Rhino Records

Phil Collins: ‘Take a Look at Me Now’

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Whenever you think of Phil Collins today, it’s all too easy to write him off or simply box him into the overhyped persona that saturated MTV and Top 40 radio during the 1980s and beyond. In fact, it takes quite a bit of effort to recall his early days as a member of Genesis, when he was an avant-garde, prog-rocker and lauded musician. Collins’ avoidance of the spotlight came as an unexpected surprise when he reluctantly stepped up to the mic as Peter Gabriel’s stand-in. In addition to adapting to his new role as front man, Collins began a successful solo career and concurrently earned a reputation as a proficient record producer, crafting international hits as he helmed the board for Eric Clapton, Howard Jones, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad.

With an illustrious recording career that spans four decades and contains timeless classics including “You’ll Be in My Heart,” “Another Day in Paradise,” “One More Night” and “In the Air Tonight,” now is the perfect time to revisit and rediscover the true genius of Phil Collins. Rhino has recently completed an extensive reissue campaign, which includes Collins’ solo studio albums in deluxe 2-disc remastered editions. The 16-disc box set Take a Look at Me Now contains Collins’ eight original albums, all of which have been impeccably remastered by Grammy-nominated sound engineer and producer Nick Davis. Each title (also available individually) includes newly updated cover art and a bonus disc of demos, B-sides, and live recordings. The original remastered albums have also been released on 180-gram vinyl for the very first time.

Collins personally curated the supplemental material contained in this collection himself, with an emphasis on live recordings he feels shows the evolution of many of his favorite compositions. He has also hinted at the possibility of releasing new material in the future, as well as recently performing his first concert in five years. At last, Collins’ solo catalog, with sales of over 100 million records worldwide, has received the much needed sonic upgrade it so richly deserves.

Tori Amos Redux: ‘Little Earthquakes’ and ‘Under the Pink’ Deluxe Editions

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Little Earthquakes                                       Under the Pink

It’s nearly unfeasible to imagine that more than two decades have passed since Tori Amos released her seminal debut Little Earthquakes in early 1992. Originally considered too cerebral and magniloquent for mainstream, Amos was resolute in her refusal to be pigeonholed as merely a girl with a piano, as she more than eloquently proved two years later with her sophomore follow-up, Under the Pink. Not since the days of Joni Mitchell’s emotive Blue and Carole King’s confessional Tapestry two decades earlier had such an intimately revealing and distinctly female perspective been unleashed upon the unsuspecting masses.

Now Rhino Records has re-released Amos’ first two albums in deluxe, re-mastered, 2-disc sets, both packed with out-of- print B-sides and rare live versions as bonus tracks. Also, both titles have been concurrently released on 180-gram vinyl, which marks the first time Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink have been available on the heavyweight LP format in the U.S.

These landmark recordings contain the amazingly timeless “Silent All These Years,” “Winter,” “God,” and “Cornflake Girl,” all of which have endured as live staples throughout Amos’ career as well as endearing her to a multitude of die-hard Toriphiles. Raging with now famous Tori-isms such as the caustic “So you can make me come/That doesn’t make you Jesus” (from “Precious Things”), as well as the chilling re-telling of Amos’ own rape in the a cappella “Me and a Gun,” these two classic albums have eternally left a resounding and omnipresent impact upon popular music.