s solo material I have always been more ambivalent about. Face Value and Hello, I Must Be Going are decent. There’s the stronger AOR stuff which caters to the Genesis crowd who knew his name. It’s his third album when he lost me and this dislike spilled over to Genesis from then on. No Jacket Required has good songs but there was a Lowest-Common Denominator shift I sensed. Trust me, when you’re 16 and you hear your mother say how much she likes something by Phil Collins, something is amiss with your Rock heroes.
In Phil’s defense, he had a great sense of humor about the title “Sussidio.” How I wish I could find the clip from David Letterman.
Another reconciliation came from watching Classic Albums on VH-1 Classic. I was surprised the show’s producers chose Face Value over Jacket because they tended to showcase the colossal sellers: Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors and Def Leppard’s Pyromania. Here Phil dispelled the urban legend surrounding his infamous hit “In the Air Tonight.” The song was more about his first divorce, not some indirect murder. I remember some guy telling the drowning myth my freshman year at Marquette and I didn’t buy it because he had a reputation for being full of crap. Other insights I gained were Phil’s evolution as a musician and producer: the seeds for Abacab came from this; so did future work with Earth, Wind & Fire members and Eric Clapton. Lastly, much like Peter, Phil gave a great explanation regarding his album covers. People assume his face is there for ego purposes. Not really. Phil stated how the remaining art showed other sides of his head and the record was supposed to be a peek into what’s going through his mind. Tapes, CDs and downloads can’t do this like vinyl did.
The last tidbit was enough for me to forgive his super-cheesey Tarzan soundtrack. I do wonder if he’ll follow through on his promise to return to the UK now that a Tory government is in power; he resides in Switzerland because he doesn’t pay his taxes and has publicly stated his hatred of the Labour Party. The latter explains why Genesis reunions may be uncomfortable, Peter is one Labour’s largest individual contributors.
Thank you Phil for the many years of entertainment. May your retirement not transform into a series of comebacks and sad jokes like the Who’s or Cher’s.