Review of Phil Collins: A Life Less Ordinary

Introduction

Phil Collins, a man who could once do no wrong, is now often perceived as a man who can do no right. The butt of endless jokes on radio and TV comedy, he still remains one of the UK`s most successful artists, who has sold millions of copies of the 27 albums that he`s featured on as a solo artist and as a member of Genesis. And he`s played on and produced many more.

Phil`s peak was probably between 1989 and 1992, with the release of his 4th solo album ...But Seriously, the subsequent sell out world tour, the Berlin show that was broadcast live on Sky and Radio 1 and subsequently released on VHS, and the Serious Hits...Live! album.

That time was also his best Genesis period, with the release of 1991`s We Can`t Dance, the subsequent sell out world tour, and the two live albums The Way We Walk, Volumes 1 and 2. It was during this period (in 1990) that both he and Genesis (as Silver Clef award winners) appeared at the famous Knebworth concerts for the Nordoff-Robbins music therapy trust.

It was never cool to like Phil Collins, and it still isn`t, but during that period I really did. It started to go downhill after Both Sides, an album on which played every instrument himself. It was still quite a good album, but after the success of the previous years things never really picked up again. He seemed to be paying the price for being everywhere and doing everything.

This DVD features a documentary first shown in November 2002 on BBC One, and it features interviews with Phil, friends, family, members of his solo band and members of Genesis, including Peter Gabriel. Along the way there are excerpts from various songs, but there`s never a full performance of any of them, so if you`re looking for a collection of Collins music on DVD, look elsewhere.

Video

A 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer is on offer here, just as it was shown on BBC One last year. The quality is pretty much perfect as the image is untarnished. The only tiny niggle (and this is something that is now standard BBC practice) is that archive footage is all zoomed and cropped top and bottom to make it look widescreen.

Audio

Only a DD2.0 stereo soundtrack, which is unsurprising given that this is a documentary. There`s quite a bit of music in it, but as it`s really only extracts and snippets from songs then DD5.1 isn`t too badly missed. It would have been nice of them to make the effort though.

The sound itself is just fine, just as it was on first broadcast. No complaints about the quality. The documentary is narrated by Mariella Frostrup - I felt I had to mention that since her voice has many fans. Can`t see what the fuss is myself, she just sounds like she should give up smoking.

Features

The extras here are what seem to be the full versions of interviews used in the main feature, as well as some that weren`t. In total the interview footage runs for over 90 minutes, featuring everyone seen in the main feature, but talking at length as opposed to the more soundbite format of the documentary. Each clip is captioned at the start to tell you what they were talking about. Bob Geldof`s section probably explains why the DVD got a 15 certificate (his description of Collins is typical Geldof).

Conclusion

I enjoyed watching this DVD, but I doubt that it will get watched again. And therein lies the problem. What is the market for a documentary about Phil Collins? If you`re a fan (and I used to be) then there`s not a great deal here that`s new to you. In the 1989-1992 period there was plenty of documentary material about Phil being show on TV and broadcast on radio (and Radio 1 at that!)

But even if you didn`t know most of this stuff, after you`ve watched it once, I can`t see much point in watching it again. There`s not a lot of music featured, beyond clips of various songs, so there`s no music that you`d want to listen to again. So it`s a good DVD, but not one that you`d ever come back to, so I can`t see high sales. If you missed the documentary on TV, then by all means rent it. If you`re not a fan, then you still might not be one at the end of it, but at least you`ll know more about this highly successful and talented musician.

Excellent picture, fine sound and lots of extra footage make this a good DVD. But who will buy it?