I was a little stunned by how much I enjoyed Seashell Radio’s take on the Phil Collins catalog at the Great Cover-Up on Saturday night. Not because of Seashell Radio, who get better every time I see them, but because I really dislike Phil Collins.
Thankfully, they did a great job of picking tracks from his extensively tedious soft rock catalog, including “Something Happened on the Way to Heaven” and excluding “Another Day in Paradise.” Keyboardist Cassie Van Gelder took the lead for “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now),” which is a nice song when Phil isn’t singing it, apparently.
This article appears in Dec 9-15, 2010.
Don’t know what your beef with Phil Collins is but this version of the song is very weak. The singer also sings off key. Do you have good hearing?
I have never heard it as bad as this, how in the name of god can you say this is better than Phil’s version. Sweet Jeez! He is way off.I wish you a better taste in music and a better hearing for Xmas!
You’re kidding right? I mean, you can’t be serious. THIS is better than Phil Collins’ version? Did these guys put you on the payroll or buy you drinks or something? Why would the Tuscon Weekly hire a tone deaf music critic? You’re an unpaid intern right? That’s it….an unpaid intern who makes the rent doing promo work for bands that should really just spend the money on music lessons or auto tune or something.
Yeah….you were kidding. Dan’s a funny guy.
ya’ll fuckin trippin on acid!!!!!!!!!!
You’re not serious, are you??? NO ONE and I mean NO ONE does Phil better than Phil! Period!
there’s no soul in the voice and he also misses the keys. maybe some extra lessons at the music school would help. it’s really terrible!!!
oh no i feel i accidentally started this.
i must be almost alone in my aversion to phil collins. blame sussudio.
i do understand their feelings. most covers don’t come close to the originals no matter the genre. despite the ‘not allowed to play beatles’ rule one of the best covers i ever heard was diana krall version of “and I love her” but its “i love him” instead. what can i say i’m a sucker for that kinda jazz.
I didn’t say the performance was more precise, just that outside of the wildly dated production on Phil Collins’ version that “Against All Odds” isn’t a bad song. But it’s good to know that Collins still has a dedicated (and somewhat unhinged) fanbase ready to come to his defense. However, you should look yourself in the mirror tonight and say this to yourself: “I spent time today on the internet getting mad over a Phil Collins cover.” Repeat it until the shame sits in.
Gibson, how ’bout you set yourself down in front of your own mirror tonight and say this to yourself “I spent time on the internet attacking the talent and integrity of not just an artist but a person. That person has people who admire and respect him and aren’t going to sit by and swallow my bullshit.” Repeat this until understanding and perhaps a bit of humanity SETS in.
Gibson, don’t spew your obviously uninformed opinions if you aren’t prepared to get called on them. What you refer to as an “unhinged” fan base is in reality a “loyal” fan base. You can only wish that someone will be “unhinged” enough to defend the likes of you. You get what you give, Danny…you get what you give.
Barb: What? How did I attack his integrity? I’m sure there’s an musician whose music you don’t like and that you’ve probably expressed that opinion in some public manner as well. Was that attacking that artist personally? Just because someone has an opinion different than yours doesn’t make it evil or even uninformed. Perspective, Barb. Perspective.
I’m ok with not being defended, but hey, I bet Phil is too. Even if he happened to read this particular little jab at his music, he still has a pillow stuffed with thousand Euro notes to go to sleep on tonight. I’m sure he’ll be ok, I can assure you I will be, and I bet you’ll be fine too. Deep breathing helps, I find.
I am not going to give you a lesson on journalism here and what constitutes a musical critique. If you don’t know the definition of artistic integrity, then you should refrain from dragging out a poison pen.
Your piece was totally illogical; purportedly about the performance of Seashell Radio. For a band and a performance you supposedly enjoyed, you focused more on the attack upon Phil Collins. Look at the comments here…you have succeeded only in reinforcing a negative response to Seashell Radio. You have failed in your purpose for writing this piece.
Those who care about their integrity care about what their audience thinks about them. Do you care about being defended? If you value your integrity, you should. I am quite sure Collins does. Deep breathing does help. Take a moment to do that and ask yourself whether you really want to needlessly trash somebody. And now as you have nothing of value to offer, you are dismissed.
I, for one, find those two Phil Collins songs that he keeps changing the words to very compelling.
Barb:
“…bands that should really just spend the money on music lessons or auto tune or something.”
You kinda went after a poor defenseless local band there, who are millions of times more likely to read that than Phil Collins. So…maybe YOU should “take a moment to ask yourself whether you really want to needlessly trash somebody,” eh?
seashell radio is one of the most innovative, creative, talented and hard working bands in tucson. so what if this video of them playing a song they’ve never performed live before (and probably shouldn’t waste time performing live again because their original songs are off-the-charts insanely good) doesn’t do them justice? i liked them before, i liked them at the cover-up, and i bet i’ll like them again when i see them in the future.
barb, let me know if you want to come to a show with me. consider your cover charge a donation towards their “auto tune or something” fund.
Hey, Fen from Seashell Radio here.
Dan, Tom, Jred: thanks!
Barb n’ palz: nah.
Phil: Big ups, my man.
I got to this site via a Yahoo alert for Paul McCartney (there’s another article that jokes about a McCartney-Ono collaboration) so it’s possible that Phil Collins might have an alert on his own name and be reading these comments. And getting down in the dumps as a result. A recent Rolling Stone article about Collins says that all the criticism he’s received in the last decade or so has really taken a toll on the guy. I guess he’s only human. Maybe people should let up on him. He wrote many great songs, whether you like the ’80s style or not. It’s a shame that he can’t enjoy his success due to people like this writer slamming him all the time.