What I Hate about you: Phill Collins, Going Back

Genesis founder, drummer, and vocalist Phil Collins is an extremely capable and accomplished musician. He's got a enviable discography with many more hits than misses. He's done movie soundtracks, he's won most of the awards available to win, has fans in every corner or the world, not to mention the respect of his peers. He has sold over two hundred million albums in a career that stretches all the way back to the 1970's.

The Motown Songbook is one of the few things in music that can be considered a sure thing. We're talking hit upon hit upon hit. Songwriters like Holland/Dozier/Holland, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, not to mention Berry Gordy himself, crafted what was called "The Sound of Young America", permanently blurring the lines between urban and mainstream music and creating a footprint we're all still standing in the shadows of. It's a safe assumption that Phil Collins recording a collection of Motown covers is a sure bet for a good listen, right?

...famous last words.....

"Going Back" is a very good idea, very badly executed. It's not that the songs sound bad; Phil is a skilled vocalist, possesing a fine baritone capable of expressing equal parts fun, passion, sincerity, or aggression. Instrumentally, Going Back cannot be faulted either; he got three of the original Funk Brothers to play on it. So what's the problem? Strangely enough, the songs themselves.

As I stated before, this is Motown, so none of the songs could truly be described as bad per se'. There were however two major mistakes.The first one: If you're into football you'd think of it this way....No one starts Charlie Batch if Roethlisberger is available. No one would call Hans Zimmer if they have John Williams on Speed Dial.If you Got tickets for Jessye Norman, you're not thinking about Charlotte Church. But that's what Going Back feels like...there are some decent songs like Heatwave, Standing in the Shadows, or Jimmy Mack, but most of the songs in this collection seem like second string material. Seriously, who does Going to a Go-Go instead of Tears of A Clown? As a Motown fan, I wanna hear songs from the A-list, not a bunch of filler. My theory is that Mr. Collins knew he'd be clowned royally if he screws up Motown, so he chose lesser material to avoid comparisons to the great original performances of, say, My Girl, or Signed, Sealed, Delivered. But in choosing a safer path he ended up with a second rate album of second rate material, and it's a real shame.
The Second Problem:, Collins said the idea behind the album was "not to bring anything ‘new’ to these already great records, but to try to recreate the sounds and feelings that I had when I first heard them. My intention was to make an ‘old’ record, not a ‘new’ record." Ummmm, so why would a listener not just buy the original record? Furthermore, that concept really clashes with the song choices. If you're trying to recreate the Motown mood and make people feel what they felt, You have to choose the songs that made people feel those feelings! A great artist like Phil Collins should be thinking a little more progressively than just basically creating a bunch of karaoke tracks in the first place, but if that's what you're going to do, do the songs people are going to sing along to!

In comparison, look at Michael McDonald's Motown album. He seems to have said "This is classic material that everybody loves, but Dammit, I'm gonna have the guts to take on these songs, BECAUSE it's the classic material that everybody loves!" And on top of that, he added a little more to the sonic palate of the tunes, without losing the original flavor. That's a tough balancing act that he pulls of admirably. Even Human Nature, the Australian boy band, had the guts to tackle the major material. if they can make it work, I have trouble believing that Phil Collins can't.
It's good music, performed by a great musician, so I don't want to call it a swing and a miss, but I can't help but wish that he'd done more of the songs that people think of first when they think of motown, and/or have done more WITH the songs. To quote a line from one of those better motown hits, Phil, "why don't you be a man about it?"