Artist: PHIL COLLINS
Album: BOTH SIDES (CD)

Year: 1993
Media type: CD

Both Sides is the title of Phil Collins' fifth studio album, released in the autumn of 1993. Contemplative and intimist, it is one of his greatest achievements, and it's widely regarded as his most personal album.

Both Sides was also notable for the fact that Collins made it entirely on his own, without his usual loyal collaborators, such as producer Hugh Padgham, guitarist Daryl Stuermer, bassist Leland Sklar and the Phenix Horns. Instead, Collins played and recorded at his home studio all the instruments himself as well as taking care of the production duties. This has been the only album upon which Phil Collins has played all the instruments himself with no collaboration from other musicians. For the first time, Collins wrote sleeve notes explaining the meaning of each of the songs on the album.

Collins claims this album to be the one he is most proud of. The sound of the album is different from most previous albums because most of the songs were recorded in Collins's house and taken to the studio for additional work. He touches on politics and "the daily cloud of terrorism Britain seems to live under" on "We Wait and We Wonder", but also on a maturing disenchantment with the youth culture on "We're Sons of Our Fathers". The melancholy style of the majority of the songs—as a return to the style of his early albums Face Value and Hello, I Must Be Going! - was because the songs chronicled the widely publicised breakup of his second marriage to Jill Tavelman.

Both Sides was met with a lukewarm reception, especially in the Adult Contemporary radio, being criticised for its over reliance on slow, dark and downbeat songs. The album was preceded by the somewhat daringly uncommercial title track as the first single, reaching #7 in the UK and only #25 in the US (in a disappointing chart performance considering the lead singles from his two previous albums were #1 hits in America). The album itself was released weeks later surprisingly only going to #13 in the US, though it still went platinum there. Both Sides was a hit in other European countries such as the UK (where it was the 8th biggest-selling album of 1993, though it was only available for the final eight weeks of the year), Germany or Switzerland, reaching #1 all over Europe, but with a limited success, due to the lack of hit singles. The ballad "Everyday", released in early 1994, was another Top 20 hit in the UK, peaking at #15, and became the biggest hit single from the album in the US, reaching #24 in the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 in the Adult Contemporary chart. The third and last single, "We Wait and We Wonder"- a political anthem on which Collins plays bagpipes - reached only #45 in the UK.

All songs written, performed and produced by Phil Collins.

TRACKLIST:

1."Both Sides of the Story" – 6:43
2."Can't Turn Back the Years" – 4:40
3."Everyday" – 5:43
4."I've Forgotten Everything" – 5:15
5."We're Sons of Our Fathers" – 6:24
6."Can't Find My Way" – 5:08
7."Survivors" – 6:05
8."We Fly So Close" – 7:33
9."There's a Place for Us" – 6:53
10."We Wait and We Wonder" – 7:01
11."Please Come Out Tonight" – 5:47