CD Review : Phil Collins - Going Back

Phil Collins - Going Back


Every once in a while an artist who is generally considered to be over-the-hill emerges from his or her retirement with a 'new' CD. These CD's typically repeat the period in the artist's life that he or she was most successful in a vain attempt to recapture the magic of those Golden Days. Phil Collins has taken a different approach.


Let's get the technical details out of the way first : In spite of the old songs on the disc, there is something refreshingly modern about this album too; the format of the double-pack. Disc One is the official audio CD that can also be bought separately(although I really wouldn't know why one would do so). The second disc is a DVD that contains not only the bonus video's; shove this disc in your computer's DVD-player and a menu will automatically appear giving you the option of copying all the songs to your hard disk. And to top that, the production company has already included all the official songs plus 5 bonus track in MP3- and WAV-format! No Jacket Required And No Ripping Necessary!


On to the music : Much has been said about Collins' physical problems; his back is shot to hell, he can no longer use his left hand to drum for any lengthy period, and so on. All this a result of his 40+ years of making music everywhere with anyone on anything. The chances that Phil Collins would record more music were therefore slim and yet Phil Collins wouldn't be Phil Collins if he could leave playing music alone. The man is and was a born musician.

On Going Back, Phil Collins faithfully copied the sound of the original Motown songs as much as possible. Normally this would turn out a boring repetitive album and of course Going Back is not your typical original album. What it turns out to be, is proof that Collins would have fit in with sixties groups like The Temptations seamlessly.

Every now and then the music veers off in the direction of sugary pop a bit too much. This flaw can be forgiven because some of the original versions of the songs were in fact, wel... saccharine would be the word. Fortunately this only happens on a few songs. As there are 25(!) songs on this album - not counting the bonus tracks - the damage from sugar-overdose is kept very limited. Songs like 'Standing In The Shadows Of love' and the inevitable but very well covered 'Papa Was A Rolling Stone' have the upper-hand on this album. My personal favourite(so far) is 'Jimmy Mack'. I think the glorious Martha Reeves can be very happy about this version. This song is also the one that comes closest to Phil's original solo work. Indeed; when you listen to this record properly, you can definitely hear that Motown heavily influenced most of his 80ies solo efforts(even in the 'Real Original Phil Collins Songs').
All of these songs show us that, although his best work may be behind him, Phil Collins still remains a true musician at heart. Worse albums, much worse albums, have been released under the veil of being 'modern'. Phil Collins could grow older and older just making these kind of albums. It is unlikely that he will record another record like this but if he did my household would be playing it. Because there is nothing wrong with old music that is re-recorded and re-issued, as long as it is done well.

'Going Back' sounds like it was recorded in the sixties and that may very well be the biggest compliment you can give Phil Collins and his co-musicians.

Talk about Old School.

ABC (Oh! Those Disco Eighties!)

It's funny to see how so many bands and artists who where once pretty famous and succesful have not only stopped playing, but have also disappeared from the public eye. Even the fans of 'the olden days' never play their records anymore; often the listener's musical taste has changed over the years or the listener has grown up and does not listen to music much at all anymore. It is after all not easy to enjoy music while three kids are screaming in the background. Well, not unless you are listening to noisy old stuff by let's say Magma of Gamma or Einsturzende Neubauten.

Also very often the members of the band have gone on to raise some kids and find 'a real job' and reappear years later as mystery guest on some stupid quiz show, in the cause destroying whatever little credibility they still had. I remember a feeling of shock when I saw Mike Lindup as a mystery guest on 'Never Mind The Bollocks'. This was the main writer and keyboard player of Level 42! How on Earth could he be persuaded to annihilate his artistic stature by becoming one of the many people trying to make a quick buck?
Of course those thoughts only meant that I valued his 'image' more than the man himself. It meant that he was living in the present more than I was. It also meant that I was a complete idiot and that I should readjust before I grew really really old. Yet still, the feeling that such an artist could demean himself and his legacy remained, albeit completely unjustified.

Some band have weathered the times quite well; I heard Depeche Mode the other day and they are still pretty damned good. But most of the band from the 80ies and 90ies have disappeared into the abyss of obscurity.

