Okay folks, lets have a little chat. I've read a lot of your reviews of Phil Collins albums, and why some of you would take the time to write such mean spirited trash about this icon is beyond me. His solo career alone is impressive enough, but when you factor in Genesis, his other bands like Brand X and Flaming Youth, as well as the soundtracks and collaberations with other artists, Phil has sold 300 million albums world wide. Apparently someone likes him, or was EVERYONE let down by EVERY single album?

I just bought 12" after years of resisting it. I didn't see the point in buying a CD full of songs I already owned. Listening to it I see how wrong I was. These are Phil songs you could play in any club and get people dancing (assuming they didn't know they were listening to the wrongly hated Phil Collins, of course). Take me Home, Sussudio, Who Said I Would, Don't Lose My Number, One More Night and Only You Know and I know have never sounded better.

I'll admit, Testify was a step down, but Phil has been ahead of me before. I didn't like Both Sides when I listened to it at 13, I wanted fast tunes like Hang in Long Enough. Now at 26 I think of Both Sides as one of his best - a really deep, introspective album. Dance into the Light was pure joy, and older albums like Face Value and Hello, I must be Going are classics.

So why does everyone hate him? They call him sell out. They call him unhip. But I've been to see the man in concert twice, and both time I was a part of a sold out crowd that had a lot of fun listening to tunes we really loved with a guy who really loved us for loving them.

Is Phil's time at the top over? Clearly. Everyone wants the likes of Emenem. But the rap community is a huge fan of Phil (check out the Urban Renewal cover album, or covers done by Bone Thugs, TuPac and many other hip hop artists). To those of us who don't follow the crowd and haven't jumped on the "Phil Collins sucks" band wagon, we get to enjoy great albums like 12". What do the rest of you get besides bitterness at knowing how successful and well loved Phil was and still is around the world. Enjoy the sour grapes, losers.

To call this album "No Jacket Required" with echos is simplistic but just about on the mark. These extended versions are busier (and sometimes better) versions of the pure pop gold of No Jacket Required. This man, Phil Collins is a gun, covering everything from ballads (One More Night) to world music-lite (Take Me home) to rock (Don't Lose my Number) to pop (Sussudio) to horny-funky jams (Only You Know and I know) and that's just about the whole album! I can't stop playing these songs, many of which are better (and certainly "busier") than their original No Jacklet Required versions.

It's interesting to hear this trailer to No Jacket Required. The production value is phenomenal and Phil won producer of the year and album of the year in 1985 for this album. I like when good musicians release extras for the true fans to analyze and enjoy. By this time in his career, phil has confirmed that he is the among the most well rounded musicians and producers in the business. By this time he had worked with clapton, gabriel, plant, bailey, eno, frida, sting, and of course genesis.

I don't know if they danced to this in the 1980s, 12" mixes of Phil Collins, that's just what comes into my head when I hear it. I quite like the 12" mixes of things I've heard, not that I own any on vinyl, and these have that same excitement and passion for the samples and what the producer has to work with as the other 12" mixes I've heard (Yes, Icehouse, Kate Bush, etc). And nothing against Phil or his album "No Jacket Required", but I think that "Who Said I Would" and "Only You Know And I Know" are improved in their 12" manifestations. The MP3 album is a reasonable price, and if I were the record company I'd release this as a bonus disc with a special remastered and expanded edition of "No Jacket Required".

Driving fast (but safely)down an empty motorway in the dead of morning with "Take Me Home" is a superb experience...he must have written it in similar circumstances (in the passenger seat,of course!)