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Phil Collins – Face Value (Full Value) – 45th Anniversary Edition

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What does it sound like?:

Who’d have thought that Phil Collins would become a global superstar? Collins, himself, was as surprised as anyone. Starting his career behind a drum kit, adding occasional harmony vocals, he had been pushed into the limelight after the charismatic frontman left the band in 1975. Genesis were better known for their spectacular stage shows than their record sales, until 1978 when, reduced to a trio, a plaintive ballad, Follow You Follow Me, broke through into the American top thirty. The tour promoting its parent album, …And Then There Were Three…, promised greater riches. That was not enough for his wife, who gave Collins an ultimatum: go on the world tour and I won’t be here when you get back. Subsequently, while the other two band members pursued solo projects, he attempted to patch up his marriage, without success. He found himself alone, at a piano, overwhelmed with regret, desolation, anger, longing, frustration and disbelief. He set up some rudimentary equipment, an 8-track tape recorder, a Roland CR-78 drum machine, and a Sequential Prophet-5 synthesizer, and captured his thoughts in order to convince his wife that everything would be alright. It didn’t occur to him that these songs could be an LP. However, after Atlantic CEO Ahmet Ertegun heard the recordings and thought they were good enough to release and thinking about how he had witnessed how John Martyn turned a similar experience into Grace And Danger, Collins warmed to the idea of making a solo debut.

From the outset he was determined to be different, distinct from Genesis and his sideline of Jazz Rock with Brand X. He contracted with a different label and toyed with recruiting Eno as producer. He settled on Hugh Padgham. On Peter Gabriel’s third album in 1979, it was Padgham who accidentally pressed the reverse talkback circuit while Collins was playing, creating an outrageous drum sound that was both enormous and punchy. The Phenix Horns, who played with Earth, Wind & Fire, added some real Soul and Lakshminarayana Shankar brought some Indian exotic violin. The songs were simple, too simple for a Prog band, but varied in style, and Collins was free to experiment with the sound as he pleased.

In The Air Tonight is not just Collins’ signature track but is one of the most iconic in Rock. Over a few languid chords, an unassuming electronic drum pattern and some guitar and violin atmospherics, the vocal simmers with a brooding menace. Tension builds relentlessly for three minutes and forty seconds until it explodes with a gargantuan drum fill. It is such a jaw-dropping performance, the song that follows is an instantly forgettable, insipid ballad. A remake of Behind The Lines from the Genesis album Duke is put on the front foot by a sprightly rhythm and the Phenix Horns. Collins is pouring his heart out at the piano for The Roof Is Leaking, backed by banjo and slide. Tamboura and congas predominate for an African flavoured instrumental, Droned, before side one ends with five full minutes of a children’s choir la-la-ing to the horns and another energetic drumming performance.

We are back in safer commercial waters for the self pity of I Missed Again. Ronnie Scott plays the sax solo on what was a top twenty single both in the US and UK. Collins accepts defeat on You Know What I Mean despite the support of a string section arranged by Martyn Ford. The drums, horns and guitar return to up the cajones count for Thunder And Lightening, a step to the gritted teeth determination of I’m Not Moving. If Leaving Me Is Easy is the emotional core of Face Value, brokenhearted and despondent. Don Myrick plays poignant saxophone and Eric Clapton barely-noticeable guitar. The album concludes with a suitably bizarre cover of Tomorrow Never Knows and a brief a capella epilogue of Over The Rainbow.

Face Value was a huge success, selling 12 million copies worldwide. Collins immediately switched to recording Abacab for Genesis. There was no tour to support it and no useful contemporaneous studio outtakes, leaving a quandary for 45th anniversary box set compilers. Full Value doubles the two CD set from 2016, adding further live material, demos and a few remixes. A stand alone Blu-Ray contains the original stereo and Steven Wilson remixes in Dolby Atmos, 5.1 Hi Res and new stereo. All the live recordings, encompassing two discs, were captured years later, except for The 1981 Secret Policeman’s Ball contributions. The musicians are never less than stellar, so the performances are generally invigorating but feel remote and detached. However, the box is rescued by its fourth disc of the demos Collins recorded at home, the ones that Ertegun was impressed by. When it was released, the album’s intense close-up sleeve art and unblinking, honest lyrics made listeners believe they were intruding on a personal catastrophe. If forty-five years have blunted that effect, these demos bring the out the raw emotion all over again, revisiting the pain he suffered alone with his rudimentary equipment. They sound threadbare, frayed at the edges. Fortunately, for our heart’s sake, there are quite a few instrumentals but they highlight the over-arching problem with Face Value. The melodies are slight and elusive. Just as they begin to form, they dissolve into a mist of tears. That’s made into a virtue on In The Air Tonight, but a whole album without a real, gripping tune fails to engage, no matter how connecting the lyrics might be.

