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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