4 keepers
keeper avg .400
Compared to the gated-reverb-extravaganza "In The Air Tonight" the year before, the similar-sounding "I Don't Care Anymore" pales, though it was a memorable-enough hit. All the values of 80's excess are in full effect on "I Cannot Believe It's True", including peppy horns (The Phenix Horns on this and 2 other tracks), processed drums, fake tropical percussion, and lots of synth, but no one ever claimed Collins wasn't very much of the time. Collins goofy cockney accent fits the angular, Mike Rutherford-like riff in "Like China," and Daryl Stuermer plays the most Andy Summers (Police) riff in any Phil Collins song on "Do You Know, Do You Care?"****, whose moody intensity matches "In The Air Tonight." Side one ends strong with Collins's joyous Top-10 cover of The Supremes's "You Can't Hurry Love"****.
Side 2 is considerably weaker, with "Thru These Walls," which sounds an eccentric "In Too Deep" (from 4 years later); lame instrumental "The West Side," markedly dated with smooth-jazz alto sax, horn blasts, and lots of "yeah yeahs" (Sting would sing "eee-yo eee-yo eee-yo-s"); and swoopy ballad "Why Can't It Wait 'Til Morning" to close out the album. Collins utilizes a Toto-shuffle and more prominent horns on the energetic, "Susudio"-like "It Don't Matter to Me"****, and the pleading "Don't Let Him Steal Your Heart Away"**** almost has a Todd Rundgren pop sensibility, so the side isn't a total wipe-out. Collins has suggested that the album was meant to thematically bookend Face Value, his previous, so stylistic similarities aren't surprising, but it's still a minor step down from its pivotal predecessor.
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