Behind the Album: ‘Face Value,’ Phil Collins’ Pain-Wracked Solo Debut

No artist proved more ubiquitous in the 1980s than Phil Collins, with his solo career and his time in the band Genesis coexisting seamlessly and producing a string of huge hit singles and albums. The catalyst for all that was his 1981 album Face Value, his first ever solo record that established him as one of the pioneering pop stars of the era.

As is often the case, great art came from great pain, as many of the songs emanated from the anguish associated with the breakdown of his first marriage. Couple a strong set of songs with a drum break for the ages, and Face Value launched Phil Collins onto a level of stardom few other artists of the decade achieved.

The Face Out Front

It’s funny to think now that there was once great consternation about Phil Collins taking over as lead singer of Genesis. Peter Gabriel had been such a charismatic frontman that the band had almost no choice to shift gears when he left. Little by little, the band weeded out the sprawling, prog-rock songs in favor of more concise pop-rock confections.

Their 1980 album Duke had pushed them the furthest yet in this more accessible direction, as it featured “Misunderstanding,” a Top-20 hit in the U.S. To record and release that album, Collins put aside a project he had begun a year earlier (1979): his first solo record.

Collins didn’t necessarily have a premeditated plan to branch out in that way. He simply started writing songs at home to get his mind off the fact his first marriage was crumbling. As might be expected, these songs tended to be filled with pained reflections on lost love.

Musically, Collins built the original demos from piano and synthesizer, and that combination created a dynamic that was somehow both stark and melodic. Once he made it into the studio to record the songs with producer Hugh Padgham, they filled things out a bit, most notably with robust horn parts on several tracks.

Padgham had also worked with Peter Gabriel, and had been there at the inception of the gated drum sound Gabriel used on the song “Invader.” Collins and Padgham unleashed it to great effect on the Face Value centerpiece track “In the Air Tonight.” With that song leading the charge, Collins came away with an album that did better in the U.S. than any Genesis record made to that point.

Revisiting Face Value

Perhaps because “In the Air Tonight” set such a foreboding tone, and because Collins never made any secret his divorce played heavily into its writing, Face Value has gained a reputation as a downer of an album. But that’s not nearly the whole story, as there’s enough variety here to keep things from getting into a downbeat rut.

The instrumental “Hand in Hand” is buoyant, while Collins’ maximalist take on The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” is propulsive headphone music. “I Missed Again,” which actually was the first single in the U.S., uses its punchy horn accents to offset the narrator’s hapless predicament.

But the slower stuff is what’s likely to grab your attention, if only because of the force of Collins’ vocal performance. “In the Air Tonight” is obviously unassailable, a triumph of insinuation and low-key menace. “The Roof Is Leaking” comes out of nowhere with Daryl Stuermer’s banjo to deliver the vibe of a bluegrass weeper, while “You Know What I Mean” and “If Leaving Me Is Easy” lay all the messy emotions on the table.

Collins actually had the future No. 1 hit “Against All Odds” in his pocket when making the album, but chose to hold it back because he feared it would tip the balance too far to the maudlin. Face Value is just right as it is, as Collins found his way to turn his romantic struggles, as harrowing as they might have been at the time, into fodder for fascinating pop music.

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