Jeff’s Playlist: Face Value

Face Value — Phil Collins

This was a real pop hit back in ear­ly 1981 when “In the Air Tonight” was played dur­ing an episode of Miami Vice. The scene showed the detec­tives (Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas) dri­ving through Miami at night. So cool.

I didn’t know what to think about this music since Peter Gabriel’s depar­ture from Genesis had left Phil Collins in charge, yet Face Value came out as a Collins “solo” album. (Phil stuck with the band and made sev­er­al more Genesis albums with­out Gabriel, all hits.)

I saw Phil Collins with his tour­ing band (not the Genesis guys) in Louisville back around 1983. He put on quite a show.

This album was a good record­ing. If you’ve nev­er heard the whole thing, you’re in for a real treat. Enjoy, and thanks for tun­ing in.

Track listing

Original release. All tracks are writ­ten by Phil Collins, except where noted.

Side one

No.      Title    Writer(s)         Length

1.         “In the Air Tonight”              5:34
2.         “This Must Be Love”            3:55
3.         “Behind the Lines”   Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford 3:53
4.         “The Roof Is Leaking”                    3:16
5.         “Droned”                   2:49
6.         “Hand in Hand”                    5:20

Side two

No.      Title    Writer(s)         Length

1.         “I Missed Again”                  3:41
2.         “You Know What I Mean”              2:33
3.         “Thunder and Lightning”                4:12
4.         “I’m Not Moving”                  2:33
5.         “If Leaving Me Is Easy”                  4:54
6.         “Tomorrow Never Knows”  John Lennon, Paul McCartney 4:15

Total length:  47:32

Personnel

Phil Collins – vocals, drums, Roland VP-330 vocoder (1, 6, 10), CR-78 drum machine (1, 6, 12), Prophet‑5 syn­the­siz­er (1, 2, 5–7, 10–12), Fender Rhodes (1, 2, 9, 11), per­cus­sion (2, 10), piano (4–8, 10), hand­claps (5, 9), con­gas (5), marim­ba (6), acoustic gui­tar (13)

Daryl Stuermer – gui­tars (1–3, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12), ban­jo (4), 12-string gui­tar (5)

Eric Clapton – gui­tar (4, 11)

Joe Partridge – slide gui­tar (4)

John Giblin – bass gui­tar (1, 9, 10, 12)

Alphonso Johnson – bass (2, 3, 6, 7, 11)

L. Shankar – vio­lin (1, 5, 7, 12), tam­boura (5), “voice drums” (5)

J. Peter Robinson – Prophet‑5 (3)

Stephen Bishop – back­ground vocals (2)

Arif Mardin – string arrange­ments (8, 11)

EWF Horns – horns

Don Myrick – tenor sax­o­phone (3, 6, 7, 9, 12), alto sax solo (11)

Louis Satterfield – trom­bone (3, 6, 7, 9, 12)

Rahmlee Michael Davis and Michael Harris – trum­pets (3, 6, 7, 9, 12), flugel­horns (11)

Ronnie Scott – tenor sax­o­phone solo (7)

Music prepa­ra­tion – Maurice Spears

Other back­ground vocals on tracks 6 and 12 by sev­er­al chil­dren’s choirs in Los Angeles

Strings on tracks 8 and 11 con­duct­ed by Martyn Ford

Violins – Gavyn Wright (leader), Bill Benhem, Bruce Dukov, David Woodcock, Liz Edwards, Irvine Arditti, Ken Sillitoe, Peter Oxen and Richard Studt

Viola – Roger Best, Brian Hawkins and Simon Whistler

Cello – Tony Pleeth, Clive Anstee and Nigel Warren-Green

Double bass – Chris Laurence

Production

Phil Collins – pro­duc­er
Hugh Padgham – assis­tant pro­duc­er. engi­neer
Nick Launay – assis­tant engi­neer (London)
Karen Siegel – assis­tant engi­neer (Los Angeles)
Trevor Key – photography

Released   February 13, 1981
Recorded  August–December 1980
Studio   The Town House, London Old Croft, Shalford, Surrey The Village Recorder, Los Angeles
Length              47:49
Label    Virgin (UK) Atlantic (North America) WEA (else­where)
Producer          Phil Collins Hugh Padgham