Date: Oct 22, 1988
Weeks: 2
I wasn't even thinking about this song when I reviewed "Separate Lives" ( #585) and said "Phil Collins does a fine job making rock music most of the time, and he's got a decent voice for that, but he's not a particularly talented singer when it comes to singing over minimal music." But that sentence may apply even more strongly to this song.
Where to even start with this thing? Well, I'll start with the title. "Groovy Kind Of Love" sounds more like a song from the 1960s, and it is. The Mindbenders took it to number 2 in the mid-60s. Their version isn't exactly mindbending (ha!), but it has its charm. It sounds like the 60s, so its concept of "a groovy kind of love" doesn't seem incongruous. But Phil Collins's version doesn't sound anything like the 60s. It's mired neck-deep in the sound of the 80s, with the overly genuine synthesizer keyboard trying to make some kind of emotional impact, and that poundy drum undermining everything. I think it's also going for a cinematic sound with its backing orchestra, since the song was recorded for a movie (called Buster, which starred Phil Collins, and for some reason I've never heard of it). This song is trying so hard to be genuine and heartfelt, but it feels so fake.
A better singer might have rescued this song, but Phil Collins isn't that better singer. I don't know if they're running his voice through a terrible filter or what, but somehow he always sounds processed and Auto-tuned, even though this was long before Auto-tune was a thing. His performance is just underwhelming and doesn't convey the emotion I think he's trying to convey. These soft love songs are not his strength as a performer, and I wish he'd stop doing them.
The thing that shocks me about the lyrics is that the song is essentially a happy, sweet song. It's about how the singer is happy to be with the person they love. And that's a fine sentiment. Other than finding the choice of "a groovy kind of love" too specific to the 1960s, I can't find many problems with the lyrics. But Phil Collins sounds so sad singing this song that I'm shocked to realize the song isn't actually sad. It's like he latched on to the first lyrics, "When I'm feeling blue, all I have to do is take a look at you, then I'm not so blue," and made the song sad. Although the interpretation isn't supported by the lyrics, the music makes me believe Phil Collins is sad because his relationship has ended, and now he no longer has any reason to be happy. It's a bummer, and it's not an emotional resonant bummer, so I don't particularly care for it.
My verdict: Don't like it. Phil Collins is good at many things, but he's bad at sad love songs.
Showing posts with label Phil Collins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Phil Collins. Show all posts
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Song #585: "Separate Lives" by Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin
Date: Nov 30, 1985
Weeks: 1
After I reviewed "Say You, Say Me" (#587) by Lionel Richie, I was intrigued by the movie it was from. I thought it was odd that I'd never heard of it before. So I watched White Nights. It was an interesting movie, especially as a time capsule of the era it was from. Maybe there was a little too much dancing, and maybe the Soviet bad guys were a little too unsubtle, but the notion of setting a movie in a place and time where the sun never sets was an idea I'd never seen before, outside an episode of Northern Exposure. Anyway, I left feeling that the Lionel Richie song made a little bit of sense in the context of the movie. It's about two guys who feel alone, but find out they aren't that dissimilar.
This song, however, makes no sense in the context of the movie. This is clearly a breakup song, and no one in the movie has broken up. I suppose it may have some thematic similarities to Baryshnikov's character and his love interest (played by Helen Mirren), with the whole "you have no right to ask me how I feel" thing, but I don't recall it playing near their scenes. It played during a scene between Gregory Hines and Isabella Rossellini, and their relationship never went through anything like this. So it's an odd fit to this particular movie.
The overall theme is that two people have broken up, and they still care about each other a little, but they couldn't make their relationship work, so now they're trying to figure out how to be broken up and live their separate lives, when they still kind of want to be together. I suppose it's kind of an original idea for a song.
So after all that discussion of the subject matter, we get on to the music, which is generally pretty terrible. It's really slow, it's got that poundy 80s drum, it has a synthesized keyboard layered on top of a piano, as well as a string orchestra. It's a huge production for a pretty minimal song.
And the singers aren't very good. Phil Collins does a fine job making rock music most of the time, and he's got a decent voice for that, but he's not a particularly talented singer when it comes to singing over minimal music. I've never heard of Marilyn Martin in any other context, and I can sort of see why. She's not bad, but she pushes herself to sing bigger and louder than she really has the talent to support. They both come off sounding really whiny and angsty. And that's the problem. This isn't an "I want" song where somebody whines about what they want. This is supposed to be a song where two people are resigned to their breakup. It needs to be more restrained and sadder. Phil Collins is doing a better job at that, but they're both pretty wrong for this song.
My verdict: Don't like it. Here's Phil Collins performing this song with Laura Pausini and an acoustic guitar. It's a better song for having one better singer and simpler instrumentation. So this could be a better song if it weren't quite so mired in tropes of the 1980s.
Weeks: 1
After I reviewed "Say You, Say Me" (#587) by Lionel Richie, I was intrigued by the movie it was from. I thought it was odd that I'd never heard of it before. So I watched White Nights. It was an interesting movie, especially as a time capsule of the era it was from. Maybe there was a little too much dancing, and maybe the Soviet bad guys were a little too unsubtle, but the notion of setting a movie in a place and time where the sun never sets was an idea I'd never seen before, outside an episode of Northern Exposure. Anyway, I left feeling that the Lionel Richie song made a little bit of sense in the context of the movie. It's about two guys who feel alone, but find out they aren't that dissimilar.
This song, however, makes no sense in the context of the movie. This is clearly a breakup song, and no one in the movie has broken up. I suppose it may have some thematic similarities to Baryshnikov's character and his love interest (played by Helen Mirren), with the whole "you have no right to ask me how I feel" thing, but I don't recall it playing near their scenes. It played during a scene between Gregory Hines and Isabella Rossellini, and their relationship never went through anything like this. So it's an odd fit to this particular movie.
The overall theme is that two people have broken up, and they still care about each other a little, but they couldn't make their relationship work, so now they're trying to figure out how to be broken up and live their separate lives, when they still kind of want to be together. I suppose it's kind of an original idea for a song.
So after all that discussion of the subject matter, we get on to the music, which is generally pretty terrible. It's really slow, it's got that poundy 80s drum, it has a synthesized keyboard layered on top of a piano, as well as a string orchestra. It's a huge production for a pretty minimal song.
And the singers aren't very good. Phil Collins does a fine job making rock music most of the time, and he's got a decent voice for that, but he's not a particularly talented singer when it comes to singing over minimal music. I've never heard of Marilyn Martin in any other context, and I can sort of see why. She's not bad, but she pushes herself to sing bigger and louder than she really has the talent to support. They both come off sounding really whiny and angsty. And that's the problem. This isn't an "I want" song where somebody whines about what they want. This is supposed to be a song where two people are resigned to their breakup. It needs to be more restrained and sadder. Phil Collins is doing a better job at that, but they're both pretty wrong for this song.
My verdict: Don't like it. Here's Phil Collins performing this song with Laura Pausini and an acoustic guitar. It's a better song for having one better singer and simpler instrumentation. So this could be a better song if it weren't quite so mired in tropes of the 1980s.
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