# The Strange Magic of: Phil Collins (and Philip Bailey)



## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Back in the late 1980s I befriended a young graphic artist at my workplace who, with her boyfriend, was totally committed to Alternative and Grunge, and who reviled many of the mainstream pop artists of the day. Phil Collins was an especially loathed target of theirs, with them referring to him somewhat amusedly as The Antichrist. I wasn't a big ruler-in or ruler-out of rock or pop groups or artists, so I could never fathom their disgust and we often locked horns over Collins; I rather liked Phil, both as Peter Gabriel's replacement in Genesis, and as also the source of some absolute killer pop euphoria. Phil Collins, working with Philip Bailey and with the Phenix Horns of Earth, Wind and Fire, generated two of my absolute musical cocaine favorite pieces of pop ecstasy, I Missed Again and, here, _Easy Lover_, minus Bailey. So easy to get lost in music this good.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Here is the other fine Collins/Bailey/Phenix collaboration, _I Missed Again_, again in live concert format, with no Bailey. What is weird is that no source I've read identifies Philip Bailey as providing the extraordinarily tight harmony behind Collins' vocals in this song in the original studio recording, yet there it is. A mystery. Some similar musical cocaine, but not available (maybe it doesn't exist) as a live concert clip, is Steve Winwood's Freedom Overspill. I've already offered up Madonna's live Dress You Up in this series. Alongside the ecstasy and chills of Great Rock are the euphoria and chills of Great Pop......


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Why the Antichrist? Being the favorite "artist" of Patrick Bateman, the title character in Brett Easton Ellis' American Psycho didn't help! And "selling his soul" for pop success didn't help either, since some remember he used to do this:


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

You have the advantage of me there, in that I am not a good judge of the state of the souls of rock and pop artists. All I can judge for myself is that some people offer music I like more as they and I age, some offer worse, and some stay about the same. The music may not be the same; perhaps a different genre, but I may still like the product.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

I do like In the Air Tonight and maybe a few other tunes, plus some stuff he did with Genesis. But then there's Against All Odds...

I love the Patrick Bateman stuff and have been waiting for Strange Magic to do Huey Lewis just so I can post that one quote. Or movie clip.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

GreenMamba said:


> I have been waiting for Strange Magic to do Huey Lewis just so I can post that one quote. Or movie clip.


I'm a fan. I'll look into getting some decent News going. Hey, if the Rumour was good.....


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Strange Magic said:


> You have the advantage of me there, in that I am not a good judge of the state of the souls of rock and pop artists. All I can judge for myself is that some people offer music I like more as they and I age, some offer worse, and some stay about the same. The music may not be the same; perhaps a different genre, but I may still like the product.


I should have put "selling his soul" in quotation marks. In fact, I will. I was never a big Genesis fan and I'm not that invested in the issue. But that is one of the reasons he is called "the Antichrist."


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I find it's easier to just stick to the music. Though the soul-selling angle can result in some good copy--one of the tastiest critiques of Rod Stewart was Greil Marcus' takedown of Stewart in the _Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll_. Specimen copy: "There have been more albums since--huge hits, some of them, pandering, sleazy records, the humor forced, the compassion just a gesture, the sexiness burned down to everyone else's open shirt and stuffed crotch. Stewart bought himself a band--hacks incapable of playing a note that had not already been bled dry. Stewart seemed comfortable with them; they couldn't push him, because they wouldn't understand the idea. He couldn't push them, even if he wanted to; they'd fall down." Great literature, at any rate.


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## ericdxx (Jul 7, 2013)

He is great at using the same basic chord progressions over and over again. Acab had some interesting stuff but not really when it comes to the chords and notes?

But I can understand why he got bored with his songwriting and got super depressed when he couldn't play drums anymore.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Tight band featuring Collins here:


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I've been impressed at how mutually supportive and collaborative the British rock/pop artists have been over the decades. One reads accounts of various performers stepping in to help their colleagues at low points in their professional or personal lives. Collins and Clapton worked together wonderfully as the above clip shows, as did Clapton and Winwood later. And there are many other examples.


