Phil Collins

Hits

No jacket, shirt, or pants needed to enjoy Phil's hits!

Review Score:

(10/10)
The whole thing about greatest hits albums is that somewhere along the line, when an artist who made it big in the past decade or decades becomes irrelevant in the current decade, the best thing to do is for the artist to put out a greatest hits and say, "Well, I'm done", with maybe a last farewell album somewhere down the line.

The problem in trying to put out greatest hits albums is the selection of songs associated with said artist to satisfy the people who grew up with them. Then there's the problem of putting enough songs to fit the 75 to 80 minutes that can fit a single CD. As a result, some songs might be excluded.

Case in point: Phil Collins' greatest hits compilation, Hits, does not have "I Missed Again", "I Don't Care Anymore", and "Don't Lose My Number". I can excuse the first two, but the third? It made it to Billboard's Top Ten on the singles chart!

But seriously,... (album reference intended) that's just a minor quibble. It was the track listing that finally got me to get the ex-Genesis frontman's long-awaited greatest hits album. I grew up with Phil Collins and Genesis during my MTV days and when I actually bothered to listen to the radio. His distinctive voice could be soft and heartfelt on songs like "One More Night", yet also be ringing with energy on "Sussudio". Hence his winning a Grammy best album for No Jacket Required, which established a place for him from the mid-80s to early 90's. I enjoy everything on this compilation, even his own take on Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors".

Phil Collins had some hit singles from movies, and their inclusion in a greatest hits are a lifesaver for the fan. "Against All Odds", the eponymous movie hit, "Groovy Kind Of Love" and "Two Hearts" from Buster, and "Separate Lives", his sparkling, bittersweet duet with Marilyn Martin from White Nights, are present here. The presence of "Against All Odds" alone will more than likely spur the purchase of this compilation.

Another gem is his duet with Phil Bailey, "Easy Lover", a real catchy dance tune, where Phil Bailey's falsetto is a real contrast to Collins' vocal. That song, "Against All Odds", and "Separate Lives" is what prompted me to buy this album, by the way.

I kind of lost track of Collins in the 90's during my college days, when I got turned on to college and alternative stuff, but "I Wish It Would Rain Down" is a prime example of the kind of ballads that have placed him in pop's history books. How sad it is that he is no longer relevant in today's music.

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