Best album (pt.1) - Phil Collins, Face Value

First thing's first... this sequence of "best albums" is in absolutely no particular order. It was hard enough to choose ten albums only. The guitars were a different story... obviously one cannot purchase as much guitars as albums... duh!

In the summer of 1990, I tried to learn everything I could about a girl... I listened, paid attention, asked, looked for... there was nothing I was neglecting (other than the fact I was too immature to "read" certain things).

One thing I learned is that she (mais oui, c'etait une fèmme qui... vous savez!)... well, she told me she liked Phil Collins (my guess is that it was the commecial stuff, but I couldn't care less) and so I went and bought the cheapest CD there was available.

Incidently, this was his debut album and it took me quite a while to like it. Other than "I Missed Again" (that I already knew from an NBA advertisement), the album was strangely different from everything I had heard before; there were two singles could get some air-play (the first song of the album, "In The Air Tonight" and also "I Missed Again"), but otherwise, it was a sequence of stories, much like the seventies concept albums.

As I and she became increasingly apart from each other, the album remained increasingly more and more important. Songs like "The Roof Is Leaking" or "Thunder And Lightning" instantly became favourite, because I could identify with several aspects in the lyrics. And, naturally, that's a big plus for any album.

And the cover to The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" is the cherry on top of the cake. I'm not a big fan of the song (neither version) but I do appreciate Phil Collins' view.



All in all, a great album from a great writer and drummer.