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Also by Phil Collins
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This was Phil Collins' second solo album, following the very successful "Face Value". That was a tough act to follow, having gone 5x platinum in the US (to date); this follow-up has been certified 3x platinum, a huge success despite having 40% fewer sales. "Hello, I Must Be Going" was the name of a Marx Brothers song Collins was fond of, but has nothing directly to do with the album's content.
The biggest hit by far from this album is his cover of The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love", performed lovingly in the style of the time. Collins is a huge fan of Motown, and his goal was to do the song with a sound that would have fit in with the sixties, and he largely achieved it here. He also had success with the song "I Don't Care Anymore"; the song reached number 39 on the Billboard charts, but more importantly gained Collins his first Grammy nomination for Best Male Vocal Performance. It's a dark song, where the vocals get progressively more intense, while a steady drum beat flows through the whole song, ending with the vocals returning to a calm tone. This is in line with the previous album, where many of the songs came from his dealing with a tough divorce.
Globally speaking, nine of the ten songs on the album made the charts somewhere in the world, the lone exception being an excellent Jazz instrumental piece called "The West Side", where Collins reaches back to his Brand X jazz days a bit. Other notables include "Like China", a uniquely quirky tune, and "Thru These Walls", a tale of a voyeur listening to what others are doing behind closed doors.
Collins wrote all but the cover song on this album. He brought along his longtime guitarist Darryl Steurmer for guitar duties; the Phoenix Horns provided a horn section that really helps the album stand out from the synth heavy music that was being produced by other artists at the time. "You Can't Hurry Love" even utilized the glockenspiel.
This was a great effort from Phil Collins, and showed how his varied influences came together. He was clearly unafraid to experiment, and was going to only make music he enjoyed, regardless of what everyone else was doing at the time. The result was others trying do to what he did, as his massive success made him both a leader and a target. This is an interesting album that often gets overlooked due to the success of the albums that came before and after it, but this is a very worthwhile listen on it's own merit.
The biggest hit by far from this album is his cover of The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love", performed lovingly in the style of the time. Collins is a huge fan of Motown, and his goal was to do the song with a sound that would have fit in with the sixties, and he largely achieved it here. He also had success with the song "I Don't Care Anymore"; the song reached number 39 on the Billboard charts, but more importantly gained Collins his first Grammy nomination for Best Male Vocal Performance. It's a dark song, where the vocals get progressively more intense, while a steady drum beat flows through the whole song, ending with the vocals returning to a calm tone. This is in line with the previous album, where many of the songs came from his dealing with a tough divorce.
Globally speaking, nine of the ten songs on the album made the charts somewhere in the world, the lone exception being an excellent Jazz instrumental piece called "The West Side", where Collins reaches back to his Brand X jazz days a bit. Other notables include "Like China", a uniquely quirky tune, and "Thru These Walls", a tale of a voyeur listening to what others are doing behind closed doors.
Collins wrote all but the cover song on this album. He brought along his longtime guitarist Darryl Steurmer for guitar duties; the Phoenix Horns provided a horn section that really helps the album stand out from the synth heavy music that was being produced by other artists at the time. "You Can't Hurry Love" even utilized the glockenspiel.
This was a great effort from Phil Collins, and showed how his varied influences came together. He was clearly unafraid to experiment, and was going to only make music he enjoyed, regardless of what everyone else was doing at the time. The result was others trying do to what he did, as his massive success made him both a leader and a target. This is an interesting album that often gets overlooked due to the success of the albums that came before and after it, but this is a very worthwhile listen on it's own merit.