Defend Phil Collins

Yeah, that's right - I've seen a couple of recent interviews where he's been medicated up to the eyeballs.

https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/phil-collins2.jpg

Turns up everywhere does Phil, here he is as a blacksmith on the cover of a Planxty album.

https://shop.totallyvinyl.com/img/uploads/images/planxty/PLANXTY_COLLECTION_LP_1.jpg

Just for the sake of the few that never heard the story:

Collins’ connection with the Beatles dates back to 1964, when he was hired as an extra in their first feature film, A Hard Day’s Night. Then just 13, he spent the day alongside hundreds of fellow teenagers instructed to shout at the top of their lungs during the climactic television concert scene. Unfortunately, his musical purism ended up costing him screen time. “They wanted kids that were screaming, and I just sat still, which is probably why I was cut out of the film,” Collins told Rolling Stone in 2016. “I remember thinking, ‘For crying out loud, will you stop screaming? Let’s listen to the music!'”

His second experience with one of the Fabs was equally disappointing. In 1970 he was booked to play congas on a session for “The Art of Dying,” to be included on All Things Must Pass. “One night, our managers called me and said, ‘You want to go down to Abbey Road?'” he remembers. “I said, ‘I’m a bit busy, I’ve just had a bath.’ And they said, ‘Well, it’s for George Harrison.’ I went, ‘I’ll get a cab.’ I walked in and there was Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Phil Spector, Klaus Voorman, Badfinger, (guitarist) Pete Drake, (Beatles road manager) Mal Evans and George. Spector was introduced in this brusque way. He was like, ‘Who is this young guy, thinks he can play with the Beatles?'”

Eager to prove his worth, the 19-year-old attacked the song with brute force during the run-throughs – and soon he had the scars to prove it. By the time the recording began, his hands were raw and he could barely play. “After 90 minutes, I had blood blisters. They took a break, and then Ringo’s chauffeur came and said, ‘You’re finished.'” The sound of congas, if they appear at all, can’t be heard on the final mix. “When All Things Must Pass came out, I looked through the credits and there was no mention of me,” he says.

Harrison himself remained unaware of Collins’ participation until 2001, when he was assembling a remastered package of the album in celebration of its 30th anniversary. He and Collins had become friendly in the intervening decades, so Harrison decided to have a little fun with the Genesis superstar. As an apology for not crediting him on the original release, he sent Collins a version of the song that he claimed featured his lost percussion contributions.

“I got a tape from George of the song that I played with the congas quite loud,” Collins told EW. “I thought, Oh, my god, this sounds terrible. In fact, it was a Harrison joke. He’d recorded (percussionist) Ray Cooper. (He said,) ‘Play bad, I’m going to record it and send it to Phil.’ I couldn’t believe that a Beatle had actually spent that much time on a practical joke for me.”

He spends about 40 minutes telling that last story in the more-Partridge-than-Partridge audiobook of his autobiography

It's a great joke

Can I just say again that I love that there's also a British filmmaker named Phil Collins trying to make very political films, and I'm just never able to take them seriously. His latest, Bring Down the Walls, about the power of house music to fight the prison industrial complex, is again very good indeed.

Two teenagers listening to Phil Collins for the first time are blown away... I ❤️ this! Phil Collins is a G... a Legend... The Truth! 💯 https://t.co/2kInJTclY7

— Cyrus McQueen (@CyrusMMcQueen) August 7, 2020

^ You can guess what's going to happen but it's still a great moment

that's cute!

early in lockdown i was walking around sadly through pandemic bedstuy and came across a group of oldder dudes smoking tons of weed and blasting the reggae cover of "one more night" from a jeep and it was the most beautiful moment, i had to stop and take it all in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Q_FlTlEoM

some "sad youtube" comments there .. catching a feeling again ... or should i say, phil-ing

lol. good stuff

Wait, the Busy Signal, balloon-man?

