Forum Idea

[Beeeej]

That has got to be the single funniest emoticon I've ever seen in my life.   ::laugh::

Anyway, Phil was almost unequivocally great, up until 1978 or so.  Mixed bag from then until 1993ish, almost nothing but unmitigated suck since.

Beeeej

[jeh25]

[Q]Beeeej Wrote:

 That has got to be the single funniest emoticon I've ever seen in my life.    

Anyway, Phil was almost unequivocally great, up until 1978 or so.  Mixed bag from then until 1993ish, almost nothing but unmitigated suck since.

Beeeej[/q]

Thing is, for at least the last 5 years, Age has maintained that your position is an Animal Farm-esque "Gabriel good, Collins bad." ;-)

In a similar vain, may I suggest that Seasons' End blows Internal Exile out of the water. :-P

As far as covers go, the Ozzy cover of Staying Alive, the Cure cover of Purple Haze, and the Rob Zombie cover of Brickhouse are at least as good as the originals.

[Trotsky]

Collins very, very bad.  Yes, Phil, you had a tough divorce.  GTF over it.  Gabriel okay, especially when talking Brian Eno out of recording the sound of his own flatulence.  But the band belonged to Rutherford and Banks.  ;-)

A cover that actually mattered: "Watchtower" by Hendrix is indeed much better than Dylan's original.  But that's the exception that proves the rule.*

(* whatever that means)

[DeltaOne81]

[Q]Trotsky Wrote:
But that's the exception that proves the rule.*

(* whatever that means)
[/q]
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_201.html
(if you're gonna gain anything from this, you have to read the full thing - or at least, skip down to the "LAST WORD ON EXCEPTIONS" part. He ends up recanting most of his original responses. I'd recommend reading the whole thing though)

[Avash]

[Q]BCrespi Wrote:

 While Dylan's is good, I certianly think the lasting and most-known version on All Along the Watchtower is and will be Hendrix's.  Then again, maybe that's just my point of view, so who knows.[/q]

There's always the Dave Matthews Band cover of Watchtower too :-D

[Drew]

i.e. six and one half dozen of the other ::nut::

[Will]

[Q]Avash '05 Wrote:

 [Q2]BCrespi Wrote:

 While Dylan's is good, I certianly think the lasting and most-known version on All Along the Watchtower is and will be Hendrix's.  Then again, maybe that's just my point of view, so who knows.[/Q]
There's always the Dave Matthews Band cover of Watchtower too  [/q]

Don't get me started on Dave. ::rolleyes::

[David Harding]

[Q]DeltaOne81 Wrote:

 [Q2]Trotsky Wrote:
But that's the exception that proves the rule.*

(* whatever that means)
[/Q]
(if you're gonna gain anything from this, you have to read the full thing - or at least, skip down to the "LAST WORD ON EXCEPTIONS" part. He ends up recanting most of his original responses. I'd recommend reading the whole thing though)[/q]
That's an interesting exchange.

I can't resist sharing another example of "sense #2":
The control system for the Cornell electron synchrotron at Wilson Lab is said to have been designed, in the mid 1960's, to be sufficiently simple so that you could run the whole complex with one arm tied behind your back.  "The exception that proved the rule" was a rugged character named Gordon Brown, one of the operators on staff, who had lost his left arm in a farming accident many years before.

[Beeeej]

[Q]jeh25 Wrote:
 [Q2]Beeeej Wrote:
Anyway, Phil was almost unequivocally great, up until 1978 or so.  Mixed bag from then until 1993ish, almost nothing but unmitigated suck since.[/Q]
Thing is, for at least the last 5 years, Age has maintained that your position is an Animal Farm-esque "Gabriel good, Collins bad."[/q]

Goodness, no.  "A Trick of the Tail" was Genesis's best album.

Beeeej

[Beeeej]

[Q]Trotsky Wrote:
Collins very, very bad.  Yes, Phil, you had a tough divorce.  GTF over it.[/q]

I hate to be the unlikely Phil defender again, but his first couple of solo albums had a bunch of great songs dealing with the divorce.  It was when he decided to make "socially relevant" music, and started writing treacly middle-of-the-road ballads for soundtracks, that he jumped the shark.

Beeeej

[Trotsky]

[Q]Beeeej Wrote:
I hate to be the unlikely Phil defender again, but his first couple of solo albums had a bunch of great songs dealing with the divorce.[/q]

I completely agree, if by "great" you mean "middle school doggerel."

"I've kept all the pictures, but I hide my feelings so no-one knows /
Oh sure my friends all come round, but I'm in a crowd on my own /
It's 'cos you're gone now, but your heart still remains /
And it'll be here if you come again."

Phil, baby, sweetheart... Andrea aint coming back.  She was right.

[Will]

How do you know it's the offseason?  We're talking about Phil Collins.


"And now, I'd like to sing the complex and amazing song that won me the Oscar, a song entitled: ‘You'll Be in Me.' Thanks. ‘You'll be inside of me, deep inside of me. So deep inside, I can feel you pushing against my heart...'"

[Beeeej]

[Q]Trotsky Wrote:
 [Q2]Beeeej Wrote:
I hate to be the unlikely Phil defender again, but his first couple of solo albums had a bunch of great songs dealing with the divorce.[/Q]
I completely agree, if by "great" you mean "middle school doggerel."

"I've kept all the pictures, but I hide my feelings so no-one knows
blah blah blah blah blah[/q]

I didn't say all the songs about his divorce were great.  Sheesh!!

Beeeej

[Trotsky]

[Q]Beeeej Wrote:
I didn't say all the songs about his divorce were great.  Sheesh!!
[/q]

OK, so, there are three schools of thought:

I. Phil started to suck after he sold out to make Disney treacle.

II.  Phil started to suck just as his wife left him, which (perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not) corresponds to when his solo career started -- call him Peter Townsend without the part about sex with Mick Jagger*.

III. Phil's suckiness is like energy and matter.  It cannot be created or destroyed, it is always with us.  This splits into:
III(a). The other guys in Genesis were strong enough to compensate for his suckiness, or
III(b). Genesis always sucked, too.  Indeed everything which Collins has ever touched sucked -- call him Billy Joel with worse hair.

* allegedly

[Beeeej]

[Q]Trotsky Wrote:
OK, so, there are three schools of thought:[/q]

Four.

IV: Phil's work has always been inconsistent to some degree, but the good-to-suckage ratio increased as his career continued.  There is no bright chronological or event-related line before which all was good and after which all was suck.

I'll pretend you didn't even mention Billy.

Beeeej