Collins Spanisj

Returning to the stark, melancholy sounds of Face Value, Phil Collins delivers a personal album with Both Sides in more than one sense of the word. Collins played all of the instruments on Both Sides, and the songs are troubled, haunting tales of regret, romance, and society…

Building on her well-represented holiday catalog, Christmas with Judy Collins is essentially a reissue of the folk artist's 2000 release All on a Wintry Night, padded with two additional songs. All 14 tracks from Wintry Night are featured here in their original sequence with the addition of a new single, the western-tinged "Angels in the Snow" leading off the album, and a stirring, largely a cappella version of "Amazing Grace" closing it out. Fans of Collins' rich, warm voice will enjoy some of the more stripped-down arrangements, which feature her singing to a simple piano accompaniment on lesser-known carols like "In the Bleak Midwinter" and "Cherry Tree Carol." On the other hand, the dated synthesizer sounds on tracks like "Come Rejoice" and "Good King Wenceslas" sound rather homogenous and the spoken intro over the faux-strings of "Away in a Manger" is far too heavy-handed to take seriously. Fortunately, the bulk of the album's 16 tracks favor the more minimalist arrangements keeping Collins' lovely voice at the forefront without much distraction.

Compiling a number of performances recorded shortly before Albert Collins' death, Live '92/'93 offers definitive proof that the guitarist remained vital until his last days.

Edwyn Collins made a remarkable and unexpected comeback with Gorgeous George, and it's not hard to see why. The album represents a consolidation of Collins' skills as a songwriter, demonstrating both his vicious wit and his effortless melodicism. Working with former Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook and bassist Claire Kenny, he develops the hardest-hitting musical attack of his career, but it's also surprisingly versatile, capable not only of glam rock, but also jangle pop, folk-rock and blue-eyed soul. And while Collins can occasionally be accused of lyrical sniping – the attack on Guns N' Roses in "North of Heaven" is simply silly – there's no denying that when his words and music hit the same target, such as on the darkly catchy Iggy Pop tribute "A Girl Like You," the results are wonderfully cerebral pop music.

Frostbite was the first indication that Albert Collins' Alligator albums were going to follow something of a formula. The album replicated all of the styles and sounds of Ice Pickin', but the music lacked the power of its predecessor. Nevertheless, there was a wealth of fine playing on the album, even if the quality of the songs themselves is uneven.

Phillip David Charles Collins. British rock / pop musician, songwriter and actor, born 30 January 1951 in Chiswick, London, England, UK. Inducted into Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003…

After the one-two punch of Phil Collins' first two solo albums, Face Value and Hello, I Must Be Going!, plus the hits he was concurrently having with Genesis, it might seem like he was primed for an artistic and commercial drop-off. Instead, he responded with the biggest album of his career. No Jacket Required topped the charts in the U.S. and U.K., won a Grammy for Album of the Year, and spawned four Top Ten singles, including two number ones in "Sussudio" and "One More Night." It was such a monster success that it made Collins one of the biggest stars on the planet, something that a few years before seemed unlikely if not impossible…