Phil Collins announces his "retirement"

russellk wrote: I'm sure the silent majority of people who neither adored nor despised the man are sad to hear this news: age and health catches up with us all in the end. It would be a shame if our reaction to this news is sarcastic rather than respectful. Sarcasm is so easy to do, and it takes guts to say 'I may not have liked everything he did, but I respect him.'

Guillermo wrote: Even if he has problems in his ears or not, it is a shame, because it means that a reunion of the "fab five " (Collins, Gabriel, Hackett, Rurherford, Banks) is even more unlikely now.   Pete Townshend has been  for years with problems with his ears due to excesive volume playing with The Who, and also from using headphones at a high volume to play the guitar in his house at night  "while my sons  and my wife were sleeping, and after returning from rehearsals or recording sessions  with the Who ". He says that using headphones damaged his ears more that playing live with The Who. This problems led him to play mainly  acoustic guitar during some of the reumion tours from The Who. For more information:   http://www.townshendbio.com/     There are photos from Phil (for example, in the book "From one Fan to Another", by Armando Gallo) when he appears using headphones while touring with Genesis in the buses, planes, etc., while he was using his Walkman. I used a Walkman for some weeks, and even using it at a low volume it caused hearing loss in my ears. I stopped to use it forever, and my hearing improved.

Chris Stacey wrote: Guillermo wrote: Even if he has problems in his ears or not, it is a shame, because it means that a reunion of the "fab five " (Collins, Gabriel, Hackett, Rurherford, Banks) is even more unlikely now.   Pete Townshend has been  for years with problems with his ears due to excesive volume playing with The Who, and also from using headphones at a high volume to play the guitar in his house at night  "while my sons  and my wife were sleeping, and after returning from rehearsals or recording sessions  with the Who ". He says that using headphones damaged his ears more that playing live with The Who. This problems led him to play mainly  acoustic guitar during some of the reumion tours from The Who. For more information:   http://www.townshendbio.com/     There are photos from Phil (for example, in the book "From one Fan to Another", by Armando Gallo) when he appears using headphones while touring with Genesis in the buses, planes, etc., while he was using his Walkman. I used a Walkman for some weeks, and even using it at a low volume it caused hearing loss in my ears. I stopped to use it forever, and my hearing improved.   Now you have me worried!! Do Ipods/Walkmens really damage your ears that much? I listen to mine about 4 hours a day....

He should retire from writing and keep touring with Genesis, being that he hasn't had anything to say or worth listening to for over 20 years now.  Listening to his lightweight candy-assed version of Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors"  at the dentist's office sealed the deal for me and for any other Genesis fan as well.  The man needs to Squonk it up a bit if he wants my respect again.  Odds are, he'll come out with a Disney retrospect of his soundtrack material at best.  I guess I'll have to keep living in the past if I'm to appreciate his true talents, which I know are buried in the man's chrome dome somewhere.  Tony!  Michael!  Please wake up this poor man we once knew!!

I am soooo tired of all this silly Phil Collins-bashing and Peter Gabriel-praise. The world is so easy that way.  Now here are my thoughts: PC was one of the best drummers from say 1975 till early 90es. He had a great voice in this period, as well, whether you like it or not. To all the armchair critics here who are not worthy of adjusting PCs drum stool: Do you think that so diverse artists like Eric Clapton, Robert Plant, Philip Bailey, Frida, Tears For Fears were all mad, because they wanted his very special drumming style? And btw: The Genesis songs since 1981 were written by Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Michael Rutherford, and not by Phil Collins all alone who forced the other guys to play his songs.
So I respect him for what he was: a truly great musician (even if I don`t like his solo stuff since 1993 at all, either).

orangefiltersky wrote: I am soooo tired of all this silly Phil Collins-bashing and Peter Gabriel-praise. The world is so easy that way.

1. His melodic Pop boring stuff,
2. All the crap he talked and  how he criticized Prog for two decades (while he was popular)
3. The path Genesis took while he was the leader of the band.

russellk wrote: You should seriously consider your membership at those sites, then. I'm guessing you'd agree with me that 'bashing' someone, no matter how deserving, isn't charitable behaviour.   This is one of those sites  and I won't consider my membership...Are you blind, Phil Collins is often bashed here also.   Abnd pelase, what charity? The guy is as rich as he can be, as successful as the other Genesis members never where, he has everything, he needs no charitative behaviour, each time he looks at his bank account he laughs about the critics.   His melodic Pop boring stuff, (in your opinion) Yes, it's my opinion, and many others in this forum, just read the threads.   All the crap he talked and  how he criticized Prog for two decades (while he was popular) (as did so many former proggers) Nobody was a rude, ofensive and contradictory as him (As soon as his ppopularity started to fade, he talkled great things about Prog)  The path Genesis took while he was the leader of the band. (Collins was never the leader of the band) Yes he was, he took crucial decisions against the will of the others (Like when he made a state caso of the Phoenix Horns, when nobody else wanted them), and at the end, his style is evident. Being a trained singer myself, I can report that Collins' voice is far superior to Gabriel's. Gabriel was often flat, and he had to shout his high notes. And what do you mean, his voice is 'without changes'? Collins could assume a wide variety of styles, and has a far greater vocal range than Gabriel.   Sorry but despite your musical credentials, I trust more in my short years of musical studies and my ears, Phil Collins voice is flat, with no variations, when he doiesn't reach a note he tends to repeat the lastr worg (And the Lamb.......Lamb, Lamb, Lamb).   Gabriel doesn't have a great range either, specially weak in the high notes, but he has learned to turn that disadvantage into an advantage, creating that semi yodel that gives more drama to the lyrics.   You are a Genesis fan: you must recall the comment Gabriel made of Collins on the 'Seconds Out' tour that he sung Gabriel's songs better than Gabriel himself did. Which singer you like best is a matter of taste, but the objective quality of the singer isn't a matter of opinion, and qualified judges from Gabriel himself downwards all rate Phil's voice more highly. A fact, with supporting evidence. I don't agree with Gabriel, I feel that Supper's Ready is a joke, The Lamb is annoying, only I know What I Like sounded better, but the rest was second class IMO. I believe Peter was trying to have courtesy, that's all. You're making assumptions to fit your argument. According to your logic, then, the leader of the band between 1997 and 2000 was Ray Wilson. Right? Ray Willson only came to sing, he never was a leader of the band, that's why I said frontman AND leader when talking about Collins. Of course not. Your argument isn't logical. Phil was the singer, but he was never the leader. Many sources, from Wikepedia through to the biographies of Genesis, make it clear that in the three-man band the leadership and songwriting was shared equally. Yes, Phil's solo career had an effect on Genesis' sound (witness the magnificent - in my opinion - 'No Reply at All', for example), but so did Mike's and Tony's. Phil gets all the attention and the criticism because he was more famous and therefore the easier target for lazy people who can't be bothered doing their research. I know you're not one of those, Ivan, because of your vast knowledge about Genesis, which makes me surprised that you think Phil was the band's leader.   Please, have you ever seen Genesis a History, when a  journalist askes him   Q: Will you let Peter come bank again.   PC: No I wouldn't.   That's the answrer of a leader, not just another voice in the choir....The funny thing is that in th e early 2000's Phil claimed he would only rejoin Genesis if Peter was on the vocals...After all he said.   Iván

Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - July 29 2008 at 18:50

Now that Phil's retired, we can look forward to the possibility of a "Return To Trespass" tour with John Mayhew and Anthony Phillips.


Edited by Harry Hood - July 30 2008 at 03:04