Against all odds - Phil Collins

Phil Collins wrote 'Against all odds' for the 1984 movie of the same name. It was originally titled 'How can you just sit there?', and was one of many songs to be written for Collins' debut album 'Face value' (1981). Collins rewrote the lyric for the 1984 version which was released on the soundtrack album of 'Against all odds'.

When it was released as a single, it reached number 2 in the UK singles chart and number 1 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. In the Dutch Top 40, it reached number 10. Back in 1984, I didn't really like this song and its boring music video - my appreciation for it became bigger in the early Nineties.

My collection: 7" single no. 2370
Found: House of Rhythm, London, July 1, 1995
Cost: 60p
Tracks: 'Against all odds' (Phil Collins) / 'Making a big mistake' (Mike Rutherford)

Thru' these walls - Phil Collins

'Thru' these walls' was released as the first single from Phil Collins' second solo album 'Hello, I must be going!'. It was an unusual choice: a slow ballad interspersed with hard drum beats that sounded a lot like the drums from his debut solo single, 'In the air tonight'. The song is about a man listening through the wall to his neighbours who are enjoying the nightlife, so to speak.

The song reached number 56 in the UK singles chart but was not released as a single in America. In the Netherlands, the single did not reach the Dutch Top 40. The B-side, 'Do you know, do you care' was used a decade later in the Netherlands for an ad campaign against alcohol abuse.

My collection: 7" single no. 285
Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, 1985
Cost: 1 guilder
Tracks: 'Thru' these walls' / 'Do you know, do you care'

I don't care anymore - Phil Collins

A track like 'I don't care anymore' is a far cry from the syrupy ballad material Phil Collins recorded later on in his solo career. Apparently, the lyric of this song is about the anger Collins felt after his first marriage dissolved.

Taken from his second solo album 'Hello, I must be going!', this single did not chart. The B-side was released as a single later on, and reached number 45 in the UK singles chart.

My collection: 7" single no. 2416
Found: July 22, 1995
Cost: 2 guilders
Tracks: 'I don't care anymore' / 'Don't let him steal your heart away'

Easy lover - Philip Bailey and Phil Collins

Philip Bailey was born on May 8, 1951 in Denver, Colorado (USA). He found fame by sharing lead vocal duties on songs by Earth Wind and Fire together with founder member Maurice White. When Bailey decided to record a solo album in 1984, he got Phil Collins to produce it. Their duet 'Easy lover' was released as a single in late 1984 and was a worldwide hit. It went number one in the UK and the Netherlands.

During a radio interview, Phil Collins was asked how 'he discovered' Philip Bailey. Annoyed at the lack of knowledge of the interviewer Collins made up a story about how he had been filling his car with petrol when he heard the attendant singing... and that turned out to be Philip Bailey. The interviewer believed the whole story, which was soon picked up by other media.

My collection: 7" single no. 3735

Found: Record fair, Den Haag, May 23, 2009

Cost: 0,5 euro

Tracks: 'Easy lover' / 'Woman'

In the air tonight - Phil Collins

'In the air tonight' is the debut single by Phil Collins, the first single taken from his 1981 album 'Face value'. Phil Collins himself commented about the lyric of the song: 'I don't know what this song is about. When I was writing this I was going through a divorce. And the only thing I can say about it is that it's obviously in anger. It's the angry side, or the bitter side of a separation.'

The song became a number 1 hit in New Zealand and Germany, peaking at number 2 in the Netherlands and the UK. The song's popularity increased later on in the Eighties after a nearly complete recording of it was featured in the pilot episode of the American television show Miami Vice ('Brother's Keeper'), thus becoming one of the first pop/rock songs to be featured as part of a TV programme in this manner.

I bought the single already in 1987, but recently found a limited edition version of it featuring a booklet with drawings by Phil's brother Clive Collins.

My collection: 7" single no. 568 (1 & 2)

Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, 1987 & Record fair, Utrecht, November 22, 2008

Cost: 1 guilder & 1 euro

Tracks: 'In the air tonight' / 'The roof is leaking'

Do they know it's Christmas? - Band Aid

The song that embodied the Christmas spirit in the Eighties was Band Aid's 'Do they know it's Christmas?'. The project initiated by Midge Ure and Bob Geldof started when the two met up and worked out this song Bob had written in a rather rudimentary way. They phoned up the musician friends they knew and before you knew it you had a media spectacle of unprecedented size.

I bought the single as soon as it came out, although, strangely, I didn't like the song that much. There were just so many of my eighties idols participated that I felt I couldn't pass up on this historic single. Two decades later, it's somehow reassuring (or troubling) that everything has stayed the same in Africa: it's still a continent of war, hunger and drought.

My collection: 7" single no. 249

Found: Wouters, Den Haag, 1984

Cost: 6 guilders

Tracks: 'Do they know it's Christmas?' / 'Feed the world'

Download: 12" single 'Do they know it's Christmas?', including both tracks (password: burningtheground-djpault.blogspot.com )