Phil Collins

Dance Into The Light

The opposite of 'Both Sides'

Review Score:

(6/10)
Phil Collins returns in stark contrast to the dark, sadness of 'Both Sides' with the much brighter, but less fulfilling 'Dance Into The Light'. One of the first thing fans will notice is that the cover photo isn't a close-up of Phil's face -- a minor departure from the rest of his work.

Even while generally regarded as the weakest effort from Phil Collins, 'Dance' still has 4 or 5 catchy tunes that should satisfy Phil-fans. The bouncy title track takes us back to the '80s with lots of horns and some earth-shattering drums. Kind of reminds me of 'Something Happened On The Way To Heaven'. There's the signature ballad that ranks right up there with the best love songs Phil can give us on 'The Same Moon'. One wonders why it was never released as a single - it might have nudged up the album sales altogether. With 'Lorenzo' Collins delves into the "world beat" scene and gives us a mind blowing display of the drums like only he can. Other tracks that work well are 'Ought To Know By Now', the upbeat 'Take Me Down', and the twangy 'No Matter Who'.

Unfortunately, the album is littered with songs that should have been B-sides. 'Love Police' does absolutely nothing. 'That's What You Said' sounds like somebody's been influenced by too many 50's bee-bop albums -- and that's just not Phil. Mysteriously, one of the weakest tracks, 'It's In Your Eyes' was released as a single and charted about exactly where it should: at #79. Some reviews dismissed 'Wear My Hat' as a Paul Simon rip-off. I liked it. Puzzling is the Bob Dylan cover that ends Collins' sixth studio album.

Overall, it's not bad by any means. While a few songs are vintage Phil, some of the album appears rushed, forced, and just doesn't seem to gel like his first four classic albums. This one's strictly for the devoted fans.

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