Phil Collins - Other Sides

A collection of further B-sides and demo versions

As part of his re-release campaign Take A Look At Me Now in 2016 all studio albums were remastered as 2CDs and re-released with bonus tracks. It was the first time ever that Collins had reworked his albums. Visually these versions were a real eye-catcher: He recreated all covers based on current portrait photos. But he left many wishes unfulfilled. The tracks on the bonus CDs seemed to be put together in a strange way with many B-sides missing, which have been adored by fans for years and some of which were not even available digitally or on CD. Collins himself had chosen the bonus CD tracks.

Other Sides is obviously intended to close this gap, because it is immediately noticeable that almost all tracks were not part of the remaster bonus CDs. The cover is based on the Both Sides design. The album itself will only be available digitally so there will be no physical release. The tracks on this release have NOT been remastered!

With our review we want to take a closer look at the songs on the one hand, but on the other hand we also want to check the remaster bonus CDs to see which tracks have been added, what is missing and where there are different versions.

Other Sides contains these tracks:

01 In the Air Tonight (Demo) 04:56
02 I Missed Again (Demo) 04:05
03 If Leaving Me Is Easy (Demo) 05:13
04 The Man With The Horn 03:58
05 I Like The Way 04:25
06 Big Noise (Instrumental) 03:43
07 Homeless (Another Day in Paradise Demo) 05:35
08 Lionel (Do You Remember Demo) 04:40
09 Broadway Chorus (Something Happened on the Way To Heaven Home Demo) 04:17
10 Around The World In 80 Presets 05:46
11 Rad Dudeski 03:55
12 Don't Call Me Ashley 05:12
13 Both Sides Of The Demo (Early Demo) 06:55
14 Everyday (Early Demo) 04:55
15 For A Friend 06:03
16 Stevie's Blues (There's a Place for Us Instrumental) 06:49
17 It's Everywhere 03:39
18 Tears Of A Clown (2003 Version) 03:25

First of all it is noticeable that the individual tracks are arranged chronologically. It starts with demos from the Face Value era.

In the Air Tonight (Demo) 04:56
I Missed Again (Demo) 04:05
If Leaving Me Is Easy (Demo) 05:13

In the case of the Face Value demos, the track running times indicate that these are the longer versions that mistakenly ended up on the 7" of If Leaving Me Is Easy instead of the 12". However, the three demos were not part of the Face Value bonus CD anyway and are now digitally available for the first time.

The Man With the Horn 03:58
I Like the Way 04:25

The Man With The Horn and I Like The Way were both B-sides from No Jacket Required - and both were absent from the album's bonus CD. I Like The Way is, however, the shorter version that was already available on a Japanese CD single. The Man With The Horn (recorded during the Hello, I Must Be Going! sessions) has also been released digitally, but this release on Other Sides should now give more fans access to this song.

Big Noise (Instrumental) 03:43

This instrumental version of Big Noise was the B-side to A Groovy Kind Of Love. Since the soundtracks weren't part of the 2016 re-issues anyway, this song wasn't on the shortlist for one of the bonus CDs. By the way, the album version of Big Noise features vocals - by Phil.

Homeless (Another Day in Paradise Demo) 05:35
Lionel (Do You Remember Demo) 04:40
Broadway Chorus (Something Happened on the Way To Heaven Home Demo) 04:17
Around the World in 80 Presets 05:46

The demos Homeless and Lionel (Another Day In Paradise / Do You Remember) were available as B-side of the singles I Wish It Would Rain Down and Something Happened On The Way To Heaven (Lionel on CD as B-side of the Japanese version only). The bonus CD of But Seriously included the demo version of Another Day In Paradise, but that was a different (presumably later) version. The other version, called Homeless and now available here on Other Sides, is much longer than the B-side to I Wish It Would Rain Down. The reason for this was revealed on May 17th – when the song called Homeless was released digitally as the second track - and it turned out to be the almost finished album version of Another Day In Paradise - not Homeless at all! An inexplicable mistake. Compared with the well-known studio version, this new version is a bit longer, has an apparently unfinished beginning and an abrupt, rough end without fade-out. A few days after its release, the correct version was uploaded on the digital platforms.

Similarly strange is the case with Do You Remember (demo) - on the bonus CD version from 2016 there is hardly any difference to Lionel, which was on the Something Happened On The Way To Heaven CD-single in Japan in 1990. Except that the 2016 bonus track version runs too slow (4:45 instead of 4:34) and is more noisy. So it's interesting to see if the Other Sides version is the sonically better original again - which is doubtful considering the track length (4:40), which is somewhere in between. Around The World In 80 Presets was absent as well as Broadway Chorus and both are now included.

Rad Dudeski 03:55
Don't Call Me Ashley 05:12
Both Sides Of The Demo (Early Demo) 06:55
Everyday (Early Demo) 04:55
For A Friend 06:03
Stevie's Blues (There's a Place for Us Instrumental) 06:49

Rad Dudeski and Don't Call Me Ashley were both instrumental tracks from the Both Sides period and B-sides of the singles Both Sides Of The Story and Everyday. Both were missing from the Both Sides bonus CD and are included here for the first time. What's irritating about Rad Dudeski is that the runtime here is 20 seconds longer than on the 1993 Maxi-CD version. However, this corresponds to the specifications of the US Maxi-CD. The demos of Both Sides Of The Story and Everyday as well as Stevie's Blues, which is an instrumental version of There's A Place For Us, were not included on the remaster's bonus CD at the time.
For A Friend was the B-side to We Wait And We Wonder. According to our information the song was written after the completion of Both Sides. For this Collins was inspired by the topic AIDS. The song enjoys a high reputation among fans and was unfortunately missing on the Both Sides bonus CD.

It's Everywhere 03:39

It's Everywhere was part of the Toyota sampler produced during the time of Dance Into The Light. Unlike Another Time, which Collins chose for Dance Into The Light's bonus CD, It's Everywhere was not considered and is now included here. The track was probably not included in Dance Into The Light because of its similarity to Take Me Down and Wear My Hat.

Tears Of A Clown (2003 Version) 03:25

The biggest surprises were on the Testify bonus CD, as it also included two completely unknown tracks. However, the B-side Tears Of A Clown was missing. The song was later released on Going Back, albeit in a different version.

Other Sides is apparently a reaction to the criticism of the track selection of the bonus CDs of the remaster series from 2016. All titles not released then are now included here. They kept strictly to what was actually available on the singles and Maxi CDs. Further surprises (unreleased songs, alternative versions etc.) are not included. The decision for a purely digital release format caused disappointment among the fans right after the announcement of the release. In fact, it's incomprehensible why they don't release a limited edition CD, preferably as a set with the other album, Remixed Sides. Unfortunately, once again no good fan service is offered here, but a rather careless compilation of tracks, which deserved more dignified treatment.

Quite incomprehensible is the mistake with Homeless - instead of the 1990s B-side demo an almost finished album version was used. Whether such a blunder is due to poor quality control or even to lack of competence remains to be seen. Anyway, it is a disappointing annoyance, even if the now available version is quite interesting. In the meantime, the correct version has been made available.

It remains to be seen whether this error will be recognized as such and corrected quickly and whether there will be a "proper" release on CD at some point. Maybe even in the context of an archive boxset, with more surprises appearing.

Other Sides is only available digitally: amazonUK | iTunes

High resolution downloads are available on sites such as 7digital or QoBuz.

Author: Christian Gerhardts
English by Tom Morgenstern and David Dunnington
Special thanks to Steffen Gerlach for the research

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