“Overlooked”: The album Phil Collins thinks is sorely underrated
When you listen to ‘In The Air Tonight’, one of the key aspects of the song you pick out that stays with you once the track has finished is the drum fill and subsequent beat. Why is this? Is it because it’s a good fill and a good beat? Yeah, absolutely. But it’s also because Phil Collins is a master songwriter, and all of his prowess is on display throughout that track.
Being a good musician is one thing, but having the know-how to put that musicianship into a track is something completely different. While Collins might be excellent on the drums, if he didn’t know songwriting well, he would have stuck that fill and beat in right at the beginning, but he doesn’t. He holds back, lets the audience sit in anticipation, and when it finally does come in, it’s a much more rewarding and memorable experience.
This is just one of many examples that show how much of a prolific songwriter Phil Collins is, and it’s for this reason that he hasn’t just released excellent music on his own accord but also why he collaborates with so many people. In a nod to the previous albums he was responsible for, Collins recently reissued all of his solo projects. With the power of hindsight, fans were given the chance to find new appreciation for his records.
Collins also saw benefits to re-releasing a lot of his music, as given how much he has been responsible for in his time, there are some albums which he believes haven’t been given the attention they deserve. One of these albums was Both Sides, which he thinks is one of his more underrated albums.
“I’m old-school, and albums are what you did, and singles were just flagships for the album,” he said when discussing the pitfalls that can often come with releasing albums, especially in the modern age, “But of course, now it’s more songs than albums, and I don’t know how many people buy a whole album unless it’s by an artist that grew up in that era. There’s an awful lot of songs at the bottom of the CD that we could do without, you know?”
Turning his attention to Both Sides, he said, “Both Sides was an album that I think was overlooked at the time. I mean, it sold millions of copies, but for some reason, I get the feeling that it was a little overlooked. And it’s one of my best albums; it’s my favourite album anyway.”
The album was a success. It reached number one in the UK, eight in Australia, and 13 in the US; however, it hasn’t gone down as one of Collins’ most well-regarded records. The soft rock sound is appealing, but few of the songs are standouts when you consider his entire discography, so it does often feel underrated. Sometimes, people need time away from an album to appreciate it truly, and this is clearly what Collins hoped might happen when he reissued his old material. Only time will tell whether it will gain a higher status as a result.
