Phil Collins

But Seriously

Without a doubt his crowning achievement!

Review Score:

(10/10)
Oh what a wonderful decade the 1980s were in terms of music. For all of the chaotic changes overtaking the world around the end of the decade and the transition into the Post-Cold War period especially with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, 1989 also in my opinion was the greatest year for music and this album closes the year as well as the decade out on a high note. The hauntingly beautiful classic "Another Day In Paradise" was a childhood favorite and a song that had a profound impact on me during my childhood.

Hot off the heals of the success of the 1986 classic "Invisible Touch" with his band Genesis along with a phenomenally successful tour, Phil Collins returns to his solo arena and takes the drivers seat once again with his fourth and best solo album of his career 1989's timeless "But Seriously" and the title is spot on perfect. Gone is most of the sunny summertime tropical flavor of "No Jacket Required" and the sound is far more serious and more dramatic than anything he's ever done before. While no stranger to socially conscious lyrics, (he did many socially conscious songs with Genesis), the lyrics are also much darker, more powerful, and among the most thought-provoking I've ever listened to but they are backed up by utterly powerful anthems with songs like "Colours", and "Another Day In Paradise". To me "But Seriously" is without a doubt Phil Collins' pinnacle of his solo career, or his entire music career altogether.

Along onboard on this successful project both commercially and artistically, is a wide variety of friends and guest musicians on many of the tracks. They range from David Crosby, to former Policeman Sting, to even his former band mate Peter Gabriel. Eric Clapton is the one who plays the blues-sounding guitar on his smash hit ballad "I Wish It Would Rain" down. While not immediately noticeable but Sting is also present on the background and one can hear him if one has good ears.

"That's Just The Way It Is" is an eerie number about the theme of war and conflict. The song becomes very intense and dramatic as Phil's voice soars to an incredible climax. I love how the song itself merges into a parade of Irish bagpipes and parade drums to round out the track. "Heat On The Street" is a really fun and powerful pop classic rocker that is without a doubt 100 percent Phil.

In terms of socially-conscious songwriting, the nearly 9 minute epic track entitled "Colours" is arguably among some of the greatest socially conscious tracks ever written by anyone. I would almost go far as to say that it's even more powerful than a lot of what Janet's Rhythm Nation brings out and rivals the power of anything on Peter Gabriel's "Melting Face" album from nine years before then. The first 2 and a half minutes of this song are very eerie and having a very soft but cold winter melody and blasts into a beautiful climax as Phil asks who do you blame "Tell me what can you say! Tell me what do you blame!". Those are among some of the most powerful lyrics of my childhood. The first chapter in the track echoes away into a mechanical sounding industrial rhythm and an African Xylophone with an ominous undertone like a storm brewing overhead before bouncing back as a face-paced pop/rock song with a far more upbeat tone and the return of the Phoenix Horns to create one of the greatest tracks that I've ever heard from Phil. I would even go far enough to say that this is almost as progressive as anything that he did with Genesis! Awesome stuff I tell you.

This album isn't all excessively serious and bleak though. That wouldn't be until "Both Sides" came along four years later. "Hang on Long Enough" is pure fun and highly energetic. "Something Happened on the Way To Happen" is a fun, and rocking classic and one of the best on this album and is almost as happy, and upbeat as almost anything from "No Jacket Required". The same is true with the semi-ballad "All of My Life" which is among the few songs where a saxophone is present. "Saturday Night Sunday Morning" is a brief interlude with really fast placed drumming and those all too familiar Phoenix Horns and the song slows down into a groovy bluesy track for the remaining 50 seconds. "Do You Remember" is classic Phil and a great classic ballad that unfortunately wasn't included on his "Hits" collection. Ironically while it's definitely a very good song, it's probably my least favorite song but even then it's still very good.

"Father Son" is one of my favorite non-single ballads ever by Phil Collins having a very warm and sweet and hopeful tone to it and the song becomes hauntingly beautiful towards the last minute of the song with the sparkling keyboard effects. The album closes with the powerful anthem entitled "Find a Way To Your Heart". The song begins with a Space Age rock intro, becomes a haunting ambient pop classic with intense and frantic rhythm and finally becomes a high energy pop classic with a lot of those trademark Phoenix Horns and a highly upbeat mood. Finally the song fades back into the haunting Space Age sounding guitar effects which rounds out this amazing musical journey.

"Another Day In Paradise" is the best song on this album and was my childhood favorite song. This song really changed my view on things just out of it's beautiful melody and Phil's incredible singing and lyrics. While just the dark twilight melody was what really turned me onto this song back when I was just a child when it was new, this has now become an absolutely life-changing track because it was one of the first songs that ever actually grabbed my attention and turned me into a music lover from there onwards. The dark and industrial intro gives away to the unforgettable sound that we have never forgotten ever since. The song is a vivid and dark insight into the plight of a homeless human being and it's lyrics paint the picture from both the homeless person's perspective as well as a bystander's point of view.

As I look back on it now, the fact that this song actually made it to number one and and stayed there for several weeks from Christmas of 1989 and into January of 1990 and even unfortunately prevented Janet's "Rhythm Nation" from making the top spot for a while (No pun intended, that track also deserved to be number one as well) is without a doubt one of the best music chart moments in history. That this track also won a Grammy is among the best things to me anyways to happen to music. This song got the justice and praise that it deserved and that it's still a hugely popular track today is testament to the longevity and power of this amazing classic. I literally broke down in tears of joy after I saw him perform it live in concert. How someone could write a song so powerful and lasting I don't know but Phil did it!

I highly recommend all of his solo albums including his most recent one "Testify" but put his 1989 magnum-opus "But Seriously" at the top of your list. This album was brilliant back when it was released and more than 15 years onwards it is an absolute classic today that doesn't sound the slightest bit dated even when placed against most newer releases of the 2000s. Even a good amount of music released in 1999 sounds more dated than this. Collins fan will not be disappointed but anyone can not go wrong with this one.

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