Showing posts with label The Kinks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Kinks. Show all posts

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Phil Collins an entangled farewell



By Ray Shasho

“I look at the MTV Music Awards and I think: 'I can't be in the same business as this', I don't really belong to that world and I don't think anyone's going to miss me. I'm much happier just to write myself out of the script entirely. I'll go on a mysterious biking holiday and never return. That would be a great way to end the story, wouldn't it?" …  These were Phil Collins disheartening remarks in a recent interview with FHM magazine.
The 60 year old classic rocker said he is calling it quits. Phil Collins has hearing problems, a dislocated vertebra and nerve damage in his hands from playing the drums.
Collins also suggested that there was no longer a place for him in today’s music.
He also mentioned that overplaying his music made people “want to strangle” him. "It's hardly surprising that people grew to hate me. I'm sorry that it was all so successful. I honestly didn't mean it to happen like that."
I’m here to say, “You’re wrong Phil!” Your mystical voice on the “A Trick of the Tail “ album resonated through my mind during those complicated high school years, offering calm and hope for the future. Hang in there Phil, we need you. The music world is lacking the talent it needs to deliver power messages like you do. Maybe now is the time to move forward and astonish.
Collins added, "My doctors tell me it's a work in progress that it will take about a year for me to recover. I don't think I'll ever be able to do that again." (Collins is referring to not being able to hold the drumsticks again)
Phil Collins joined Genesis in 1970 after answering an ad in need for a drummer.
Genesis became Peter Gabriel- vocals, Phil Collins- drums, Tony Banks- keyboardist, Steve Hackett- guitar, and Mike Rutherford- bass. The progressive bands elaborate song anatomy complemented their mesmerizing live performances.

Peter Gabriel left Genesis in 1975 to pursue a solo career and Collins almost- inconspicuously replaced his vocals, sounding much-like Gabriel’s.

In 1979, I was very fortunate to meet Genesis at a Peaches record store in Ft Lauderdale where they signed my "A Trick of the Tail"  album.

Phil Collins solo career sales alone exceeded 150 million. He’s won seven Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and two Golden Globes. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010. That sounds like a lot of happy fans to me!
In a November 25th, 2010 Rolling Stone interview, Collins revealed, "Everything has added up to a load that I'm getting tired of carrying, It's gotten so complicated. It's the three failed marriages, and having kids that grew up without me, and it's the personal criticism, of being Mr. Nice Guy, or of divorcing my wife by fax, all that stuff, the journalism, some of which I find insulting. I wouldn't say that I have suicidal tendencies over my career or bad press. They're just another chink in the wall. It's cumulative.”

Please hang in there Phil the music world still needs you desperately, and whatever you’re thinking, we still love you man!
The very latest news on Phil Collins can be found here.

IN OTHER CLASSIC ROCK NEWS...
"We'll do it without him if we have to. The music is the issue.”
Those were the sentiments from British Invasion Rocker Ray Davies of The Kinks. Ray Davies and Brother Dave founded the group together in 1964.  Earlier speculation had the brothers and original drummer Mick Avory reuniting for a Kinks- Bash.
But apparently Dave’s not ready to commit to a Kinks comeback, even after Ray Davies made his optimistic comment…"I've had emails both from Mick and Dave about various other subject matters, but I think it will be down to Dave at the end of the day. But he's gradually coming round to it."
The Kinks broke-up in 1996 and the brothers are still in a tizzy.
Ray revealed in a recent interview, "I can understand what Dave's trying to say, I think it's a reference to comebacks in general."
In 2004, Ray Davies was shot in the leg after chasing a purse snatcher. The victim was the girl he was walking with. The shooting happened within blocks of Bourbon Street in New Orleans. In November of 2010, Davies was forced to cancel four shows due to complications from his injuries.
Davies said of the complications, "To put it politely, I don't think the wound was handled very well at the time, Partly because the hospital was busy, and partly due to the nature of the wound.It's been pretty bad, actually, I got quite sick before Christmas from residue that is still in the leg and which formed a clot. It made me quite ill and I was hospitalized for a bit."
Davies recently reported that he plans to tour this year with or without Brother Dave for Ray's version of a Kinks reunion.

The Kinks were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.




Got a classic rock story you would like to share? Email me at rockraymond.shasho@gmail.com.