Phil Collins Singles Collection

Philip David Charles Collins LVO (born 30 January 1951) is an English drummer, singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and singer of the rock band Genesis and is also a solo artist. Between 1982 and 1989, Collins scored three UK and seven US number-one singles in his solo career. When his work with Genesis, his work with other artists, as well as his solo career is totalled, Collins had more US Top 40 singles than any other artist during the 1980s…

Philip David Charles Collins LVO (born 30 January 1951) is an English drummer, singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and singer of the rock band Genesis and is also a solo artist. Between 1982 and 1989, Collins scored three UK and seven US number-one singles in his solo career. When his work with Genesis, his work with other artists, as well as his solo career is totalled, Collins had more US Top 40 singles than any other artist during the 1980s…

Philip David Charles Collins LVO (born 30 January 1951) is an English drummer, singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and singer of the rock band Genesis and is also a solo artist. Between 1982 and 1989, Collins scored three UK and seven US number-one singles in his solo career. When his work with Genesis, his work with other artists, as well as his solo career is totalled, Collins had more US Top 40 singles than any other artist during the 1980s…

Phil Collins certainly has enough hits to fill out a double-disc compilation – in the U.K. he had 25 Top 40 singles and he reached the Billboard Top 40 21 times in the U.S., with many of them overlapping – but the 2016 set The Singles doesn't march through these hits in chronological order. Opening with "Easy Lover," his 1985 duet with Earth, Wind & Fire's Philip Bailey, this 33-track compilation happily hopscotches through the years. Such non-chronological sequencing does mean certain hits are saved for the greatest emotional impact – naturally, "Take Me Home" closes out the proceedings – but it also focuses attention on songs that weren't blockbusters, whether it's such meditative turn-of-the-'90s adult contemporary hits as "That's Just the Way It Is" or the brooding early single "Thru These Walls."

This September, Rhino are to release a new four-CD box set that shines a light on the collaborative work of Phil Collins. Plays Well With Others features an incredibly broad array of music from a diverse range of artists including Brian Eno, John Cale, Eric Clapton, Tears For Fears, Howard Jones, Paul McCartney, Adam Ant and more…. [superdeluxeedition.com]

If Hits seems a little inadequate, even though it weighs in at 16 tracks, that's because Phil Collins had such a long, productive run. Also, to casual listeners (and possibly even some fans), it's hard to tell which singles are by Genesis and which ones are solo cuts. So, it's almost a certainty that listeners will find something missing from this disc – and not just because Genesis cuts are absent, but because there's not enough space to fit all of Collins' solo hits, especially since the compilers decided to include a couple of lesser, latter-day hits at the expense of some earlier, bigger ones, while adding his non-LP cover of Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors" to entice hardcore fans…