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(More customer reviews)In 1990, Phil Collins was at the apex of his career. His "...But Seriously" album was doing enormously well and in my eyes was the best album for that year. With Phil's career with Genesis, Genesis had a history of doing live albums. As for Phil's solo career - which was now firmly established, it was time for Phil to release a live album. Thus the "But Seriously" Tour was captured on both CD and Video at a performance in Berlin. If you have seen the video for the concert, this is a top notch performance in which Phil and his band pour an enormous amount of energy for over 2 1/2 hours during the show. In other words it was really something special. With the CD, it does miss the mark a bit. The content that is on the CD is still very good - and will be an enjoyable live album. However, this CD had the potential to be so much more and it's too bad it fails to do so.
Recently the Progressive Rock Band Rush released their "Rush in Rio" concert on CD and DVD. They had intended to only release it on DVD, but they realized they had something 'special' - so they decided to release the audio portion on CD. The concert was unspoiled on CD and the result is very appealing. With the "Seriously Live" video that Phil Collins did, I think it's safe to say that this is something 'special'. However when the "Serious Hits... Live!" CD was made, the audio portion was changed somewhat. For starters only 15 of the 24 songs are included on the CD. The "Serious Hits...Live!" CD goes the 'safe' route and really only focuses on Phil's hit songs leaving out great live performances of songs like "Colours", "Hand in Hand", "Inside Out", and "Doesn't Anybody Stay Together Anymore".In addition, the songs are were partially re-ordered compared to how they were done in Berlin. This is somewhat disappointing because for Berlin, I think Phil really nailed down the order of the setlist perfectly. There is no sense of a "live concert" - no opening song ("Hand in Hand" the opener is not on the CD) and we're not told that "Sussudio" is the song that wraps up the main set before the encore. Finally, this is really a subset of some of the Berlin concert. What is missing is Phil's communication with the audience (there are some real good moments as he 'reads' German to the crowd). Also missing is when Phil introduces the band - it's a complete riot.It's possible that Phil did this to not have the CD and Video in sales competition with each other, but it would have been nice this concert in its entirety released on a double CD.
Despite some of the shortcomings, "Serious Hits...Live!" still has some very good live numbers on this CD. One thing that is good is we get live versions of some of the duets that Phil Collins has done. The reason that Phil is able to pull off these duets is because he surrounded himself with a top notch set of performers - and in particular for the duets a great set of vocalists. "Separate Lives" is a nice duet that Phil Collins did with a singer named Marilyn Martin for the motion picture "White Nights". Phil manages to keep the chemistry solid by doing this duet with his female background vocalist - Bridgette Bryant. In fact I think Bryant does a better version than Martin. Phil's legendary duet "Easy Lover" that he did with Earth, Wind, and Fire's Phillip Bailey is covered. This is actually done as a trio with his male vocalists Arnold McCuller and Fred White. The trio's version works beautifully and the result is an exciting new spin on the song.
There are several songs included on this CD that really rise to the next level when done live. I always thought "In the Air Tonight" was an overrated song (i.e. a good song, but not a great song). The live version on this collection is awesome. When you hear Phil crash on the drums just over 4 minutes into the song, you will understand why. "Who Said I Would" is a very entertaining song when watched on the video, the audio portion does not disappoint either. This is one of those songs that truly is better done live. Another interesting spin on a classic song is "Sussudio". This was a song that was a very good song, but probably was one of the most overplayed songs of the 1980s. Phil changes up the intro and finale to the song a bit and the result is terrific. I always thought of "Sussudio" as more of an opening song, but the version that was done live makes it a perfect song for wrapping up the main set (which Phil did on this Tour). Live versions of "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven", "Against All Odds", "One More Night", and "Two Hearts" do not disappoint. Of course, the traditional wrap-up song "Take Me Home" is included - and in its mantra-like fashion, it is the perfect close to the concert (they do include this as the last track on the CD). In fact, there really isn't a bad version of any of the 15 tracks included on this CD.
So to sum up, the quality of what is included does exist on this CD. Pay close attention to the music - Phil's musicians on horns and vocals really shine with Daryl Stuermer's guitar, Leland Sklar's Bass, and Chester Thompson's drums. Take the title of this CD literally - Serious Hits...Live" will mean "hits" from the "..But Seriously" tour. I would get this CD, but also advise getting the video version of the concert to get a true sense of the energy that this performance delivers.
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