“A fantastic record”: The project Phil Collins was most proud to be a part of
When Phil Collins announced in 2016 that he was reissuing his catalogue of music, images were retaken of old album artwork, showing him in the same pose but many years later. The photos look cool and reflect how much time has passed since Collins originally started working on music; however, they don’t capture the artist as a whole.
While Collins’ original work is a big part of his career, he has done a lot more than that as both a drummer and a producer. His work with Genesis and his contributions to the work of various other artists means it is hard to look into other corners of music without coming across a Collins credit somewhere down the line.
It’s easy to see why people were so keen to work with him, too. Collins displayed a particular mastery over the construction of a song, not just with one specific instrument but the piece as a whole. He put together a range of different elements, holding back and giving everything, all to compile an atmosphere that was tough not to be in awe of.
He credits his adoption of the electric drum kit a lot with this, as it meant that he didn’t feel the need to fill in every second of every song. He could take a track piece by piece, understand what he liked about it and move from there. He was allowed to look at the bigger picture rather than just focus on the drums, which made him a better songwriter.
“Drum machines free you from filling in all the gaps when you’re writing…and for me, I used drum machines to give you an atmosphere. So I’ll set up an atmosphere that I will then respond to on the keyboards,” he said, “I mean, ‘In The Air’ is a good example of that. I set up a drum machine pattern that was kind of hypnotic and left it going for a little while and started thinking about it, and then you brought that chord in, and suddenly you’re in a place, you know?”
With such a knowledge of music and a good technique when crafting songs, there was an array of people keen to work with Phil Collins. So, what is his favourite record that he has been a part of? Naturally, it’s hard for him to pick, as there are many solo and Genesis albums that he’s proud of; however, he also admits there was one album that he contributed towards, which he thinks is “fantastic”.
Released in 1980, Grace and Danger was the eighth studio album by John Martyn. Collins had more of a hands-off approach with this album, but he still recognises it as one of his favourites to have been a part of.
He said, “It’s difficult. I was only a drummer on Grace and Danger with John Martyn, but that is a fantastic record. We became great friends, and I produced his next record.” While the production credits on later albums would also be something to be proud of, there is no escaping that Collins’ best work came on Grace and Danger, which still makes for an engaging listen to this day.
