Phil Collins revisits a career that can boast over 100 million sales and numerous worldwide #1 albums with the new “Take A Look At Me Now” retrospective reissue campaign in which all eight of his albums will be issued as extended and remastered editions. The campaign commences with his 1981 debut album ‘Face Value’ and 1993's ‘Both Sides.’
Entirely curated and compiled by Collins himself, his idea for the “Take A Look At Me Now” concept is to examine how his songs have evolved over time, with the majority of the additional content throughout the series focused on live versions of the tracks. By contrasting the original studio versions of the material with later performances, the series demonstrates how Collins' songs take on a life of their own once they're freed from the confines of the studio.
The extended versions of the albums will also be completed with carefully selected demos and b-sides. Each album in the series will be remastered by Nick Davis, who earned a Grammy nomination for Best Surround Sound album for his work on the Genesis ‘1970–1975’ box set.
They reissues also feature a bold new artwork concept in which Collins' has recreated his poses from the original album covers with new photography that was shot in the present day.
“I've always been quite proud of my demos and have often made them available as B-sides, but with a few exceptions, I have avoided including those on these collections,” says Collins. “Instead, I've focused on how nicely the songs developed when played on stage, rather than showing how they originated.”
Initially released shortly after Collins' 30th birthday, ‘Face Value’ was propelled to international multi-platinum status with the help of the smash hit single “In The Air Tonight.” Other notable tracks on the album include the follow-up singles “I Missed Again” and “If Leaving Me Is Easy,” as well as “Behind The Lines” which was written with Collins' Genesis colleagues Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford.