Reviewed by Ian Phillips. By Phil Collins, Warner Music 2018.
There has been a spate of anthology releases recently so over the next few weeks I’ll bring you a few for consideration.
On 28 September Phil Collins will be releasing a career-spanning four-disc box set comprising 59 tracks of collaborations with some of pop music’s biggest names including: Brian Eno, John Martyn, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Quincy Jones, Robert Plant, Adam Ant, and many, many, others.
Phil Collins has been a member of one of Britain’s most significant rock bands and been one of the world’s biggest solo stars, but, in addition to this he has always been a keen collaborator.
As a drummer, singer, producer, songwriter he’s appeared on recordings by some of the world’s biggest stars, or as he puts it “some of my biggest musical heroes.”
Just reading the list of artists’ names that appear in these recordings gives some indication of just how highly Phil Collins’s talents are rated.
You don’t get artists like Robert Fripp and The Isley Brothers employing him unless he’s one of the best.
The range of artists on these discs also show just how multi-skilled and eclectic Phil’s talents are.
The box set spans a career that’s taken him from the psychedelia of Flaming Youth through the 70s recordings with Brand X, Robert Fripp, Brian Eno and John Cale onto the superstar era of the 80s when he was the go-to drummer of super groups and finally on to the time when he could do whatever he pleased.
Work with Quincy Jones, Tony Bennett, George Martin, Buddy Rich… the choice seems as wide as it is endless.
The title of the box set comes from a joke gift that Chester Thompson, the man who replaced Collins as Genesis’ drummer when Collins became their front man, gave him; a T-shirt with the words “Plays Well With Others” emblazoned on it.
Chester Thompson’s profound truth is borne out by this amazing collection of songs that displays the dizzying variety of skills of one of the most successful individuals in modern music.
It explains why so many musicians, from so many varied backgrounds and genres, respect him and want to work with him.
I’ll leave the final words to Phil himself; “I’ve lived a charmed life. I’ve done what I wanted for most of it and got paid well for doing something I’d have done for nothing.”
