You Know What I Mean - Phil Collins (1981)
Face Value is one of the best albums ever made. There, I said it. The recent reappraisal of Collins' work in Genesis has not touched on his solo career. It is still mired in a sludge of critical hatred and AOR dismissals. The time is ripe for that to change. No Jacket Required won album of the year at the Grammys, for God's sake! The man has an Oscar! And Face Value, his first and best solo album, rewards with gem upon gem that has never been saturated by overplay or over-familiarity(Although I love you with all my heart, I'm looking at you "In The Air Tonight".....sorry!). "You Know What I Mean" is the shortest ballad Phil ever wrote. Its 2 minutes and 33 seconds floats along on a gentle piano part by Phil, with tasteful strings arranged by the late great Arif Mardin. And the lyrics! Whoever has felt the sting of recent separation can crawl into its gentle arms and know that someone else feels the same. Phil came back to this motif with the hit single Separate Lives, but he didn't write it, oddly enough. "You Know What I Mean" is Phil's heart laid bare. You won't find more honest work in the most heart-on-sleeve Emo kid's oeuvre. It's time to give Mr. Collins a second chance!
And Frida from Abba covers it!!!
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