Atlantic 82050
Producers: Phil Collins and Hugh Padgham
Track listing: Hang in Long Enough / That’s Just the Way It Is / Find a Way My Heart / Colours / Father to Son / Another Day in Paradise / All of My Life / Something Happened on the Way to Heaven / Do You Remember? / I Wish It Would Rain Down
January 6, 1990
3 weeks (nonconsecutive)
When Phil Collins looks back at …But Seriously, he thinks of “Another Day in Paradise,” his seventh solo single to top the Hot 100 and third consecutive Number One in little more than a year. Yet Collins remembers “Another Day in Paradise” not for its impact on the chart, but for how it raised consciousness about the plight of the homeless.
“That song ended up, albeit not by design, but by action, as a sort of mini-anthem for the shelters. It kind of typifies the feel of the album,” Collins says. “It was called …But Seriously because I trying to draw people to some of serious issues I was singing about, opposed to some of the more frivolous songs.”
The big hits from Collins’s previous album, No Jacket Required, were the intimate ballad “One More Night” and the funky “Sussudio.” In between albums, Collins scored Number singles with “Separate Lives,” a duet with Marilyn Martin from the film White Nights, and “Groovy Kind of Love” and “Two Hearts.” The latter two were featured on the soundtrack from Buster, a 1988 film that starred Collins in the title role as the Great Train Robber-turned-flower salesman, Buster Edwards.
With …But Seriously, Collins made a conscious decision to challenge his audience. “I wanted to call the album something that would at least imply that there was something going on that the audience wasn’t expecting,” Collins says.
As he had done with No Jacket Required, which included guest shots by Sting, onetime Culture Club backing vocalist Helen Terry, ex-Genesis mate Peter Gabriel, and the System’s David Frank, Collins once again called upon his famous friends to lend a hand. Eric Clapton plays guitar on “I Wish It Would Rain Down.” Steve Winwood plays organ on “All of My Life.” Stephen Bishop lends some backing vocals to “Do You Remember?,” and David Crosby sings back-up on “That’s Just the Way It Is” and “Another Day in Paradise.”
Collins, a longtime Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash fan, had asked Crosby if he would sing on his album when the two met at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary Concert at Madison Square Gardens in 1988. “Getting him to sing was a major buzz on the album for me,” Collins says. “He just came down, picked those notes out of the air and laid down some great harmonies.”
“Another Day in Paradise” went to Number One on December 23, 1989, and held that position when …But Seriously reached the top of the album chart two weeks later, giving Collins his second consecutive Number One album and another simultaneous Number One album and single.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of January 6, 1990
1. …But Seriously, Phil Collins
2. Girl You Know It’s True, Milli Vanilli
3. Storm Front, Billy Joel
4. Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814, Janet Jackson
5. Forever Your Girl, Paula Abdul