The Phil Collins Albums pt. 1 - Face Value

Collins’ eight solo albums, from Face Value to Going Back, followed by a bonus post on his live albums. This series alternates with reviews of new releases.

Tracks: 1. ‘In The Air Tonight’ 2. ‘This Must Be Love’ 3. ‘Behind The Lines’ 4. ‘The Roof Is Leaking’ 5. ‘Droned’ 6. ‘Hand In Hand’ 7. ‘I Missed Again’ 8. ‘You Know What I Mean’ 9. ‘Thunder And Lightning’ 10. ‘I’m Not Moving’ 11. ‘If Leaving Me Is Easy’ 12. ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ (13. ‘Over The Rainbow’)

All songs by Phil Collins except 12 by Lennon/McCartney and 13 by Arlen/Harburg

Released February 1981

Listen to Face Value by Phil Collins on your preferred streaming service

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Previous posts about Phil Collins in LP: No Jacket Required (revised version in this series) plus Drummer, And More.

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Three albums are interlinked. In May 1980, Peter Gabriel released 3/Melt (my review). Next, in February 1981, came Face Value. Finally, in September 1981, the Genesis album Abacab arrived. Track one, side one of Face Value is at the centre of this trio.

Collins, having moved from drummer to lead singer when Gabriel left Genesis, embraced his new creative outlet to the full, rapidly developing as a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Genesis took some downtime for Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks to work on solo albums, and the turmoil in his personal life led Collins to write songs unlikely to be required by Genesis, so it was solo album time for him too.

First, though, came a drumming contribution to Gabriel’s album, without cymbals at Gabriel’s request, meaning a change of technique. Producer Hugh Padgham also used reverb when recording the drums, together with a ‘gate’ to cut the tail of the sound form. Suddenly, the classic eighties drum sound was born. This and other production decisions meant Melt sounded unlike most other albums. In addition, the sound of Phil Collins' solo career was created.

And so to ‘In The Air Tonight’. The gated drums are, famously, present and correct. Would the song have been remembered for so long without that drum break? Possibly. It’s a great song. It’s fitting, though, for a drummer’s solo career to begin with such a production.

‘In The Air Tonight’ Live At Perkins Palace, 1982

His career nearly didn’t start with ‘Air’. Genesis were ‘on a break’, but they were getting songs together for the next album. It’s always difficult when an extant band spawns solo albums, because the writing members may be accused of holding back their best material at the expense of the band. (In this connection, see also Pete Townshend and The Who – and we will, because the second artist in this series, later this year, will indeed be the windmilling guitarist).

So it was with ‘In the Air’. Tony Banks was unhappy because, he now claims, if it had been offered to Genesis, it would have definitely been recorded for Abacab. Selfish Phil. Except … Collins says he did play it to Banks, who promptly rejected it.

Abacab was also produced by Hugh Padgham, so Gabriel’s drums-first approach was used again for Genesis (plus cymbols). Including ‘Air’ would have made for a differently balanced album. Would ‘Air’ have turned out differently if played by Genesis, or would the entire Abacab album have been different? Speculative comments are welcome.

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There are other overlaps with Collins’ host band on Face Value. ‘Behind the Lines’ is a reworking of the opening instrumental sequence of the Duke album, now given a snappy, jazzy feel. Here, the track features the Phenix Horns from Earth, Wind & Fire. Accusations that Collins had “taken over” Genesis and turned them into a pop band partly stem from bringing those horns to the band, along with his sometimes poppy writing style.

‘Behind The Lines’ No Ticket Required 1985

As can often be the case with debut albums, Face Value is wide-ranging. There are MoR pop songs sprinkled throughout – listen to ‘This Must Be Love’, ‘I Missed Again’ and ‘I’m Not Moving’. It gets deeper too. ‘The Roof Is Leaking’ is an unlikely but atmospherically effective delta blues, with a guest contribution from Eric Clapton, that segues into proggier instrumentals ‘Droned’/’Hand in Hand’. ‘Roof’ is a minor masterpiece of a song that allows us to feel the desperation of the protagonist through some emotionally engaging lyrics and a desolate soundscape.

‘The Roof Is Leaking’ Tonight Show 1985

There’s a cover, a brave cover, of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’. This is a tribute to Lennon and The Beatles on Revolver, not an attempt to better them. Who could? If anything, this is Collins saying, “Look what I can do other than drum”; the whole album is that, of course, but it’s explicit here. He can be heard softly singing ‘Over the Rainbow’ as a farewell to Lennon, murdered just a few months before the release of Face Value.

Collins dominates, of course, but there are guests. Eric Clapton also plays on ‘The Roof Is Leaking’ and ‘If Leaving Me Is Easy’; Ronnie Scott contributes tenor sax to ‘I Missed Again’, and L. Shankar is on ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ and elsewhere.

Face Value got Phil Collins’ solo career off to a flying start. It’s not a spoiler to say he maintained the momentum. But before total chart domination, there was his second solo album. I’ll be reviewing that in a couple of weeks.

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How to buy

Phil Collins albums were remastered in 2016, and a bonus disc of unreleased and live tracks was added. In addition, the cover photograph was updated. This is the version to buy, although my paid link (below) is to the original version because Amazon appears to want £70 for it. Other retailers are available (and I hope to have more ethically paid links soon).

Amazon.co.uk CD | Vinyl (paid links)

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