I came across one of those bands again the other day. They were called ABC and they came from England. These guys specialized in writing and playing songs about love. Actually, most of the time, well... as good as always, this love would be unrequited.
The band played a British disco-kind of music that was very much En Vogue in the 80ies yet they had a twist in the music and the lyrics. One the one hand, the music was produced and directed by a very young Trevor Horn of The Buggles who had just scored an immense hit with 'Video Killed The Radio Stars'. Horne had set up a team of three people(An Dudley, J.J. Jeczalic and Trevor Horn) with whom he would work together through the 80ies and score massive hits. The team was behind acts like Frankie Goes To Hollywood. So the next time you hear 'Relax', 'Two Tribes' or anything from 'Welcome to the Pleasure Dome' listen carefully. The similarities in production technique between ABC's 'Lexicon Of Love' and 'Welcome to the Pleasure Dome' are obvious.

What I personally particularly liked in ABC were their lyrics. Not because they were outstanding, poetic, meaningful or in any other way made for Eternity because they were not. What ABC did on 'The Lexicon Of Love' however, was to write a whole album of lyrics solely about unrequited love, affairs going badly, and people leaving each other in bad ways. I remember the inner sleeve of the record(this was the vinyl-era people!); both sides of the sleeve contained some credits and all the lyrics but these lyrics had a twist. Because the band had basically written a concept-album(without attaching too much significance to it) they were able to throw all the lines from all the song in a hat, rummage around a bit, and by probably pulling pieces of paper(i.e. songlines) out again they created a completely new and very long lyric that covered the whole album. It became somewhat of a puzzle that you could solve while listening to the tracks.

The songs themselves were dominated by the use of loads of keyboards, heavy electronic Simmons drums and a very funky brass section. Oh and Lots and Lots and Lots of samplers... Mr. Horne had recently acquired a Fairlight CMI sampler and anyone who knows that instrument also knows that the possibilities were endless. It was basically a mainframe computer with a piano-keyboard attached. Your mind was the limit to what you could do with it. It also cost over 100.000 euros so there weren't so many around and that made the sound quite uniquely recognizable.

Their first album went by quite unnoticed but their second album 'The Lexicon Of Love' contained the hitsongs '(Shoot That) Poison Arrow' and 'The Look Of Love'. Other songs worth noting were '4Ever 2Gether'(with an extremely sub low bass vocoder) and 'Show Me' :

When I'm shaking a hand
I am clenching a fist
If you gave me a pound
for the moments I missed
And I got dancing lessons
for all the lips I should have kissed
I'd be a millionaire
I'd be Fred Astaire

I saw these guys around the time of this album in 1981 and they were absolutely brilliant at what they did on stage. More so because no one believed(including me) that a 'plastic pop band' like ABC would be able to perform all the complex arrangements live. The band(that basically consisted of only four member and did not even have a fixed bass player!) solved their problems by taking to the road with a 12 persons band, including five ladies on violin, a guy on the cello and two keyboard players! All dressed in Tuxedo they took the phrase 'incorrect' to a new level. While the New Wave bands and the post-punk bands were playing around the corner, here were some people in evening dresses playing sophisticated disco-pop while the stage lights went from baby blue to baby pink halfway through the concert. It was so kitch that it sort of pained the eyes. Which in turn of course made it fun to watch.

New Wave it wasn't...

By the time they recorded their third album 'Beauty Stab' ABC had changed their style somewhat. Much more emphasis was put on the guitar parts which really made the album sound a lot more like rock. Even so, the album was absolutely 'ABC', one could hear the style from a mile away. Perhaps this also had something to do with the fact that the guitarist was also the keyboard player...

Love's just the gimmick
a mime or a mimic
That makes sex seem respectable
Make you feel more than a dream holding me
Holding me, holding me, holding me

Lips that seem so kissable
Unpermissible unzippable Unzip!
Why take pleasure in censorship
Unzip! Unzip! Unzip!

I must admit that I lost track of them(as so many people did) after their fourth and most successful album 'Alphabet City'. It's probably because the albums after that one did not contain any real hits so the airplay went down. Also; this was around about the time that bands like U2 and Nirvana stormed the charts and R&B became really big, so it may have a been musical generations thing. Still, 'Alphabet City' was an extremely succesful album that spun the hits 'When Smokey Sings', 'The Night You Murdered Love' and 'King Without A Crown' :

Welcome to the Great Republic
I guess I should show you 'round
Where once I was a King
but now I am a clown

The love that we once had
made a King of me
But now you're gone
and all I face is poverty

ABC still plays live concerts off and on. I have no need or any urge to go and see them because I know I would be disappointed if I did. Some things should be left alone in the dark. But once upon a time they were a great band.