Love-Hounds Digest #7.341

[nstar!bluemoon!bsbbs!nrc@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (N. Richard Caldwell)]

henrik@echelon.UUCP (Larry DeLuca) writes:

 
> [Lots of tripe about how great Phil Collins is deleted]

Or rather how good his cut on _Two Rooms_ is and how great his drums
usually sound.
 
> Wow, Richard, I rolled my eyes so hard I nearly busted an eyesocket at
> your last post!

Try securing them with knitting needles.  It keeps your eyeballs securely
anchored in their sockets and provides hours of wholesome fun for the
entire family.  Works for me.
 
> Phil Collins hasn't done anything worthwhile since his second 
> solo album.   He's dragged Genesis down into a sub-artistic mire
> deeper than Paul McCartney w/o Wings could even achieve.

I agree that of Collin's solo efforts, only his first two were
worthwhile.  I do think their are some very good tracks on the most
recent Genesis albums although they have become fewer with each album.
I also think that saddling Collins with the entire blame for the more
commercial Genesis ignores Mike Rutherford's very pop oriented Mike
and the Mechanics work (of which, again, only the first two releases
were worthwhile).  Collins may be leading but he's not dragging anyone.

> He used to be a good drummer - now he's just the trigger for Hugh Padgham's
> overblown reverb.

Personally, I wish he'd do more drumming and less standing out front.
I have not seen any reason to believe that he is any less skilled a
drummer.
 
> He has absolutely no musical, artistic, or personal integrity whatsoever.
> He will steal themes wholesale (hum Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" on
> top of "I Wish It Would Rain").  He will stick any piece of trite shit to
> anything else it will adhere to just to sell a record.  He's a pathetic,
> quivering example of what can happen if your ego gets way too big and you
> have too much money for people to tell you what you're producing is absolute
> garbage.
> 
> "Burn Down The Mission" was yet another tired example of Phil Collins doing
> what he does best - feeling and giving nothing.

Sorry, but it sounds to me like you have such a hate on for Collins
that your ability to objectively judge his work is rapidly approaching
nil.  No, I'm not the huge Collins fan that you make me out to be.
Yes, I recognize that he's put out a lot of tripe.  

I am saying exactly two things.  First, _Burn Down the Mission_ is
in my opinion the best track on TR.  I certainly feel something from
this track, something akin to the feeling I get from _The Roof is Leaking_
from his first solo album.  It works for me, your mileage may vary.

Second, Collins routinely has one of the best drum sounds in the business.
Yes, lately it's gotten a bit more reverb and is starting to sound
s bit too digital and compressed but it's still vastly superior to
anything you'll find on _The Sensual World_.  Yes, Hugh Padgham probably
has a lot to do with this but Collins seems to get the same sound
live and in other projects away from Padgham.  I don't really care
who's responsible.  The point it that it's a great sound.

> The *BEST* tracks on the CD had to be Tina Turner's "The Bitch is Back" and

Which does nothing for me.  Nothing wrong with it (except perhaps her
tampering with the lyrics) it just doesn't appeal.

> Oleta Adams' "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" 

Very nice vocals but the delivery doesn't work for me.

> (Jon Bon Jovi turned in
> quite a creditable "Levon", as well).  

Hey, we agree on something.

              "Whereupon I stole her passport and her wig
               And headed for the airport and midnight flight, you dig?
               Fourteen hours later I was down in Adelaide
               Looking through the want ads sipping Foster's in the shade"

                  -- Warren Zevon, "Mr. Bad Example"

"Don't drive too slowly."         Richard Caldwell
                                  The Big Sky BBS (+1 614 864 1198)
                                  {n8emr|nstar}!bluemoon!bsbbs!nrc
                                  nrc@bsbbs.UUCP