Phil Collins’ “Take A Look At Me Now” retrospective campaign has inspired a major rediscovery of his back catalog. Not only have his albums returned to the charts for the first time in years, but their previously unreleased tracks have allowed fans to discover new aspects to the material and the extended album formats have sparked a critical reappraisal of his work. The campaign concludes on June 10th with the deluxe edition of …But Seriously and an amended version of his most recent studio album, now titled The Essential Going Back.
The “Take A Look At Me Now” campaign finds Phil Collins revisiting a career that can boast over 100 million sales and numerous worldwide #1 albums.
Entirely curated and compiled by Collins himself, his idea for the “Take A Look At Me Now” concept is to examine how his songs have evolved over time, with the majority of the additional content throughout the series focused on live versions of the tracks. By contrasting the original studio versions of the material with later performances, the series demonstrates how Collins’ songs take on a life of their own once they’re freed from the confines of the studio.
Originally released in December 1989, …But Seriously features many of Collins’ biggest hits and was one of its era’s biggest selling albums. The album spent four weeks atop the Billboard 200 and scored #1 chart positions all over the globe. In the UK, it spent a total of 15 weeks at #1 during an extended run of almost a year in the Top 10, en route to becoming the biggest selling album of 1990. The album campaign culminated with his fourth and fifth BRIT Awards for British Single (“Another Day in Paradise”) and British Male.
Collins returned to #1 in 2010 with Going Back which represented his first studio album since 2002’s Testify. Going Back was a personal labor of love project that found him faithfully recreating the soul gems that played such an influential role in his musical life.
The concept, he said at the time, “Was not to bring anything ‘new’ to these already great records, but to try to recreate the sounds and feelings that I had when I first heard them.” That objective was achieved with the help of special guests including three surviving members of The Funk Brothers: Eddie Willis (guitar), Bob Babbitt (bass) and Ray Monette (guitar).
“I decided to call this version of Going Back The Essential Going Back,” he explains. “In retrospect, I included too much music on the original version, and I believe that too much is not always a good thing. Hence this trimmed down selection of my favorite Motown songs.”
Both albums feature a second disc which compiles an array of demos, live recording and B-sides from its parent album.
As with the rest of the reissue series, …But Seriously and The Essential Going Back will be available as 2 CD and digital versions which feature the remastered album and the additional content, as well as the 180-gram heavyweight audiophile vinyl format which features the remastered album as a standalone product.
Each album in the series will be remastered by Nick Davis, who earned a Grammy nomination for Best Surround Sound album for his work on the Genesis ‘1970-1975’ box set. Davis has also worked on all of the Genesis retrospective reissues. Each album features a bold new artwork concept in which Collins has recreated his poses from the original album covers with new photography that was shot in the present day.
…But Seriously Deluxe Edition – 2 CD | 2 LP
Original Album Remastered
1. “Hang In Long Enough”
2. “That’s Just The Way It Is”
3. “Do You Remember?”
4. “Something Happened On The Way To Heaven”
5. “Colours”
6. “I Wish It Would Rain Down”
7. “Another Day In Paradise”
8. “Heat On The Street”
9. “All Of My Life”
10. “Saturday Night And Sunday Morning”
11. “Father To Son”
12. “Find A Way To My Heart”
Bonus Tracks – CD & Digital Formats Only
1. “Hang In Long Enough” – Live*
2. “Something Happened On The Way To Heaven” – Live*
3. “Colours” – Live*
4. “Saturday Night And Sunday Morning” – Live*
5. “Always” – Live*
6. “Find A Way To My Heart” – Live*
7. “That’s How I Feel” – B-side
8. “You’ve Been In Love (That Little Bit Too Long)” – B-side
9. “Another Day in Paradise” – Demo
10. “That’s Just The Way It Is” – Demo
11. “I Wish It Would Rain Down” – Demo
12. “Hang In Long Enough” – Demo
13. “Do You Remember?” – Demo
The Essential Going Back – 2 CD | 2 LP
Abridged Album, Remastered
1. “Going Back”
2. “Girl (Why You Wanna Make Me Blue)”
3. “(Love Is Like A) Heatwave”
4. “Some Of Your Lovin'”
5. “Going To A Go-Go”
6. “Papa Was A Rolling Stone”
7. “Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever”
8. “Something About You”
9. “Talkin’ About My Baby”
10. “Do I Love You”
11. “Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer”
12. “Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me For A Little While)”
13. “Too Many Fish In The Sea”
14. “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)”
Bonus Tracks – CD & Digital Formats Only
1. “Signed Sealed Delivered (I’m Yours) – Intro” – Live*
2. “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” – Live*
3. “Girl (Why You Wanna Make Me Blue)” – Live*
4. “Dancing In The Street” – Live*
5. “(Love Is Like A) Heatwave” – Live*
6. “Papa Was A Rolling Stone” -Live*
7. “Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer” – Live*
8. “Talkin’ Bout My Baby” – Live*
9. “Do I Love You” – Live*
10. “Ain’t That Peculiar” – Live*
11. “Too Many Fish In The Sea” -Live*
12. “You Really Got A Hold On Me” – Live*
13. “Something About You” – Live*
14. “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” – Live*
15. “My Girl” – Live*
16. “Going Back” – Live*
*Previously unreleased on CD
