Phil Collins

Face Value

A frank and honest review of Phil Collins' solo debut

Review Score:

(10/10)
Phil Collins' first proper solo album Face Value was released in February of 1981. Phil was the last member of the band to do a proper solo album(the Brand X albums were a collaboration of sorts). When Face Value hit the streets, people were in awe over the excellent production(Phil co-produced with Hugh Padgham) and engineering of Hugh and were immediately aware that this album was a collection of letters to his wife whom left him. Also, the album had a collage of musical styles(Genesis to Motown to jazz to funk to soft rock to regular rock to art rock). The opening Top 20 hit In the Air Tonight was a classic that used the metaphor of a drowning man as the demise of his divorce. The track, like all the others features Phil's superb vocals and drumming but also showed he could play keyboards and write great songs. He wrote ten of the album's twelve tracks himself. I Missed Again was the album's other Top 20 hit and is another highlight featuring the Earth Wind and Fire horn section giving this track a Motown feel. This Must Be Love is an optimistic song about Phil rebounding from the demise of his first marriage to find peace with a new love in his life. The Roof is Leaking is a great country blues number with some killer slide guitar from Joe Partridge(although Clapton did play on an earlier take with the dobro) and banjo from Genesis touring guitarist/bassist Daryl Steurmer. The two instrumentals Droned and Hand in Hand are superb as well. My favorite track on the album is the ballad If Leaving Me is Easy which is a very sad song and will bring a tear to your eye after listening to the lyrics and the melody and orchestrations on the track. If this doesn't do the trick then you either are insensitive or a robot. The Genesis track Behind the Lines was redone as a funk tune after Phil played the original recording back at double speed and a new version was born complete with horns. His cover of The Beatles' Tomorrow Never Knows is the best cover version of the song I ever heard and a great album closer. He slowed the speed down and made this song as it was his own. Ironically, the track is now a tribute to John Lennon who passed away two months before this album was released. When released, the album shot straight to #7 in the US and sold four million(which was more than any Genesis album up to that point) in the States alone. I first discovered this album when my dad had the cassette when I was a child. Then, in late August of 1997 I bought the CD on a whim and was in my 7 CD changer along Genesis' Abacab, the fourth batch of KISS' reissues and Genesis' Duke for three months straight and was the soundtrack to the fall semester of college for me that year. Highly recommended!

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