Retro Spins: Phil Collins - ...But Seriously

Wow, it's 2022 already!

This year's theme for Retro Spins is Sequels and Prequels. What that means is I'll be listening to an album from someone I've already heard and reviewed something from. The album will fall either before or after said album, thus the theme.

Before I start, let me explain the pictures for the album I'll be posting. The "solid" photo is of the album I'm reviewing, while the "reflection" image is the one in which I reviewed already. It's probably self explanatory, and most of you would have caught on to that, but I thought I'd go ahead and point it out anyway.

Alright, off we go!

...But Seriously is Phil Collins last entry into the 1980's (1989). It was released just shy of one year apart from the film Buster, which was Collins' big screen debut. I mention this, because in 1989, the number one hit single from the film, Two Hearts, was still eating up the charts.

By November, Collins' new hit, Another Day In Paradise entered the charts, and quickly shot up the charts to number one by December 23rd. As the world swung into a new decade, the hits kept coming. Wish It Would Rain entered the charts in February at number seventy-one, but would only go to number three before beginning its drop.

However, Collins was far from down and out. Do You Remember? (4), Something Happened On The Way To Heaven (4) and Hang In Long Enough (27) all hit the charts. The number in parentheses is where the highest charting position for the song by the end of the year. Hang In Long Enough even stuck around for part of 1991, continuing its climb from number twenty-seven to twenty-three before falling back off the charts.

Interesting enough, in February 1991, Collins' 1985 single, Who Said I Would entered the charts at number eighty-three. Though it would disappear the following week. Then grunge happened, and music was over. The end.

When I fired up, ...But Seriously, I immediately noticed it didn't sound as pop oriented as the singer's prior albums. With its opening horn segment, the album set the tone for a more mature kind of album. Though they were present, synthesizers didn't feel like a main focal point on the record. This certainly wasn't a bad move, as 80's music was drastically changed from that of its original synthpop roots from 82 - 85. It was good to hear Collins was progressing appropriately with the times.

I ended up pulling six of the twelve songs from the album for my 80's shuffles. Those were; Hang In Long Enough, Do You Remember, Something Happened On The Way To Heaven, I Wish It Would Rain, Another Day In Paradise and Find A Way To My Heart. Honestly, I was surprised by that amount as I really didn't expect to find as many tracks as I did that I liked.

Overall, it was a good listening session. I won't say this often, but it actually makes me a little curious to see what Collins went on to do in the 90's and beyond. Considering I have a fair amount of albums from him from latter eras, I may just have to find out sooner than later.

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Retro Spins: Frida - Something's Going On

Frida
Something's Going On
1982

Call Frida a one hit wonder, and she'd probably look at you like you're mentally insane. While as a solo artist, she hit it big in 1982 with her track, There's Something Going On. However, this was by far the singer's first rodeo. Many will recognize her as Anni-Frid Lyngstad, or "the red head" from ABBA. Additionally, this also wasn't her first (or last) solo album.

The album came about in one of those "fun" music stories, often reserved for VH-1's Behind the Music or Pop Up Video. Frida heard Phil Collin's In The Air Tonight, and from there spent about eight months listening to his solo album, Face Value. During this time, Polar Studios approached the Genesis front man, and asked if he would be interested in producing the album. Collins not only agreed, but also contributed to the album by providing the percussion, backing vocals, writing credits on one track, and a duet with Frida.

The end result is a mediocre entry into 1982. Nothing to write home about, but listenable. The biggest problem with the album is the good songs render the ones which aren't as somewhat forgettable. This is not for a lack of Frida herself. You can definitely tell she's bringing her all to each song, and not just phoning it in. Part of this could have been the problem that many of the tracks sounded too similar to ABBA's style, and not the good kind of ABBA tracks either.

In the end, only two tracks made the cut for my 80's Ipod shuffle; Tell Me It's Over and I Know There's Something Going On. A few others made the cut for my 80's Itune shuffle. These included; I Got Something, To Turn the Stone and Threnody.

I expected more from it, and looking back as I write this, I probably shouldn't have. Frida, after all, was always someone who got paid to sing someone else's songs. She was a singer, not a writer. That's no different in this solo endeavor, as she once again has no writing credits. Unfortunately, she just didn't pick very good songs to sing.

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Retro Spins: Phil Collins - No Jacket Required

Phil Collins
No Jacket Required
1985

Ever heard of Phil Collins? Yeah, of course you have. I'm just acting like a fool.

By the '80's, Phil Collins was established as the front man for the highly successful Genesis and working on not only a solo career, but also an acting venture. His face was everywhere. His music was everywhere and I guess you could even say he was a household name at this point.

No Jacket Required wasn't Collin's first solo outing, but I dare say it's his most successful. By February of 1985, the January released album was racing up the charts starting with the hit One More Night. The song went all the way to number one by March, passing by Collin's duet with Philip Bailey, Easy Lover, which had charted in January of '85.

As One More Night descended down the charts, Sussudio debuted at number thirty-nine (May). It too went all the way to number one by July. That same month, Don't Lose My Number made its chart appearance. While the song made it to the top ten, it couldn't go any further than the number four spot - Not that this is a terrible achievement of any sorts.

Though it wasn't on the album, Collins saw one more hit for the year with Separate Lives - A duet with Marilyn Martin from the soundtrack White Nights. The song went all the way to number one November.

1986 was just as kind to Collin's when his fourth track from the album debuted at number seventy-three in March. The song, Take Me Home. The song climbed to the number seven spot where it stayed for a couple weeks before dropping back down.

You can't deny No Jacket Require didn't come packed with fantastic hits. However, four songs an album is not. Nope. There's six more songs to be found here - Seven if you have the compact disc version. So how is the album as a whole?

It's good. Really good. Though they didn't get chart love, tracks such as Only You Know and I Know, I Don't Wanna Know, Who Said I would and Doesn't Anybody Stay Together Anymore all deliver in their own right. The rest...Eh...They're not terrible, but definitely not as (opinion) good.

I ended up with eight out of the eleven (CD version) songs from this album on my IPOD - Which to me makes this one a fantastic listen. I can't tell you how happy I am after the bevy of sub-par albums to have finally hit a high point again. Hopefully this keeps up.

In closing, don't forget to throw your name in for for a chance to win a Solo Blu-Ray / Digital Code combo by joining the contest "HERE".

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