"I'm not Genesis' biggest fan." - Phil Collins on Drumeo in 2024.
Phil Collins has always been a bit of a fascination of mine, both sides of him. He seems to have his Proghead years, speaking highly of albums from prog peers such as Yes and King Crimson, namely Bill Bruford. Alternatively, he has professed many times his love of Motown. Of course he is in his right to have a multitude of interests, none of which contradicts the other.
But- and please pardon my pretentiousness here- I've always thought there was a bit more of an "artist" that got buried in there along with his fame. A song like In The Air Tonight has more of an edge, a sense of experimentation, and to my ear, a sense of inspiration that much of his other works clearly lack. Similarly, his debut record Face Value contains an interesting trilogy of songs. "The Roof is Leaking" through "Hand in Hand" show Collins ambitiously arranging something of a Suite, not wholly unlike what he might do with Genesis. Moreover, when he recently was asked about his top 10 favorite songs, to which he was not limited to his own discography, I found it odd that he picked one of his own songs- kind of: he mentioned his love of his cover of Tomorrow Never Knows. What an interesting pick, wouldn't you say?
I digress. I feel like he was not necessarily selling out in the 80s- he genuinely liked his music- but I think that initial artist, the one who would like Tomorrow Never Knows and Prog Rock, never really fully developed. What I'm looking for is insight into what he thought, either at the time or afterwards, about his work in Genesis.
What did he write? What did he think about other parts? What did he encourage or discourage? These could be sourced from quotes from the man himself, or others in the band. What insights can we gleam from this about Phil, and his development as an artist?