THE PLATINUM COLLECTION

Call me a fool, but I actually bought this set (at a firmly reduced price, of course) because I wanted the best tunes from the 1980s/1990s Phil Collins era. As a great admirer (since 1975!) of Gabriel-era Genesis, I never used to listen to the radio and only occasionally saw a clip or two on MTV, but of course some of those Collins-led tunes are inescapable, and I have to admit I even like a couple. So let's forget about Bret Easton Ellis, I ended up with this PLATINUM COLLECTION, what did I make of it?

Well, ladies and gentlemen, some of the tunes were as good as I'd hoped for and perhaps (when you don't hear them pouring out of a speaker in a noisy bar) even better. Songs like 'No Son Of Mine', 'Abacab' and 'Turn It On Again' can only be described as superior pop. 'Jesus He Knows Me' is as delightful as anything Peter Gabriel ever did, and 'Mama' actually starts out like one of PG's early solo tracks - what a shame it had to end on a 'screaming skull shrieking' fest. Yes, I'll admit that right from the start I had problems with Mr. Collins' insistent emoting, but that doesn't mean he can't sound deeply affecting as well: tracks like 'Many Too Many' and 'Undertow' actually bring a tear to my eye. And much to my surprise, 'That's All' strongly reminds me of the Dutch prog band Kayak, and of Genesis anno 1971 ('Harold the Barrel', to be precise).

Alas, I also found that discs 1 and 2 contain a number of tunes I didn't enjoy at all ('In Too Deep' for example, and that horrible little thing from CALLING ALL STATIONS), while one or two of Genesis' earworm songs (like 'Invisible Touch' and 'Tonight Tonight Tonight') proved deeply irritating. When the second disc reached WIND AND WUTHERING and A TRICK OF THE TAIL, I was disappointed that the most ambitious songs from those albums ('One For The Vine' and 'Robbery, Assault and Battery', for example) were nowhere to be found. Instead, I got offered relatively bland fare such as 'Afterglow' (I just can't stand Phil Collins singing falsetto) and (Lord help us) 'Your Own Special Way'. Couldn't they have picked 'Blood on the Rooftops' instead? It's at least twenty times better... Anything to avoid giving Steve Hackett his due, I suppose... Well, at least the compilers had the guts to include both 'In That Quiet Earth' and 'Los Endos', which are the closest Genesis ever got to 'progressive jazz rock' à la Brand X.

With Disc 3 we enter a different universe, and the great news is that the best track is included from each of Genesis' classic 1970s albums. (I would also have loved to see 'Dancing With The Moonlit Knight' instead of 'I Know What I Like', but I guess you can't have everything.) As soon as the disc begins, we hear a new voice which has the kind of dignity Phil Collins - for all his virtues - never possessed. I wonder how that third disc will go down with unsuspecting non-proggers if they pick up this collection in a thrift store, just like me...

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