Phil Collins

Plays Well With Others

Career-spanning set, as seen from the back of the stage.

Between Genesis and a solo career that could best be described as stellar, Phil Collins brought new meaning to the term ‘ubiquitous’ in the 1980s. If you haven’t read his excellent autobiography, Not Dead Yet, you’d have been left wondering how, between numerous bottles of wine and chasing ex-girlfriends, he’d even managed to keep those two parallel careers going, and then you take into account this sprawling 59-track collection of Collins going back to his original day job: playing drums. “I got paid well for doing something I’d have done for nothing: playing the drums,” he says. And he does it so well, too.

This beautifully curated collection takes in everything from his earlier musical forays with Flaming Youth through work with ABBA’s Frida (all electronic drum pads and rattling snare), his surprise cameo with Adam Ant (where his flamboyant rolls around the kit sit perfectly), his understated work with John Martyn, the jazz punch of Brand X and his more regular stint behind the drums with the Robert Plant band.

It’s an expressive, incredible collection – even more so when you think this little lot were just some bits on the side.