Phil Collins – Both Sides (2CDs)

It has amazingly been over twenty years since this album was released and it is still a nice listen. Time has not diminished the effect of the songs found here. That is due to the intimate nature of many of the tracks. Lots of it is rather personal sounding and as such hits home. Soulful and sad. There is a little bit of a different tone to this album compared to his other ones in that the music found here is a little more delicate that his usual fare. I attribute this to the fact that this really was a total Phil Collins album.  He not only wrote all the music and does all the singing, but he played many of the instruments as well. The whole thing has been remastered so there is a freshness to many songs. As an added bonus you get a couple of live tracks, “Both Sides of the Story” and “Everyday”, one B-side, “Take Me With You”, and a few demos of songs that did not make the album like “Hero” (which he ended up giving to David Crosby) and “Can’t Find My Way”. The live songs are not of the greatest quality as they have a rather tinny sound to them. Disappointing but not enough to dissuade you from buying the remastered Both Sides.