Tag: Phil Collins

audio review : Please Come Out Tonight ( song ) … Phil Collins

“It’s so warm inside,” Phil Collins says, but the indication doesn’t make sense on a song that has him outside of presumably an ex-girlfriend’s window begging her to Come Out. The Tonight bit, over this lush and enchanting soundscape, makes for a fitting serenade. Then again his words may just be thoughts of what he would say if he had the courage to invite her back into his life.

my rating : 4 of 5

1993

audio review : Both Sides ( album ) ... Phil Collins

audio review : Fading Lights ( song ) … Genesis

This is the coda of We Can’t Dance. What a hell of a way to end an album. Conceptually it’s one of the most epic I’ve ever come across. Phil Collins sounds spectacular on the vocals. It’s the extended bridge, where the band breaks for what sounds like an impromptu jam session, the song would do better without.

It should’ve been limited or edited down to the final eight bars; the best part. As is, it takes up nearly half the song, which, as a result, times out at over ten minutes. Still Collins shines. “Days of life that seemed so unimportant,” an old man ponders, “they seem to matter and to count much later on.” Poignant stuff.

my rating : 4 of 5

1991

audio review : We Can't Dance ( album ) ... Genesis

video review : Jesus He Knows Me ( song ) … Genesis

video review : Jesus He Knows Me ( song ) ... Genesis

Casual listeners probably thought this was a typical Christian praise song; the chorus sure sounds like it; but the video makes the message crystal clear. It’s a parody in which frontman Phil Collins plays the role of a television evangelist; the Robert Tilton type who, the band suggests, are mostly in it for the money.

The video, their best yet, is thoroughly entertaining in all the funny/clever ways it plays with the concept. My favorite bit is the paparazzi photos of Mike Rutherford cheating on his wife. It’s also a damn good song, though the most endearing part is an organ prelude you won’t hear on the regular audio version.

my rating : 5 of 5

1992