Chapter 68: In the Air Tonight (February - September 1981)

13 February 1981

Phil Collins - Face Value

Released: 13 February 1981

Recorded: June 1980 - January 1981

Producer: Phil Collins and Hugh Padgham

Track listing[1]

Side A

In the Air Tonight

This Must Be Love

Misunderstanding

The Roof is Leaking

Droned

Hand in Hand

Side B

I Missed Again

You Know What I Mean

Thunder and Lightning

I'm Not Moving

If Leaving Me is Easy

Me and Virgil

Phil Collins' post-Genesis career had started when he became the new drummer for the Who following the death of Keith Moon in 1978. Afterward, he had been hoping to fix up his marriage with his wife Andrea Bertorelli who complained that he was rarely at home enough, and the cracks further widened between them during Genesis' And Then There Were Four Tour. Collins had been hoping that, with Genesis on the cusp of international breakthrough, the tour would help to pay dividends for the future. But then he left Genesis for the Who, with Kim Beacon taking over on drums for the former. Collins, meanwhile, had moved his family to Vancouver, Canada to save his marriage with Bertorelli, but they ended up returning to England instead.

PHIL COLLINS: "My life seemed to be in a never-ending hell by that point. I played on stage with the Who, but then... Cincinnati happened. Everyone was in low spirits by that point, but I seemed to get the brunt of it. Pete [Townshend], John [Entwistle] and Roger [Daltrey] were going for solo projects at that point, so I figured, what the heck." (1996)[2]

Hugh Padgham (center) at the mixing console, date unknown.

Collins teamed up with Hugh Padgham, with whom he was familiar with having worked on Peter Gabriel's third solo album, Melt, for his first solo album, Face Value. Much of the writing was inspired from his divorce from Bertorelli, and the album served as an outlet for his feelings. Among the songs recorded was his own solo version of "Misunderstanding", having previously featured on Genesis' Duke the year prior. Another song from the sessions, "Please Don't Ask" would later end up on the Who's first post-Moon album.

Upon release, Face Value became an immediate success, quickly reaching #1 in the United Kingdom (and #7 in the United States) before being knocked off of the top spot by the Beatles' Quadruple Fantasy. Likewise, the lead single from January, "In the Air Tonight"/"The Roof is Leaking" (#2 UK, #19 US), was kept off of the top spot by "Blow Away". The next two singles, "I Missed Again" (#14 UK, #19 US) and "If Leaving Me is Easy" (#17 UK), were also Top 20 hits in the United Kingdom, showing promise for a solo career by the former drummer for Genesis and current drummer for the Who.

The follow-up album, Hello, I Must Be Going! (#2 UK, #8 US), would be released 5 November 1982, featuring popular tracks such as "Thru These Walls", "You Can't Hurry Love", "I Don't Care Anymore" and "Don't Let Him Steal Your Heart Away".

16 March 1981

The Who - Face Dances

Released: 16 March 1981

Recorded: July - December 1980

Producer: Bill Szymczyk

Track listing[3]

Side A

You Better You Bet

Don't Let Go the Coat

Cache Cache

The Quiet One

Did You Steal My Money

Side B

Please Don't Ask

I Like Nightmares

Daily Records

You

Another Tricky Day

PETE TOWNSHEND: "So, we had just come out with our first album with Phil, and then we get kicked off of the top of the charts in our home country by his own solo project, and he's now our drummer! And then the Beatles reunite and further deny us the top spot. Fucking hell..." (1981)

At the time, Pete Townshend's reaction was that of frustration when the Who's Face Dances (#2 UK, #4 US) was first released. However, in retrospective years, he would admit that Collins' Face Value was actually quite good and even claimed to have liked a few songs off of the Beatles' Quadruple Fantasy. Still, "You Better You Bet"/"The Quiet One", when released that March, was a successful hit on both sides of the Atlantic (#9 UK, #18 US), and was even one of the first music videos shown on the newly-launched MTV. The second single, "Don't Let Go the Coat"/"How Do You Do It Alone" (#47 UK, #84 US), released that May, did not chart as highly.

May 5, 1981

Tom Petty & Mudcrutch - Hard Promises

Released: May 5, 1981

Recorded: 1980 - 1981

Producer: Jimmy Iovine and Tom Petty

Track listing[4]

Side A

The Waiting

A Woman in Love (It's Not Me)

Nightwatchman

Something Big

Gator on the Lawn

Kings Road

Side B

Letting You Go

Worried Guy (Insomnia)

A Thing About You

Insider

The Criminal Kind

You Can Still Change Your Mind

The working title for Tom Petty and Mudcrutch's fifth album was going to be Benmont's Revenge, referring to keyboardist Benmont Tench, but it was changed up to a more marketable title, Hard Promises. The album hit #2 in the United States, kept out of the top spot by Quadruple Fantasy, while hitting #23 in the United Kingdom. The first single released in April, "The Waiting"/"Nightwatchman" (#8), was a Top 10 hit, while the second single from June, "A Woman in Love (It's Not Me)"/"Stop Draggin My Heart Around (demo)" (#54 US) barely made the Top 60.

During the recording sessions, John Lennon made a visit to the studio and Tom Petty recalled the meeting very fondly, even giving him a shout-out on the back cover of Hard Promises.[5] Two months following the release of Hard Promises, Stevie Nicks' debut single from Bella Donna, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" (#31 UK, #2 US) featuring Petty and Mudcrutch, was released, kicking off a strong solo career from one of Fleetwood Mac's vocalists.

