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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
emotional
informative
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Not exactly a feel-good book, but an honest representation of my favorite songwriter of all time!
reflective
medium-paced
Phil Collins has been kind of quiet for the last five or so years. He said it’s because he wanted to semi-retire and actually spend time raising a family for once, having never had this experience with his previous three families during his multiple decade-spanning superstar career. He also spent it working on this autobiography. And he also spent it as an alcoholic and addicted to intense pain medications, a deadly cocktail that almost killed him multiple times. The last five years have been pretty busy for Phil, much like the previous four decades. Not Dead Yet is his story in his very own words from birth to the present.
Unlike the four founding members of Genesis, Philip David Charles Collins didn’t go to a fancy private school but lived in a poor household and had to earn everything in life from the very beginning. With a mother who loved and supported him greatly, and a father who was distant and indifferent and never seemed to believe in him, Phil knew from a young age he wanted to be a drummer. It was either that or an actor. But when his voice dropped and he had trouble getting roles that paid anything, he dedicated himself to drumming. A lesson or two was all he ever bothered with, and self-taught everything else. During the late sixties he went to every gig he could and got the chance to see acts like Eric Clapton with Cream and Led Zeppelin before they were Led Zeppelin. From a young age he had his heroes and knew where he wanted his life to go, fostered with a foundation in the growingly-popular Motown scene.
A succession of bands led to occasional gigs but nothing really stable and longterm, until he saw an ad for a drummer and went to an audition in front of Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford. He got to cool off in the pool on the private estate while waiting his turn, and was able to hear the other drummers’ auditions and learn from their mistakes. It was 1971, and that was the start of his career with Genesis.
In 1975 Peter Gabriel left the band, but Genesis would keep going on. They recorded an album with Phil doing some vocals while auditioning over a hundred singers for the lead singing role. None of them fit and at the end with touring and commitments to be made, Phil said, “Well, why don’t I have a go?” and thus the new front man for Genesis was decided. In 1980 after his marriage fell apart, Phil spent some time alone recording and eventually the result was his first solo album, Face Value, with the iconic hit and opening track that will never leave him, “In the Air Tonight.”
From then on when he wasn’t recording a Genesis album, he was recording a solo album. If he wasn’t doing that he was producing albums for Eric Clapton or Robert Plant, or going on tour with them as their drummer, or performing at both Live Aids in London and Philadelphia with the aid of a Concord, or he was becoming very close with British royalty as an important member of the Prince’s Trust. And then there was his acting career. The man was everywhere, his music was on every radio station, and the awards started pouring in. But as Mr. Collins recounts in the book, he never asked to do all these once in lifetime opportunities, but when Eric Clapton or Robert Plant asks you to work with them, how can you say no?
Not Dead Yet is both a fascinating and sobering read. Phil Collins is a millionaire many times over, and readers see how with the insane workaholic he was for over thirty years, but at the same time there are those who have suffered, who have loss, mainly family, and Phil himself has had a lot of hardship and pain himself. But he makes no excuses, admitting to his faults and failings as a father and a husband, and goes into excruciating detail when he hit rock bottom as a drug addict in his late fifties and having to go into rehab.
Not Dead Yet is a very moving book, as readers enjoy the many highs of Phil’s life and career, as well as suffering through the many painful lows. If fans want to go that extra yard, they may want to listen to the audiobook as it is read by the great man himself, with his still very prevalent London accent.
Originally written on January 4 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews, check out the BookBanter site.
Unlike the four founding members of Genesis, Philip David Charles Collins didn’t go to a fancy private school but lived in a poor household and had to earn everything in life from the very beginning. With a mother who loved and supported him greatly, and a father who was distant and indifferent and never seemed to believe in him, Phil knew from a young age he wanted to be a drummer. It was either that or an actor. But when his voice dropped and he had trouble getting roles that paid anything, he dedicated himself to drumming. A lesson or two was all he ever bothered with, and self-taught everything else. During the late sixties he went to every gig he could and got the chance to see acts like Eric Clapton with Cream and Led Zeppelin before they were Led Zeppelin. From a young age he had his heroes and knew where he wanted his life to go, fostered with a foundation in the growingly-popular Motown scene.
A succession of bands led to occasional gigs but nothing really stable and longterm, until he saw an ad for a drummer and went to an audition in front of Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford. He got to cool off in the pool on the private estate while waiting his turn, and was able to hear the other drummers’ auditions and learn from their mistakes. It was 1971, and that was the start of his career with Genesis.