Great, kids. Now do it with "Don't Lose My Number."

the phil collins teens are my weekend inspiration tbh

check their "Jolene" video

I envy those kids getting to hear Phil Collins for the last time for the first time

I'm not sure I'll ever understand those reaction videos, but I do find the enthusiasm welcome. I liked the Vegas guys reacting to Rush's "YYZ."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B52bvzudAvQ

They even find a way to compare it to "Beat It."

lol with the drums

Wait, /the/ Busy Signal, balloon-man?

It hurts me when reaction channels pause the music.

We were just talking last night about how we Gen X'ers just don't get why people watch Twitch.

I think reaction videos fall into the same category. Maybe you need to have grown up with social media to be truly entertained by other people being entertained?

watching other people play video games is pretty darn relaxing

speedruns are a visceral thing

I get more insight into the music from Lost in Vegas than I do from a lot of printed music crit.

I haven't actually watched this Phil Collins thing, though.

he watched some guy let another guy drown

OK, that was definitely more basic but they have heart.

The kids with Phil Collins are the first good reaction video in history because you have the tension of knowing what's going to happen and waiting for it.

pitching a Youtube series of reaction videos to historical world events - teens see the Zapruder film for the first time!

I think reaction videos are more like unboxing videos? I do like watching speed runs and people playing video game, so my anecdotal survey of one, me, implies those are different things, but I can't say why. Maybe it's more like watching a sporting event or something?

how are GenZers so fucking chilled out and comfortable being on camera is what I want to know

It's their social life, how they communicate, afaict. Even my kids (for example) seem hyper-attuned to the nuances of presentation/selfies, and the aesthetic approach of various streamers/youtubers.

i played Sussudio to some teens and they beat the shit out of me

— blaine capatch (@blainecapatch) August 8, 2020

haha

every reaction video looks incredibly fucking fake and stupid to me, but this was alright, though it still looks fake; they swear none of them are though.

Yeah I thought it was good and seemed genuine, scrolled thru a few of their others... wondered how the tracks are chosen though? Like if they’ve truly never heard the songs, how do they know which would be good for the channel?

someone needs to do a reaction to a reaction to a reaction video sort of thing

anyways -- back to the topic at hand -- i think phil collins is on the cusp of critical recognition as a GOAT, not to the same degree as like hall and oates or steely dan but there's something about his catalog that really touches a lot of different people and features some pretty indelible all-time hooks

yeah I watched Taylor Swift's recent-ish Live Lounge & she heavily praised & played one of his songs that I'd never heard---"Can't Stop Loving You". it was ok I guess but I hadn't heard it before. now I see that before Collins it was a Leo Sager song!

watching these kids try 'superstition' for the first time is amusing
"i didn't know stevie wonder was an r&b singer or a rapper or whatever"
i agree that their repeated pausing of the song throughout is entirely reasonable cause for thoughts of murder

"isn't she love-"

'you know, I'm not really feeling this song yet. I expected something a bit more immediate"

"lyyyyyyy-"

'now I can see where this song draws its hype from. and it's about a baby or somethin? killer."

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/rabbit-holes/the-addictive-joy-of-watching-someone-listen-to-phil-collins

I've watched several of their videos in the past and enjoyed them a lot but I'm not sure why this is the one that blew up?

The Steely Dan one is ok

went to see phil collins in '82 and it was great but when he started playing "in the air tonight" he put a big spotlight on me and then the cops came and arrested me. turned out i'd murdered somebody a couple years previously and phil saw the whole thing and wrote the song about me, and i wound up doing twenty for it, so i never saw the end of the show.

the phenix horns were great that night, though.

― rushomancy, Sunday, September 13, 2015 3:10 AM bookmarkflaglink

Phil is worth it for these LOLs alone

another day in paradise?

I've watched several of their videos in the past and enjoyed them a lot but I'm not sure why this is the one that blew up?

― Gerneten-flüken cake (jed_), Sunday, August 9, 2020 11:30 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Because Something in the Air Tonight is already meme-fodder.

Something in the Air Tonight

Rare Harrison / Collins collab

lol whoops.