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

I like this song


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Produced some great rock with Genesis and pop as a solo artist
My favourite solo track is Easy Lover
Always thought he was a better drummer than singer


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## acitak 7 (Jun 26, 2016)

*philip bailey*

Chinese wall by Philip bailey great song from the 80s


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I've never liked his solo work (or, for that matter, nearly all of Genesis's material from the _Duke_ album onwards) - I found it had the same anodyne, glossy, overblown/overproduced characteristics which defined so much 1980s/early 1990s pop - i.e. Bryan Adams, Meatloaf, Cher, T'pau, Simple Minds etc. - but there's no denying the fact that he did damned well for himself with his parallel solo career pretty much in the same way that Bryan Ferry did during the 1970s when the latter was with Roxy Music.

Phil Collins seems all too aware of how his solo output has polarised opinion and turned him into something of a pantomime villain in the eyes of 'serious' music fans but he's not allowed it to bother him too much (at least not publicly) and despite my dislike of his output I certainly don't hold his success against him - as well as being a fine musician he also strikes me as being a good bloke.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

elgars ghost said:


> I've never liked his solo work (or, for that matter, nearly all of Genesis's material from the _Duke_ album onwards) - I found it had the same anodyne, glossy, overblown/overproduced characteristics which defined so much 1980s/early 1990s pop


You post about anodyne, glossy, overblown/overproduced rock/pop like it's a bad thing. Yet it can be a good thing (if one thinks so). A few examples that I like: The Cult: Edie; Bon Jovi: Livin' on a Prayer... I'll stop here because I could go on listing dozens--hundreds--of songs that really turn me on in large measure because of their opulence and theatricality. I like spare and lean; I like lush and overripe.....


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Here's a replacement _Easy Lover_ for the one YouTube took away. Is nothing secure in this ever-changing world? This song, along with a handful of others, belongs in a small pantheon of instant euphoria-inducing pop that I find irresistable....


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

It was very trendy back then to hate some artists and Phil is one of them. When I was younger, my dad really loved Phil's music and his sense of humour presented in his videos, for example - I Can't Dance & Land of Confusion (Genesis ofcourse) and he really liked his ballads like 'One More Night', 'I Wish It Would Rain Down', 'Another Day in Paradise', etc. Dad was mostly into classical music and opera, but he did like some of pop music too. Phil is really high quality craftsman of pop music and that is something that can't be found today on charts. 
Many people sometimes want to look smart with their hatred towards something that is 'too easy to like' and Phil's music is mostly actually very easy to like during 1st listening. His songs are catchy and memorable. That doesn't make those songs bad - that makes most of those listeners snobbish and clueless. 
It's almost the same with ABBA... they may sound very simple to someone, but they made probably the most complex (and at the same time likeable and catchy) pop songs ever. Their music is pretty much complex considering pop standards, but people who are only able to notice form instead of substance like to believe and to convince others that good tune is actually a bad tune. It's really not that easy to compose good pop song, no matter how simple or complex it may be. As you can see, today on charts you can't find anything remotely decent. It's all derivative, generic, simple and sad... very sad (no, I'm not quoting Trump). 
I should also mention that I'm not psychopath like Bateman... I'm pretty much big empath and I have sometimes problems because of that. It would be great to feel less. 
I also believe that showing in movie that psychopath like Bateman likes Phil's music was just another try (and pretty much succesful) to show how horrible, shallow, sterile and empty Phil's music is - that only psychopath could like it. I don't agree with that. It's horrible attempt of demonization. It's quite sad that some people were stupid enough to believe that that scene (even though it's kinda good scene) has any real truth in it. 
Trust me, psychopaths mostly don't like melodic pop. Some research shows that they mostly like rap. They also don't throw their victims to pool filled with crocodiles while there is Pavarotti singing 'Nessun Dorma' in the background. That's fictional nonsense. Phil is also not one of their favorite musicians.

During 80's Phil made some really interesting songs with great atmosphere:











And yes, I do like his agressive uptempo pop:


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Nikola, we be of one blood, Ye and I. :angel:


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