Phil Collins

Both Sides

An Experimental Effort that is sometimes criticized unfairly

Review Score:

(6/10)
By the time late 1993 rolled around, Phil Collins was at the top of his career both as a solo artist and with Genesis. His last studio solo album "But Seriously" was a great success. He had followed up that album with a successful live album - "Serious Hits - Live!". Meanwhile with Genesis, he was part of that group's most successful effort to date - "We Can't Dance". At this point of his career, it wouldn't be a big surprise that Phil would look to go into different directions - particularly with his solo work. So, when "Both Sides" was released, it was with great anticipation by his fans - after all, everything Phil touched seemed to turn to gold. However, what Phil delivered on his album could best be described as an "experimental album" - something he hadn't done before. Phil would abandon much of the formula that made him a superstar. Many of his fans would be disappointed by his new approach. This album does take a bit of an unfair pounding from the fans and critics and while it isn't his best effort, it does have its moments.

The formula for Phil's solo career was threefold and pretty simple: 1) The integration horns into many of the songs; 2) The use of a "dark psychedelic" element. (The best way I can describe this is this is the kind of music you might hear on a quiet, dark city street - with a touch of psychedelica); 3) The Thundering, Haunting Drums of Phil Collins In addition, Phil has infused keyboards and guitar in his solo work. On "Both Sides", you aren't going to hear much of this formula. On this album, this is a true "solo" effort. Phil plays all of the instruments himself and through the magic of mixing comes up with the final product. It is disappointing that the formula used on prior albums has been abandoned - particularly the thundering drums which have now been replaced by a drum machine. Phil continues the path he went down on the "But Seriously" album by focusing on those serious themes. There are relationship songs that have the mature, "reflective" element that Phil introduced on "But Seriously". Phil still looks at socilogical themes ("Both Sides of the Story" and "We're Sons of Our Fathers") and explores the theme of the impact that terrorism is having on his home country of England ("We Wait and We Wonder"). A positive thing I can say about this effort are there are some really good lyrics. Phil has shown he lost nothing as a lyricist. What really hurts this album is the majority of the songs are very slow songs. If you have seen or heard Phil Collins (or even went to a live Phil concert), you know he brings a tremendous amount of energy and "fun" to the table. This is missing from this album.

The liner notes from this collection are written by Phil Collins - and he does a nice job with them. There is an introduction written by Phil Collins who describes how he came to make this particular album. This does provide a nice introspective to the direction that the album takes. What I really like about the liner notes is that for each song, Phil includes a one or two line quote that sums up song is about. The quote is included over the lyrics of each song and although its short - it provides much more insight into the song.

This is the first time that Phil has used a song for the title of his album. The song that served as the title track is "Both Sides of the Story". When you first hear this song, it will sound very much like a continuation of "But Seriously". In this song Phil describes several conflicts and when looking at what the root cause may be for the conflict - there are "both sides to the story". This song also has some of the better music on the album and the result is a solid song that did crack the Top 30 in the U.S.. Another very good song is "We Wait and We Wonder". This song didn't chart in the U.S., but did in the U.K. This song describes what its like (in Britain) to live under the cloud of terrorism. Once again, great lyrics by Phil and there is some good background music - particularly the bagpipes. Another song that did crack the Top 30 in the U.S. was "Everyday". U.S. radio truncated out the keyboard intro - and its a shame because it is the best part of the song. This is a Phil Collins ballad, but it doesn't seem to have something intangible that doesn't make it the "same old Phil Collins ballad" - its pretty good.

Most of the other tracks fall into the "slow/mellow" category. Another very interesting song on the CD is "We're Sons of Our Fathers". From a lyrical standpoint this song discusses family values. Musically this track has some nice keyboards. It reminds me of Steve Winwood's "Vacant Chair" song with some of the melodies that start the song. Other songs worth mentioning that have great lyrics are "Can't Turn Back the Years" (looking back to the past) and "We Fly So Close"(walking on the danger zone). "We Fly So Close" does have a nice build-up in intensity with Phil's vocals as the song goes on. "There's a Place for Us" has almost a supper-club/crooning feeling, but like the other songs - it lacks the energy of Phil's previous works.

This isn't a bad album, but no it isn't what we are used to seeing from Phil. The die-hard Phil Collins fan will appreciate what this album brings to the table. The casual fan will probably pass on it.

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