In 1975 Peter Gabriel left the band, but Genesis would keep going on. They recorded an album with Phil doing some vocals while auditioning over a hundred singers for the lead singing role. None of them fit and at the end with touring and commitments to be made, Phil said, “Well, why don’t I have a go?” and thus the new front man for Genesis was decided. In 1980 after his marriage fell apart, Phil spent some time alone recording and eventually the result was his first solo album, Face Value, with the iconic hit and opening track that will never leave him, “In the Air Tonight.”
From then on when he wasn’t recording a Genesis album, he was recording a solo album. If he wasn’t doing that he was producing albums for Eric Clapton or Robert Plant, or going on tour with them as their drummer, or performing at both Live Aids in London and Philadelphia with the aid of a Concord, or he was becoming very close with British royalty as an important member of the Prince’s Trust. And then there was his acting career. The man was everywhere, his music was on every radio station, and the awards started pouring in. But as Mr. Collins recounts in the book, he never asked to do all these once in lifetime opportunities, but when Eric Clapton or Robert Plant asks you to work with them, how can you say no?
Not Dead Yet is both a fascinating and sobering read. Phil Collins is a millionaire many times over, and readers see how with the insane workaholic he was for over thirty years, but at the same time there are those who have suffered, who have loss, mainly family, and Phil himself has had a lot of hardship and pain himself. But he makes no excuses, admitting to his faults and failings as a father and a husband, and goes into excruciating detail when he hit rock bottom as a drug addict in his late fifties and having to go into rehab.
Not Dead Yet is a very moving book, as readers enjoy the many highs of Phil’s life and career, as well as suffering through the many painful lows. If fans want to go that extra yard, they may want to listen to the audiobook as it is read by the great man himself, with his still very prevalent London accent.
Originally written on January 4 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews, check out the BookBanter site.
Listened to the audible version and really enjoyed hearing Collins tell his own story. He tells his story with humor, honesty, and humility.
A great read
I’ve always been a unashamed fan of Phils (early) solo stuff and Genesis, and I never understood the stick he got. This book is a great read. Not navel gazing biog like many from His era. It brave, honest and funny.
I’ve always been a unashamed fan of Phils (early) solo stuff and Genesis, and I never understood the stick he got. This book is a great read. Not navel gazing biog like many from His era. It brave, honest and funny.
My background: I somehow had no idea who Phil Collins was until a couple years ago. I found Foxtrot in a pretty contextless way (one of those best-albums-per-decades lists), loved it, and listened to Trespass and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway before deciding I’d get some solo albums from the singer and the drummer. And the first song on the drummer’s album was In the Air Tonight. Of course I had spent years belting In the Air Tonight and Against All Odds at opportune times, I just had no idea it who was behind it. (In retrospect, I have no idea how that was possible.) Face Value is, for the record, fantastic.
Beyond having the best memoir title ever, this is also a open, honest, funny, and sometimes brutal book. If you read this you’ll probably come away with however you already feel about Phil Collins intensified. If you want to dig for every display of arrogance people show up on comment sections to complain about, you can find some (he’ll admit many), but personally I found it hard to not see him as a self-aware, dutifully hard-working fellow. And somehow in the end, a family man (yes). (He really does care about his kids.)
I also left all the more impressed with his sense of humor about everything (which is prevalent through the book), because he’s really had a crap time these past couple decades. He is a crowd-pleaser—not in a “wow this song has horns, killed Genesis, where’s Nursery Cryme 2 bitch” way, but more of a deeply concerned with giving people a good show to the point it means he’s constantly touring (it’s amazing how many times in this he nonchalantly mentions “100+ show world tour”), rewatching previous performances looking for improvements, worrying about his health and voice, and reading reviews (gulp). The great Phil Collins hate-a-thon that was so hip throughout the 90’s and 00’s must have hurt. The later sections of the book (and his life I suppose) take a dark turn when his often self-destructive work ethic is replaced by constant health issues and an intense battle with alcoholism that ended only a few years before his un-retirement. Yet he’s able to talk about it in a way most people would need a few decades of distancing to be able to do. He’s never had much reprieve, I feel.
He does focus on the side of things only Phil Collins could give. (Which is, of course, what you’d want from a memoir, but this means I’ll have to keep digging for the big nerdy Genesis scoop I crave.) The book is structured chronologically and spends a long time on his childhood and parents and grandparents, which isn’t the most exciting opening, but yunno, it’s important to him.
Overall, even if you have a new burgeoning liking to Genesis and Phil Collins like I do, there was a lot here to enjoy. If you’ve ever watched an interview with the man and ended with a appreciation for his wit or personality, you’ll enjoy this just as well.
