In The Air Tonight live 1982 I seem to remember seeing this on the tv. These are apparently from Perkins Palace
As serendipity would have it, I am listening to the "Not Dead Yet" audio book courtesy of my public library, and Phil was discussing 1982. It started with Frida, then Robert Plant, writing and recording Hello I Must Be Going!, the Three Sides Live tour and Six Of The Best show, and then the Hot Tub Club tour. The songs for Hello! were born from divorce proceeding from his first wife. "I Don't Care," "I Cannot Believe," "Do You Know," and "Why Can't It Wait..." are the songs specifically mentioned by Phil as being inspired by this difficult time.
I Don't Care Anymore is brilliant, every bit: particularly the drums and the voice. I also quite like Phil's "screaming" voice, because he hits those notes and it sounds great.
I Cannot Believe It's True Single by Phil Collins from the album Hello, I Must Be Going! Released 1983 (USA) Format 7", 12" Recorded 1982 Genre Pop rock Length 5:14 Label Virgin Records (UK) Atlantic Records (International) Songwriter(s) Phil Collins Producer(s) Phil Collins, Hugh Padgham To some degree it is sad that this song didn't get more single airplay that You Can't Hurry Love, but in the eighties cover singles really got some heavy coverage, or so it seems at least. This is a great song that captures that R&B soul thing, that Phil loved so much, really well. We kick in with a nice drum fill, and then we get some really nice horns, with a somewhat EWF feel. One of the things about Phil's horn arrangements is that they live in rhythmic structure. More often than not the melody of them is subtle and the rhythm is quite brilliant. This works for me, because I think that suits the way Collins writes. We also have a really cool percussion track sitting in here as well. The whole song jingles and punches all the way through and to some degree reflect the emotion of the lyric. I can always enjoy this kind of song , because of its groove and flow. We get a nice sax lead and check out those drums in that section. Some beautiful subtle bits of rhythm interplay. One of the things that made Collins a favourite in the drum world for me, was his subtle rhythm turn arounds and fills. Such a great feel, and delivery. For me one of the great things about his earlier solo stuff at least, was in spite of the songs being somewhat poppish, there were these brilliant pieces of rhythmic structure that would go missed by the average pop listener.
Finally giving the album its first listen in a while just now. 4 tracks in and I think there is plenty of validity to your comments about production and feel. It might also be the case that the worst track on this album is significantly better than the weakest tracks on Face Value. I do get PCs intention that the album forms a pair with Face Value and because I heard them at the same time I can easily see these as two halves of a double. I do wonder though, about your comment that what sets these albums apart is In The Air Tonight. Hello is a consistent album without any really high highs. In addition to In The Air Tonight FV has the advantage that it was an “against type” album for its time -totally unexpected and contained songs that were revelatory for the drummer and occasional singer for Genesis. However, as I sit here, I have underrated Hello. It is more consistent and much of its content is more rounded in sound and production. These songs would provide real muscle in a PC pre Jacket solo live show. I think the reason it did not do as well is that there was not much new here. That is not a bad thing. There are bad things later in the catalogue!
I Cannot Believe It's True is in some ways a bit of a "lesser" track on this album but that just highlights what good company it keeps as it's a really great track. I really like the line about living on borrowed time - but it's mine, it sums up that post relationship period where you kind of feel guilty about being self centred. It also has that edge as many of the songs do of a slight fixation on the whole thing - like he really can't let it go. Good track, great performance and works well live - strong second track
This is one of my favourite tracks on Hello... I understand the comparison to ITAT but the comparison with Mama (and I would add That’s All) is more real. Great to see drums driving the melody (if it can be called that) of this track. It’s been great since day one. Like the attitude songs from Phil.
I was struck by how much I like this track when I played it. This is top tier Phil even if it feels Like a mash up of I Missed Again and Thunder & Lightning from the first album with some improvement from EWF. Great Track but it’s one for a live setting with those horns - not radio material.
All I meant with In The Air Tonight was that the exposure gave Face Value a bigger market for sales. With You Can't Hurry Love being a cover and much less surprising, It didn't have that same effect. That's all ... pardon the pun
Phil's guest spots up to 1982 1970 All Things Must Pass (George Harrison) "Art of Dying" Congas 1973 Drums on: Two Sides of Peter Banks[66] 1975 Voyage of the Acolyte (Steve Hackett) "Star of Sirius" Another Green World (Brian Eno) "Sky Saw" "Over Fire Island" "Zawinul/Lava" Teaser (Tommy Bolin) "Savannah Woman" 1976 "Skammens terskel" Gi meg et hus[67] Unorthodox Behaviour (Brand X) Drums "Nuclear Burn" Vimana (Nova) Percussion "Vimana" "Night Games" "Poesia (To A Brother Gone)" "Thru the Silence" "Driftwood" "The Princess and the Frog" 1977 The Geese and the Ghost (Anthony Phillips) "God If I Saw Her Now" "Which Way the Wind Blows" Moroccan Roll (Brand X) "Sun in the Night" "...Maybe I'll Lend You Mine After All" 1979 Product (Brand X) Drums "Soho" "Don't Make Waves" The Pentateuch of the Cosmogony (Dave Greenslade) "Three Brides" Drums "Barcarole" Drums "Forest Kingdom" Drums "War" Drums "Lament for the Sea" Drums "Miasma Generator" Drums 1980 Peter Gabriel (Peter Gabriel) "Intruder" Drums, drum pattern "No Self Control" Drums "Family Snapshot" Snare Drum "And Through the Wire" Drums "Biko" Surdo 1981 Skinningrove Bay (Jack Lancaster) "Deep Green" 1982 Something's Going On (Anni-Frid Lyngstad) "Here We'll Stay" Pictures at Eleven (Robert Plant) "Burning Down One Side" Drums "Moonlight in Sambrosa" Drums "Pledge Pin" Drums "Worse than Detroit" Drums "Fat Lip" Drums "Mystery Title" Drums -------------------------------------------------------------------------- For those interested in these things these are Phil credits outside of his solo work and Genesis up to this point. It's interesting looking through, because there always seems to be this mentality that Phil was everywhere in the eighties, but looking at this, it is hardly as if he was quiet during the seventies. It would seem the explosion of his solo career just made it more apparent that he was everywhere. Also of course he became a wanted producer. The guy certainly had a great work ethic, and couldn't be labelled a lazy musician.
Here is an even more comprehensive list of Phil's album credits... Including Argent Thin Lizzy Eno John Cale Camel Robert Fripp Rupert Hine John Martyn Mike Oldfield and many more https://rateyourmusic.com/list/groonrikk/phil_collins___session_drummer_and_producer/
As talked about in his book, he played on a session for this song, but is not in the final version of it.
A lot of these collaborations are compiled in his Plays Well With Others collection. A lot of good stuff on there though they aren't all winners.
I Cannot Believe It's True is one of my favorite songs by uncle Phil. It's groovy, has a nice melody and I don't care about the lyrics so it's a 5/5 for me.
I Cannot Believe It's True A great bouncy EWF horn inspired late 70s/early 80s R&B groove track which he excelled out. It deserves more credit in his solo back catalogue than others which are more highly regarded (which should not be).
I Cannot Believe It's True: It's a catchy R&B style song. Love the drumming and the horns. It's a shame it wasn't a bigger hit than it turned it out to be.
