keepers 5
keeper avg .417
Not only did the album's leading track re-define the rest of its author's career, it's a song that defined a decade. "In The Air Tonight"*****, which at least the vast majority of earthlings have heard (if not all of those past the Barney phase), should appear in the dictionary as an example as 'dated', but when its dark vibes, composed from Collins' ad-libbed vocal and minimal instrumentation, are blown to hell by that massive, gated drum fill, it's one of the pivotal moments in all of rock music. The following track, "This Must Be Love", is its opposite in intensity, a minimalist ballad with only an occasional bass fill to break up the quiet wash. The lame version of "Behind the Lines" (originally recorded with his other band you may have heard of) did give Collins an excuse to put in some pops of brass, but the drastically sped-up tempo (inspired by listening to the original version at double-speed during recording) negates everything that was cool about the original, leaving a busy, rushed mess. "The Roof Is Leaking", a slightly more soulful ballad, segues into a cool world-music-y instrumental coda, the appropriately-named "Droned"****. "Hand In Hand", another Lion King inflected instrumental closes out side one. Another rocking single, "I Missed Again"**** sports heavy R&B horns, as does "Thunder And Lightning." After "You Know What I Mean"****, a poignant orchestral ballad in the tradition of Collins' cover of "Separate Lives", the side again drags in the middle until closing strong with a cover of "Tomorrow Never Knows"****, noticeably dated with phaser and other 80's effects but no less psychedelic than the Beatles' original.
Comments