Stray observations:
• Dance Into the Light is referred to as a “damp squid” of an album.
• No, Phil Collins’ 19-year-old conga-playing didn’t end up on All Things Must Pass, but it makes for one of the most entertaining chapters of the book. The unexplained rejection (did he suck? was it just an scrapped arrangement?) bothered Phil throughout the decades. So much that George Harrison played a prank on him by throwing together a tape of Art of Dying with terrible conga-playing over it to send to Phil, who fell for it completely.
• Phil knows well about Patrick Bateman and wasn’t very amused (aw)
• “[Lily] and I start playing Spyro the Dragon—computer games are one of our new shared passions. I love them, and I love Spyro, although if push comes to shove, I’ll declare myself a Crash Bandicoot man.” (!!!)
• Don’t fret, his voice work for Balto isn’t skipped over.
• Young pre-Genesis Phil heard wind of Bill Bruford leaving Yes and met Jon Anderson backstage and got his phone number to talk about being the new drummer, but Phil never made the call.
• Kenny Baker lived in Phil Collins’ teenage home for half a year. (???)
• There are pictures included of Phil taking his young sons to the Alamo. ❤️
Beyond having the best memoir title ever, this is also a open, honest, funny, and sometimes brutal book. If you read this you’ll probably come away with however you already feel about Phil Collins intensified. If you want to dig for every display of arrogance people show up on comment sections to complain about, you can find some (he’ll admit many), but personally I found it hard to not see him as a self-aware, dutifully hard-working fellow. And somehow in the end, a family man (yes). (He really does care about his kids.)
I also left all the more impressed with his sense of humor about everything (which is prevalent through the book), because he’s really had a crap time these past couple decades. He is a crowd-pleaser—not in a “wow this song has horns, killed Genesis, where’s Nursery Cryme 2 bitch” way, but more of a deeply concerned with giving people a good show to the point it means he’s constantly touring (it’s amazing how many times in this he nonchalantly mentions “100+ show world tour”), rewatching previous performances looking for improvements, worrying about his health and voice, and reading reviews (gulp). The great Phil Collins hate-a-thon that was so hip throughout the 90’s and 00’s must have hurt. The later sections of the book (and his life I suppose) take a dark turn when his often self-destructive work ethic is replaced by constant health issues and an intense battle with alcoholism that ended only a few years before his un-retirement. Yet he’s able to talk about it in a way most people would need a few decades of distancing to be able to do. He’s never had much reprieve, I feel.
He does focus on the side of things only Phil Collins could give. (Which is, of course, what you’d want from a memoir, but this means I’ll have to keep digging for the big nerdy Genesis scoop I crave.) The book is structured chronologically and spends a long time on his childhood and parents and grandparents, which isn’t the most exciting opening, but yunno, it’s important to him.
Overall, even if you have a new burgeoning liking to Genesis and Phil Collins like I do, there was a lot here to enjoy. If you’ve ever watched an interview with the man and ended with a appreciation for his wit or personality, you’ll enjoy this just as well.
Stray observations:
• Dance Into the Light is referred to as a “damp squid” of an album.
• No, Phil Collins’ 19-year-old conga-playing didn’t end up on All Things Must Pass, but it makes for one of the most entertaining chapters of the book. The unexplained rejection (did he suck? was it just an scrapped arrangement?) bothered Phil throughout the decades. So much that George Harrison played a prank on him by throwing together a tape of Art of Dying with terrible conga-playing over it to send to Phil, who fell for it completely.
• Phil knows well about Patrick Bateman and wasn’t very amused (aw)
• “[Lily] and I start playing Spyro the Dragon—computer games are one of our new shared passions. I love them, and I love Spyro, although if push comes to shove, I’ll declare myself a Crash Bandicoot man.” (!!!)
• Don’t fret, his voice work for Balto isn’t skipped over.
• Young pre-Genesis Phil heard wind of Bill Bruford leaving Yes and met Jon Anderson backstage and got his phone number to talk about being the new drummer, but Phil never made the call.
• Kenny Baker lived in Phil Collins’ teenage home for half a year. (???)
• There are pictures included of Phil taking his young sons to the Alamo. ❤️
Brutally honest accounting of his life. Of course, always from his memories. Though I've lived my life listening to hos music, I hadn't know most of what this man had gone through. This is a quite enjoyable story...till the end...where turned quite dark. Glad that he found his way back. The one thing that I wish this book had...was a better ending. IDK, it just seemed to stop. I thought there would be a better ending...an Epilogue of sorts. May be the next book.
Not exactly what I expected....definitely more interesting.