Phil Collins - Hello I Must Be Going!

Hello, I Must Be Going! is Phil Collins doubling down after a breakthrough, a 1982 solo album pressed here on 180-gram vinyl.

Arriving a year after Face Value, his second solo record found him still working through heartbreak, but with more bite and a wider palette. Collins produced it with Hugh Padgham, keeping the cavernous drum sound they had helped pioneer and adding the brassy punch of the Phenix Horns from Earth, Wind & Fire.

I Don't Care Anymore opens with a pounding, ominous drum pattern and a vocal full of grit and defiance. I Cannot Believe It's True swings with horn-section sparkle, and his loving cover of the Supremes' You Can't Hurry Love became one of the biggest hits of his career, a Motown tribute delivered with real affection.

Thru These Walls brings back the eerie, shadowy atmosphere of his earlier work, a reminder that Collins could do brooding just as well as pop. The balance between the two gives the album its pull, with sleek melodies sitting right next to moments of real unease.

For fans of eighties pop-rock with serious musicianship behind it, this pressing is a sturdy way to revisit the record that confirmed Collins was no one-album wonder.