New Vibrations: Phil Collins' Going Back

Most of our generation know Phil Collins as the guy who wrote the music for Disney hits like Tarzan and Brother Bear.

However in his newest album, Going Back, Collins is returning to where it all started for him: R&B and pop songs from the ‘60s — the songs that he grew up with and that inspired him to write music in the first place.

In this album, Collins picks a variety of songs from his childhood, ranging from energetic “Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me for a Little While)” to soulful “Going Back,” and he presents them in one nice, neat little package.

He showcases his childhood and the music that is important to him.

One can hear his enthusiasm and love for every single song in this album, and while some fall short when it comes to presentation or arrangement (“Papa Was a Rolling Stone” comes to mind as one that didn’t seem to flow as smoothly with the rest of the album), his performance in all of these pieces is impeccable.

This isn’t music that you will want to put away in the middle of the album, just because his energy is so infectious and makes you want to get up and dance, or at least nod your head along with the beat of the song.

The overarching mood of this piece is joy; in this album, each song is like Collins’ way of showing how happy he is to be alive and making music. He is making this album because he wants to share this joy with the rest of his listeners.

Even in the songs that have a more melancholy tone, like the ninth track — “Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer” — it’s still obvious that Collins is simply happy that he is alive to experience melancholy emotions.

This album is as much as a celebration of his life and music career as it is a celebration of the music scene from the 1960s.

While this music appropriately captures the spirit of the 60s, Collins does nothing new with the material he is presenting.

There are no new re-interpretations of the old material he is drawing from or new rearrangements of those pieces he loved so much as a child.

Although Collins recorded this album because he wanted to pay homage to older songs, surely he could have worked on each song more and put his own spin on it.

Just because he wants to keep the original flavor and mood doesn’t mean that he can’t make his own mark on it.

It would have made the album even more personal and more him instead of just him singing other people’s songs. That doesn’t mean that he sings them badly, but he does just sing them without putting in his own flair. People who buy this CD will only be getting a recording of Phil Collins’ voice, but not necessarily his music.

For those looking for new songs from Collins, this album will probably be a disappointment, especially if they are already familiar with music from the ‘60s (although there are a couple of more obscure songs on this album), but for those who just want to hear another Collins-produced work, Going Back certainly hits the spot.

For Collins’ next CD, he should focus on new music, since he hasn’t come out with anything new for eight years, but if he wants to stick with songs that people are familiar with, he should try and experiment with them and make people sit up and listen when it comes on over the speakers.

Overall, though, this album is certainly not a disappointment to the average listener.

At best, it will make you want to get up and dance, and at the very least, it’s sure to provide about an hour of light-hearted fun.