Phil Collins To Come Out Of Retirement, Reissue Albums

There are few artists that have been as much a part of the ’80s and ’90s music scenes as Phil Collins, and now the former Genesis frontman and solo artist is hoping to restart his music career for a new generation. Phil says he’s hoping to be able to reinvent himself, feeling encouraged by those current musicians who he, in turn, first inspired. The musical artist hopes to regain his former fanbase and build upon it with a mix of his old hits and new music.

Phil Collins to reissue his past albums

Even longtime fans of Collins may want to invest in the upcoming re-release of his eight solo albums. These won’t just be remastered versions of the same albums. Each remastered CD will be accompanied by a second CD of live recordings and previously unreleased demos.

Collins hopes that his old fans will rediscover him and critics may find an appreciation for his music through deep cuts that have never received as much attention as his hits. While songs like “In the Air Tonight,” “Groovy Kind of Love,” “One More Night,” “Sussudio,” “Can’t Hurry Love,” “Against All Odds,” and “Separate Lives” are commonly known, Collins says there’s so much more to his repertoire.

“People that don’t like me — and there are some, I know it’s hard to believe — most of the time have based their opinion on what they hear on the radio. It’s played to death,” says Phil Collins. “I’m a bit more than that. And the ‘bit more’ is on the albums.”

Currently, 1981’s Face Value and 1993’s Both Sides have already been re-released, followed more recently by the reissuing of Hello, I Must Be Going! and Dance into the Light, which were originally put out in 1982 and 1996, consecutively. More albums are to follow, until all eight have been re-released.

Many of today’s top artists count themselves among Phil Collins’ fans

With decades of music behind him, it’s no surprise that many contemporary artists should be fans of Phil’s music. Counting themselves among those celebrity fans are Adele, Lorde, and Pharrell Williams, just to name a few.

“I’m very flattered by that and I think there’s a lot of people out there that may think, ‘OK. Let’s see what the fuss is about,'” says Collins.

Once the decision to remaster his past works had been made, Phil called on Nick Davis to do the actual work. Davis is no novice. Among the artists he’s previously worked with, Nick is proud to count Bjork, Deep Purple, Genesis, Mike + the Mechanics, The Pogues, and XTC as just a few of his clients.

Davis says it was a treat to get to work with Phil Collins. He found those rare songs, the ones that didn’t get the radio play that the hits did, to be of particular interest. Davis said the talent in those tracks were more impressive than many of the popular songs.

Phil Collins formerly announced his retirement in 2011, when his third divorce and a slew of medical problems convinced him to take the time off. It seemed like the right time to dedicate his life to raising his sons, who were both in their teens at the time. Going back to work doesn’t mean he’ll be forsaking that father-son time either. He lives close to his third wife in Miami and has his own in-home recording studio, so making music won’t take as much time away from his family. Phil says he’s already been working on new music, having written lyrics for a bunch of songs. Next, Phil Collins will have to write the music.

[Image by Thomas Niedermueller /Getty Images ]