The next two titles in Phil Collins' ongoing Take a Look at Me Now reissue program have been announced. On Friday, April 15, Deluxe Editions of No Jacket Required and Testify will arrive in stores, joining the previously issued quartet of Face Value (1981), Hello, I Must Be Going! (1982), Both Sides (1993) and Dance into the Light (1996). Nick Davis has newly remastered all titles which feature new cover photographs of Collins creating his famous cover poses.
No Jacket Required, originally released in 1985, built on the Top 10 success of Hello, I Must Be Going! and attained chart-topping status in the U.K., U.S., and numerous other countries around the world. It remains Collins' most commercially successful album, and picked up three Grammy Awards (for Best Album, Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, and Producer of the Year for Collins and co-producer Hugh Padgham) in addition to yielding hit singles "Sussudio," "One More Night," "Don't Lose My Number," and "Take Me Home." The Deluxe Edition, available as a 2-CD set, adds thirteen bonus tracks: ten new-to-CD live performances and three demos.
The program then jumps ahead to 2002's Testify, still the artist's most recent collection of original material. Co-produced by Collins and Rob Cavallo, Testify featured new songs (all composed by Collins save one co-written with longtime collaborator Daryl Stuermer) as well as a cover of Billy Nicholls' "Can't Stop Loving You," a 1978 hit for Leo Sayer. Testify wasn't one of Collins' most successful efforts (peaking at No. 30 in the U.S. and becoming his first album not to make the U.K. Top 5), but it's ripe for rediscovery today. The upcoming edition features ten bonus tracks including four B-sides, two demos, and four new-to-CD live tracks.
"I've always been quite proud of my demos and have often made them available as B-sides, but with a few exceptions, I have avoided including those on these collections," says Collins in the press release for this pair of releases. "Instead, I've focused on how nicely the songs developed when played on stage, rather than showing how they originated." Like the other titles in this reissue series, No Jacket Required and Testify will be available as 2-CD and digital versions which feature the remastered album and the additional content, as well as 180-gram heavyweight audiophile vinyl editions which feature the remastered album only.
Both No Jacket Required and Testify are due in stores on April 15, and you can pre-order at the links below! We'll have additional links as soon as they become active!
Phil Collins, No Jacket Required (Atlantic 81240-2, 1985 - reissued Atlantic/Rhino, 2016)
2-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
CD 1 or LP
- "Sussudio"
- "Only You Know And I Know"
- "Long Long Way To Go"
- "I Don't Wanna Know"
- "One More Night"
- "Don't Lose My Number"
- "Who Said I Would"
- "Doesn't Anybody Stay Together Anymore"
- "Inside Out"
- "Take Me Home"
CD 2
- "Sussudio" - Live*
- "Don't Lose My Number" - Live*
- "Who Said I Would" - Live*
- "Long Long Way To Go" - Live*
- "Only You Know And I Know" - Live*
- "Easy Lover" - Live*
- "Inside Out" - Live*
- "Doesn't Anybody Stay Together Anymore" - Live*
- "One More Night" - Live*
- "Take Me Home" - Live*
- "Only You Know And I Know" - Demo
- "One More Night" - Demo
- "Take Me Home" - Demo
Phil Collins, Testify (Face Value/Atlantic 83563-2, 2002 - reissued Atlantic/Rhino, 2016)
2-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
CD 1 or LP:
- "Wake Up Call"
- "Come With Me"
- "Testify"
- "Don't Get Me Started"
- "Swing Low"
- "It's Not Too Late"
- "This Love This Heart"
- "Driving Me Crazy"
- "The Least You Can Do"
- "Can't Stop Loving You"
- "Thru My Eyes"
- "You Touch My Heart"
CD 2:
- "High Flying Angel" - B-side (Face Value/Warner Music International 0927-49327-2, 2002)
- "Crystal Clear" - B-side
- "Hey Now Sunshine" - B-side (Face Value/Warner Music International 50-50466-4112-2-8, 2003)
- "TV Story" - B-side
- "True Colors" - Live Rehearsal* (edit issued as Face Value/WEA single 50-50467-5940-2-2, 2004)
- "Come With Me" -Live*
- "It's Not Too Late" - Live*
- "Can't Stop Loving You" - Live*
- "It's Only Loving" - Demo
- "Tearing And Breaking" - Demo
(*) Denotes track previously unreleased on CD
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Everything looks good, though the "Jacket" reissue sadly omits B-sides such as "I Like the Way," "The Man With the Horn" (recorded 1982 during sessions for Hello, I Must Be Going) and CD bonus track "We Said Hello Goodbye" (also appeared on Playing For Keeps soundtrack in a remixed version).
Disappointed that No Jacket Required is missing those B-sides and the CD bonus track, "We Said Hello Goodbye". "We Said Hello Goodbye" got a lot of radio airplay on Chicago radio in 1985.
No B-sides on "No Jacket Required"? Awful reissue.
I'll add to pile on of disappointment here, and not just to these releases, but the entire campaign to date.
Leaving off B-sides for his biggest albums is bad enough - and all the more painful that he's ADDING B-sides to his (I'll try to be kind here) lower-selling efforts - but leaving off a track that's been a part of an album for over 30 years on CD is just utterly ridiculous. And don't get me started on his choices for live tracks from different eras and their bootleg-like sound quality, or lack of any credits for those tracks in the liner notes.
This was a long-awaited campaign for his biggest fans, and he's completely botched it in my opinion, and the opinion of many others.
I agree with the above. One has to wonder though, that for a set called "Take A Look At me Now" where that track is (It should have fallen right around this time, just like Easy Lover and Separate Lives. Is there a special "Odds and Sods" in the works to pick up b-sides and missing pieces? While it strikes as just another way to make money, not to mention a huge pain the butt to reconfigure everything once it comes out. It seems like a logical step.
The listing for No Jacket Required on Amazon includes We Said Hello Goodbye, so I think this may be a typo.
I love the remasters so far. A few missing B sides aren't going to deter me from buying these.
The press release's track listing does not have "We Said Hello Goodbye," as reflected above, but I will try to get confirmation whether it is included or has indeed been dropped.
Phil Collins is one of those fan hating people who only wants money for himself. If he is not 100% happy with the song, it won't make the reissue. The Man With The Horn is a great song, and I won't be buying this without it. I will let my silence speak here. It's sad that many artists don't care what the fans want. But that's the way it is. I'm at least happy the Genesis reissues had just about everything I could ever want. Damn shame Phil. And grouping it with Testify makes no sense. It should have been in sets of two in order of release.
I can understand why he grouped the releases the way he did. If he went in order of release, he'd sell little-to-none of anything after "...But Seriously". So, this way there's at least a chance of getting his lesser stuff heard, which is kind of the whole point of this (mishandled) campaign.