Phil Collins

Face Value

On His Solo Debut, Phil Collins Faces A Great Future

Review Score:

(8/10)
"Face Value" remains the freshest, if not quite the best, music Phil Collins has made solo. Bringing his prog-rock and jazz drumming technique along, adding a newly-found gift for balladry and R&B, Collins blueprints the style that made him a music/film/TV star for the next 20 years.

The Earth, Wind, & Fire horns, poured like catsup over future Collins sets, are peppered over tracks like "Thunder and Lightning," the Count Basie-ish remake of "Behind The Lines" and the instrumental "Hand In Hand." Two elegant, bitter ballads, "You Know What I Mean" and "If Leaving Me Is Easy" (later covered by the Isley Brothers), establish an approach to the style that Collins would later charge on like a platinum MasterCard.

Now a concert highlight, urban legend, and commercial jingle, "In The Air Tonight" is to Collins what "My Way" was to Sinatra or "Thanks For The Memories" to Bob Hope: a summary of public image rather than a musical statement. Heard again atop the stark, spare songs here, it regains context and power even as you air drum along. The more appropriate song that provides a signpost for Collins' career is the last, a tumbling, trippy remake of the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows," closed at the fade with a verse of "Over The Rainbow." A prog-rock standard crossed with schmaltzy movie music -- now THAT's Phil Collins at face value. Recommended.

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