Old Enough to Forget

Released in the fall of 1982, it was probably in the summer of '83 that I first heard the title track. Phil Collins mania hadn't gripped the world ... he was blip on the horizon - you could see him coming. His distinctive drums were the reason the song grabbed me initially, but it was a killer tune, and Daryl Stuermer's guitar solo was the icing on the cake. Yes, this was the same Frida who was in ABBA, although at the time she seemed to be old as dirt she was probably only 36 or 37 years old. Of course considering I was still in my teens (okay, as late into my teens as you can get) that's a big gap. I bought the album mainly for the title track, but I found there was a lot to like and as a bonus (at least to me) was Jim Rafferty's (brother to Gerry) "I See Red" a song I always really liked. Both Russ Ballard, and Rod Argent contributed a song each, with Russ Ballard's "I Know There's Something Going On" being the big song here. There wer...

There was a period of time (it was actually pretty short when you look back on it - but at the time it seemed like forever) when Mister Collins was pretty much everywhere. Either with Genesis, or solo, or behind the kit just being a drummer (I saw him with Robert Plant, and there was little fanfare made about it). He first started making inroads with his early solo career, come on, who hasn't played air drums to "In the Air Tonight" but when Genesis took the world in 1983 with their self titled monster it seemed like everyone needed a little more Phil in their lives, and we got our Phil until we were all filled up. No Jacket Required is the album where he and Hugh Padgham fitted all the sonic pieces together and where Phil's now patented gated reverb drum splat sound would practically define the 80s. The song where all of this sonic mayhem manifested itself on a grand scale was the ear-worm "Sussudio" a song that elicits a pretty strong reaction both positiv...