 "You'll love what's here, but you'll notice what's missing...." | 2009-12-11 |
| - Reviewed By H. Jin from Melbourne, Australia |
I'm personally more of a Genesis fan than a Phil Collins solo fan, but he certainly did have some great solo songs. His first two albums, in particular, were an important bridge between his more difficult Genesis material and his soul-influenced adult contemporary work. Singles such as 'In The Air Tonight', 'I Missed Again', 'I Don't Care Anymore', 'Thru These Walls' and the reworked 'Behind The Lines' are great examples of this transitional period. So it's a bit of a pity that only the first of these appears on 'Hits'. In fact, only two songs from his first two albums (his cover of 'You Can't Hurry Love' is the other) are present here. So rather than being seen as part of a gradual development, 'In The Air Tonight' actually sounds a bit jarring and out-of-place among the soft-rock that makes up the rest of the album.
Phil Collins' solo work is the sort of stuff that you either love or hate, and there's certainly nothing here to convince the "haters". But those who jumped on board with 'Against All Odds' will find most of their favourites here. Obviously, the album is dominated by singles from the squillion-selling duo 'No Jacket Required' and 'But Seriously' ('One More Night', 'Sussudio', 'Take Me Home', 'Something Happened...', 'Another Day In Paradise', 'I Wish It Would Rain Down') plus singles from that period ('Against All Odds', 'Easy Lover', 'Two Hearts', 'Groovy Kind Of Love'). No arguing with these songs, and the album does a good job of collating those loose singles, movie tracks, and covers that do not appear on any other Collins album. A couple of later-day, minor hits like 'Dance Into The Light' round out the collection, and are fair enough inclusions.
Most of what's here deserves to be, but it's hard not to miss some of those early songs, plus other songs from the mid-80's like 'Don't Lose My Number'. It might have been a better idea to issue this as a 2 CD set of (say) 24 songs, or maybe including a Bonus CD containing some of these rarer and earlier tracks. A 16 song single CD contains a lot of music, but still doesn't quite do justice to Collins' massive solo success.
I still give it four stars, because what is actually here is still very good. |
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 "Great overview to Phil Collins the pop superstar" | 2009-11-27 |
| - Reviewed By Classic rock and old school metal master from Lake Worth (a west Palm Beach suburb), FL |
Genesis singer/drummer Phil Collins released his first proper greatest hits album entitled Phil Collins Hits in October of 1998.
This compilation compiles all of Phil's hit singles up until 1998. When I first heard of the best of being released I thought are they either going to use live tracks from Serious Hits Live with the classic non-album singles or use the studio versions. When I heard it was the latter, I bought and what a compilation.
His 1981 solo debut Face Value is represented by the classic "In the Air Tonight" which was the first hit (UK #2 and US #19) he had as a solo artist and a great song I must add to this day and only track from Face Value here ("I Missed Again (the first single in the US which was also charted at #19) is missing why I don't know).
His 1982 solo effort Hello, I Must Be Going is represented by his first US Top 10 hit out of his re-make of The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love" and a great choice. Some are shocked of no "I Don't Care Anymore" as that was a US rock radio hit but the rule Pop hits had to be applied.
His 1985 monster seller No Jacket Required is represented by the #1's "One More Night" and "Sussudio" and the Top 10 "Take Me Home". Great choices but many noted the Top 5 "Don't Lose My Number" is sadly missing.
His 1989 chart topping ...But Seriously is well represented out of "Another Day in Paradise" (a #1 in late 1989), "I Wish It Would Rain Down" (a huge rock radio smash and Top 5 Pop hit with Eric Clapton on guitar) and "Something Happened On the Way to Heaven" (another big hit).
His 1993 album Both Sides is only represented by "Both Side of the Story". The song "Everyday" was a hit but not as big as the first single apparently.
His return to the 1980s formular solo album from 1996 entitled Dance Into the Light is represented by the title cut and a great song I must add.
Now the real reasons to acquire is for the studio version of "Easy Lover" which was Phil's hit duet with Earth Wind and Fire singer Philip Bailey (that groups horn section played on all of Phil's solo efforts from the 1980s and on Genesis' Abacab and US version of Three Sides Live albums), the studio version of his hit ballad "Against All Odds" (which was his first #1 as a solo artist and was theme to film of same name), the studio version of his duet with Marilyn Martin called "Separate Lives" from the 1985 film White Nights and the two #1's from the 1988 film Buster out of "A Groovy Kind of Love" (best version of song IMHO) and "Two Hearts" both of which hit #1 in the US. We also have a new recording of Cyndi Lauper's 1986 hit "True Colors" produced and collaborated by then-red hot R&B singer/producer/songwriter Babyface.
Phil Collins Hits would go on to Triple Platinum in US sales and another Top 20 album for him (to date his last).
Recommended! |
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| "Simply...is Phil, and is great." | 2009-09-27 |
| - Reviewed By Sazabi from Ponce, Puerto Rico |
| I am not a Huge Phil Collins fan but i do like the man, not only as a singer but also as a composer, the guy is a great musician. This cd is really good when you have not a lot of space in your glove compartment for more discs and you want Phil to sound loud as you cruise around, or simply to relax back home. Is great music, full of musicianship and soul, recommended. |
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| "Fairly comprehensive overview of his best songs" | 2009-09-13 |
| - Reviewed By SPIRIT SNIPER from USA |
| Although this CD is missing the hit song "Don't Lose My Number" and hits from his previous band Genesis like "Invisible Touch," its a good summary of Phil Collins' best work from his solo albums. There's great upbeat rockers like "Easy Lover" and "Sussudio," more low-key songs like "True Colors" and "One More Night," and simply good songs like "In The Air Tonight." This CD is great, I'd heard all of the songs before but its nice to have them all in one place. Phil Collins had a terrific voice, and had some top-notch musicians working for him so the music itself is high quality rock and pop and is wonderful to listen to. He's also a phenomenal drummer, and if you ever watch one of his live shows, he really puts a lot of himself into his drumming performances. If you've never heard of Phil Collins, this is a good place to start. Or you can check out any of his albums with Genesis, which are also good listening. Great CD and I recommend it to anyone who was a fan of the 80's, or of classic rock in general. |
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| "collins the great" | 2009-04-02 |
| - Reviewed By An Amazon User |
| songs by phil collins at his best great listening will bring joy to you and all of those around you. great cd to sing along with friends have had a blast listening and singing with my buddy phillip |
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| "A Trip Down Memory Lane" | 2009-02-28 |
| - Reviewed By An Amazon User |
As a child of the 80s I grew up with a combination of truly awful and truly amazing music. HITS, released in 1998, falls into the latter category, and includes many of my favourite Phil Collins songs from Mum & Dad's vinyl collection. I especially love the moment, 3 minutes and 40 seconds into "In The Air Tonight" when Phil really starts to pound those drums. I'm not sure if it has something to do with sharing my birthday with another famous drummer (Ringo Starr) or because the song is featured on a Cadbury commercial with an ape in Phil's place, but either way, WOW. I love it!!
Is it worth buying?! If you already love Genesis and/or Phil Collins, that would be an enthusiastic HELL YES!! If you were born in the 90s and have no idea who Phil is other than his portions of Disney's Tarzan soundtrack, then perhaps you'd be better off going to iTunes and listening to the track samples BEFORE charging it your parents credit card. |
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