Phil Collins – Face Value

The 5x platinum-selling album in the U.S., Face Value, was the debut solo album released by Genesis drummer and singer-songwriter Phil Collins, released in February 1981 by Virgin Records. The album was recorded from mid-1980 to early 1981 with Collins and Hugh Padgham as producers. Additional musicians include the Phenix Horns, Alphonso Johnson, and Eric Clapton.

Face Value was an instant commercial success and reached No. 1 on the U.K. Albums Chart for three weeks and No. 7 on the U.S. Billboard 200. It has since sold more than 5 million copies in the U.S. and more than 1.5 million in the U.K. The album received widespread praise from critics. Its lead single “In the Air Tonight,” released in January 1981, reached No. 2 on the U.K. Singles Chart and became known for its drum arrangement and use of gated reverb.

This Analogue Productions (Atlantic Series) reissue of Face Value has the essential elements that make it a standout for your collection. First, we turned to Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering to cut lacquers from a 1/4″ EQ’d Dolby tape copy of the original master. Pressing is by Quality Record Pressings and RTI, and the album is housed in tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jackets with film lamination by Stoughton Printing.

Like “Misunderstanding” (one of Genesis’s best songs), Face Value is pop music about personal turmoil: in this case, the dissolution of Collins’ marriage. Rolling Stone wrote: “At times, the singer’s broken heart is too clearly on his sleeve, and musical missteps abound: the annoying Munchkin-like Vocoder effects in ‘I’m Not Moving,’ some rote horn charts, a batch of indistinguishable ballads and a flaccid cover version of the Beatles’ ‘Tomorrow Never Knows.’

“But Collins hits more often than not, adeptly blending moody keyboard trills and bone-crunching drumbeats in ‘In the Air Tonight’ and shifting with surprising sure-footedness from the Eno-esque repetition of ‘Droned’ through the percussive horn blasts of ‘Hand in Hand’ to the persuasive intimacy of ‘If Leaving Me Is Easy.'”

AllMusic gave the album 5 stars, with reviewer Tim Sendra writing: “Phil Collins’ first solo album, 1981’s Face Value, was a long time coming, but it proved worth the wait, both for the Genesis drummer/vocalist himself and fans of thoughtful, emotionally charged pop. … (He made)an album that stands as a classic moment of ’80s pop/rock. … Collins felt driven to make this album to help him heal. It’s not a career move or a cash grab; it’s a transmission from a wounded soul delivered with a soft touch and sensitivity.”