In 1981, the Genesis singer’s debut held a few surprises: its striking sleeve art, awesome opener, personal lyrics, Soul horns and Indian flavourings. However, inadvertently, Phil Collins invented a new genre with Face Value, that of sad-sack divorced dad. Subsequent albums, all commercially successful, consolidated his position as the uncool king of soft rock. His efforts on You Can’t Hurry Love and Sussokio with Philip Bailey merely came across as embarrassing dad dancing. Forty five years on, this narrative is difficult to shake off. Disc four is a reminder of where it all started.

What does it all *mean*?

Graham Parker dodged a bullet. After the superb Squeezing Out Sparks made a splash in America, he signed a deal with Atlantic Records, whose chair Ahmet Ertegun suggested he make his next album sound “like Phil Collins”. He ended up releasing nothing for the label.

Goes well with…

A stiff drink. Be careful, that way lies madness.

Release Date:

18/9/2026

Might suit people who like…

Sad-Sack Divorced Dad music. Let’s face it, there’s a moment for everything.

6

Comments

  2. Excellent review Tig. I like this album very much even with its weaknesses that you point out. Phil tried a few different producers before realising he didn’t actually want to be produced and Hugh Padgem came in with the brief to help him make the record rather than produce it; I think it’s quite a unique sounding record. I think it was Easy Lover with Philip Bailey rather than Sussudio? And it’s a total banger. Great guitar playing from Daryl Stuermer.

  3. A fine review Tiggs. One of my favourite Genesis albums is ‘A Trck Of. The Tail’ with P.C. on vocal. I bought F.V. on release which I enjoyed…for a while, I ended up giving it away. The thing is I really disliked Collins and that was the real reason I gave it away. I didn’t give away ‘A.T.O.T.T.’ nor the following album ‘Wind & Wuthering’ I liked them too much, still,do. But aside from ‘Duke’ I was done with Genesis.

    Oh I’ve ordered the ‘Face Value’ Bluray from the Doders it was only a tenner + pennies, I’m a Gemini, things change.

    • Blu-Ray is best value for Face Value (Full Value) without a doubt.

      I don’t mind his voice. It’s a bit thin and unassuming, perfect for Sad Sack Divorce Dad music. But it’s also is reasonably similar to Gabriel’s when he makes the effort, which is why ATOTT and W&W work so well.

  4. Really enjoyed reading this review.

    The only point I’d maybe disagree on is the stuff about being unable to change the narrative. I actually do think Collins escaped the “divorce anthems” tag in the end, perhaps not by force of his own effort but simply by the passing of time.

    The insane drum sound on some of Collins’ solo work lead to his being adopted as a totemic influence by an entire generation of Hip Hop and R&B stars circa the turn of the millennium. He was sampled by artists including Meek Mill, 2Pac, DMX and Cam’ron and appeared in person as a guest vocalist on a Bone Thugs-N-Harmony track.

    In 2001 an album specifically devoted to Hip Hop/R&B artists paying tribute to Collins was released, under the title Urban Renewal.

    Featured artists included Brandy, Montell Jordan, Brian McKnight, Kelis and Lil Kim. Perhaps most famously, the record also included a cover of Sussudio by Ol’ Dirty Bastard. At around the same time, Ice T was questioned about the presence of Phil Collins in his record collection and replied with the iconic line: “Don’t mess with my Phil”. It sounds like I’m making this stuff up, but it actually happened.

    Perhaps because of all of the above, the patina of uncool that had always lingered over the Collins solo years was largely cleared away for the generation below his original audience. I know a ton of people who love the solo work, and who will go to bat for the likes of Easy Lover, Against All Odds, I Wish It Would Rain Down, One More Night and particularly Sussudio as unalloyed classic bangers. In fact, I’m one of those people myself.

    There’s also an even younger audience that was first introduced to Phil Collins via the Disney soundtracks he produced for Tarzan and Brother Bear, which has again created a different pathway to his music than the classic “he left Genesis and divorces his wives by fax” route.

    I would obviously hesitate to ever call Phil Collins “cool”, but I think the “uncool” has largely died away in many quarters. And that’s a good thing, because it allows people to just enjoy the music, some of which is really quite wonderful.

    • I think there is a difference in the way he is perceived either side of the Atlantic. Gabriel’s Genesis was barely noticed in the US. The band only started to be noticed at the same time as Collins’ solo career took off. Essentially, the first they knew of him was In The Air Tonight and, as you describe, rappers were as delighted with his drum sound as they were with John Bonham’s.

      In the UK, The drumming made less of an impression and Rap music at the turn of the century didn’t give him much credibility.

  6. I think the key to Phil Collins’s huge success and also his failure is the, if you will, “cultural appropriation” of “Motown” vibes, which were rather naff. Also, did ANYONE like the angsty ballads? By contrast, the developments with EWF horns and his jazzy side was enough, and well done. ( I still listen to his Brand X and big band jazz album (of course I do)). I think that as he went on, Collins’s “I’m not one of those berks in fishing hats calling for “Supper’s Ready”” snark turned him into a mainstream karaoke act, losing artistic credibility. But Genesis were getting ever more dull, also, and as many here will concur, were pretty much over when Steve Hackett left, even if they sold a lot of records and concert tickets for several more decades.

    Mass-market appeal plus riches followed for PC, but I’m not sure he was happy (even if crying all the way to the bank); irritability, divorces, and alcoholism suggest as much. The “Blues Brothers” encores at the Genesis gigs was a provocative step, but similarly self-diminishing, if you ask me, though clearly knew the new audience,

    The first solo album was good, and there are spots on the second and third which are OK. I think a career in a more John Martyn or Steve Winwood style would have been better – the funky, fusiony Martyn/ Winwood – but the others had grabbed that. And may not have been so lucrative. This is another great review, Tigs.

  7. I don’t give a flying one any more about “cool”, thank God. He’s done some belters solo, with In The Air Tonight, Against All Odds and Easy Lover at the top of the pile.

    And what a drummer he was.

    Another enjoyable review from the “[LP Title] at [Anniversary]” stable 🎩

    • PC doing Against All Odds at Live Aid is one of my favourite live music clips of all time.

      Comes out like your old man, weird towel in hand. Sits at the piano like “let’s see if I can remember how to play this thing”, then chucks out a series of “good afternoon”s in the tone of voice usually reserved for embarrassing your teenage offspring. Proceeds to calmly bosh out three and a half minutes of absolute solo gold to a rapt Wembley Stadium.

      The song obviously isn’t breaking any new ground, but it’s bloody lovely and he’s so extraordinarily casual about the entire endeavour that it becomes oddly intimate; the crowd silent, the other musicians just stood onstage vibing along, one man noodling away at the keys like there isn’t another soul in the room.

      You can have all the good taste you want, but there has to be some room for this sort of thing in the world or what are we even doing.

        • Nicely written, Bingo, and thanks for sharing. I’ve got a lot of time for PC and his music (although I recall his cheeky/diamond geezer style getting a bit wearing in TV appearances by the late 1980s), but even his biggest detractors surely have to acknowledge the courage it must have taken to play and sing solo before a stadium-full and untold millions of TV viewers.

          Re the musicians vibing on stage: it’s hard to tell on my phone screen, but IIRC the chap on the left was Sting, nodding groovily along.

          On the video, I see YouTube’s subtitles are amusing: “Is this just an auntie space” and “Tickler for me now.” The song Phil should have written, perhaps.

          • I had to shield the bottom of the screen with my hand because of those subbies. They do rather detract from an excellent performance of a very challenging melody. After seeing this clip I’ve decided not to add this to my karaoke list.

      • My adolescent music snobbery in the 1980s made it impossible to like PC at the time, but I can now appreciate some of his stuff, and Against All Odds as a great break-up ballad.

  8. Growing up as a Genesis fan, I have always liked the Phil Collins solo stuff and never understood the animosity to him. Yes, he was probably over exposed in the mid 80’s, but that doesn’t take away the fact he is a brilliant artist / singer / songwriter / drummer.

    Yes, his later years were a little on the bland side – but you can probably level that accusation at many an artist with a long career.

    Still think Face Value is a superb album and it still gets played reasonably regularly. I have the BD on order.

    • Was there really animosity towards him? Whenever he was interviewed on the radio around this time, he always seemed like a good egg with a good wide ranging knowledge of different types of music. My problem with him has always been his nails down a blackboard voice and I’d be happy to never hear one of his records again… also there was his desecration of Can’t Hurry Love but I’m fairly certain he did it from a music fans perspective so I’ll give him a bit of leeway… but again, I don’t ever want it inflicted on me again.

  9. I’m a bit in the middle here…not a huge fan, but do really like a lot of the solo singles if they come on the radio and the same with Collins era Genesis.

    I mentioned elsewhere today that I am going through my late sister’s collection, and she had a lot of his albums and Genesis. I occurred to me that he appeals to women as much as men, if not more so.

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