18 September 1981

Genesis - Abacab

Released: 18 September 1981

Recorded: March - June 1981

Producer: Genesis

Track listing[6]

Side A

Abacab

No Reply At All

Me and Sarah Jane

Naminanu

Side B

Dodo/Lurker

You Might Recall

Don't Tell Me

Like It or Not

Paperlate

In November 1980, Genesis had bought a new recording studio in Chiddingfold, Surrey that they named The Farm. They convened there in March the following year to record their follow-up to last year's Duke. With that album being successful commercially, how were they possibly going to top it?

KIM BEACON: "Working in a different environment was pretty relaxing for us; recording material at The Farm ensured that we wouldn't get distracted that much and we could do our jobs in peace. We had recorded more than enough material for a double album, but we ended up whittling it down to a single album instead." (1997)

TONY BANKS: "We wanted to avoid going for the musical clichés associated with Genesis by that point; tambourines during a chorus, reprises, extended solos, lengthy instrumental passages. Just keep the melody simple. Abacab was our least technical album at the time." (2006)

For the first time since 1974's The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Genesis did not bring forth longtime producer David Hentschel. In fact, they didn't bring forth an outside producer at all. For the first time, they would be self-producing, although they would bring in Glyn Johns as engineer.[7]

Tony Banks performing live with Genesis, 1981.

Upon initial release, Abacab topped the charts in the United Kingdom and reached #3 in the United States. Reception from critics and fans was generally positive, with many noting that the tracks simultaneously called back to their past and looked forward to the future. Three of the leftover tracks - "Keep It Dark", "Who Dunnit" and "Another Record" - would eventually be released on 21 May 1982 as part of an extended play, 3x3, focusing on the more experimental tracks from the sessions. The Abacab Tour ran from September to December 1981, later leading to Three Sides Live the following year.

Summary of Abacab single releases, 1981-1982:

• "Abacab" / "Like It or Not" - 14 August 1981 (#5 UK, #15 US)
• "No Reply at All" / "Me and Sarah Jane" - 9 September 1981 (#20 US)
• "Paperlate" / "You Might Recall" - 23 October 1981 (#15 UK)
• "Don't Tell Me" / "Submarine" - 5 March 1982 (#41 UK, #40 US)

Footnotes

1. All tracks are sourced from OTL's Face Value, excluding "Me and Virgil", sourced from Genesis' 3x3 extended play. "Misunderstanding" is the live version found on the deluxe version of Face Value. ("Misunderstanding" also had origins from the sessions, later included on Duke.) In OTL, Phil Collins recorded a cover of "Tomorrow Never Knows" as a tribute to John Lennon following his murder; Collins even sings a snippet of "Over the Rainbow" referencing the murder as a hidden track. If Lennon was still alive by February 1981, then Collins would've had no reason to record a Beatles cover.
2. Pete Townshend put out Empty Glass, which dealt with issues he was struggling with following Keith Moon's death, with much of the album sounding like the Who. John Entwistle's Too Late the Hero was being recorded alongside Face Dances, and Roger Daltrey starred in the drama film McVicar and released a solo album of the same name, featuring Townshend and Entwistle on same tracks.
3. The track listing for Face Dances is mostly unchanged, but with "How Can You Do It Alone" replaced with "Please Don't Ask" from Genesis' Duke and "I Like Nightmares", a bonus track from the 1997 reissue of Face Dances. Phil Collins sings lead vocals on "Please Don't Ask" much like OTL.
4. All tracks from Hard Promises are included. "Gator on the Lawn" is sourced from the box set Playback, and "Worried Guy (Insomnia)" remains officially unreleased.
5. This almost happened in OTL; John Lennon was scheduled to be in the same studio at the same time as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers during the recording of Hard Promises, but the meeting never took place due to Lennon being murdered before the planned visit. Petty and the band would then pay tribute to him by etching "WE LOVE YOU J.L." in the runout deadwax on early North American pressings.
6. All tracks are sourced from OTL's Abacab, excluding "Naminanu", the B-side to "Keep It Dark" and originally the opener to the four-part "Dodo/Lurker" suite, "You Might Recall" and "Paperlate", both from 3x3, and "Don't Tell Me" from Kim Beacon's Talking to Myself. All lead vocals are by Beacon. From this album on, without Collins' (and by extension, Hugh Padgham's) influence, it becomes easier to separate a Genesis album from a Phil Collins solo album.
7. For Abacab, as well as Genesis (1983) and Invisible Touch (1986), Hugh Padgham was co-producer. As mentioned, without Padgham's influence, the public is more likely to separate Phil Collins' solo career from Genesis' 1980s onward output.

Author's Comments

Yeah, I know; it's been a few weeks since the previous chapter. I've been very busy with a lot of other things at the moment, and this kind of got sidelined, so sorry about the delay, folks. I'm just glad that I got a chapter out at all.

Regarding Genesis, and speaking with Dan Martin about it, looking back, we probably should've gone for John Wetton (King Crimson, Roxy Music, U.K., Asia, etc.) from the get-go. Bringing in an obscure figure like Kim Beacon seemed like a good idea in theory, especially with how successful John Wetton's career was, but given how Kim had very little solo output in his entire career, and not to mention troubling behavior when it came to drugs and alcohol (according to Graham Forbes' Rock and Roll Busker), that turned out to be incredibly problematic. Fortunately, I've always intended to end the first draft at 1985, so this won't be as big a problem. That's going to be one of the major retcons I'll be making for The Second Coming. At the moment, we've got an extended play (3x3) and album (Genesis) to cover, as well as seven solo albums (two each from Mike, Tony and Kim, and one from Phil).