After raving about Collins’ previous reissues (Face Value, Hello I Must Be Going, No Jacket Required, Dance Into The Light), we have to say that the songs on this are pedestrian at best; he’s reissuing all his albums so he’s got to do this one, but it’s a bit unmemorable.

Maybe he has to be narked to write good music, whether it’s divorce or being refused entry to a club (the inspiration for the title of No Jacket). He was clearly happy when he wrote this and it basically meanders along and then stops. It sounds like he sat down and listed all his various musical tics and then wrote songs around them, but it lacks the anger, despair, joy or thoughtfulness of his best tracks. He writes about life, as usual, but in a detached way.

Wikipedia reports that it debuted and peaked at No 30 on the American Billboard chart, and no track peaked within the American top 40 singles chart. It was his lowest charting album in the UK, becoming his only solo effort not to reach the top five.

On the plus side, it would make for nice background music in a clothes shop.