Hits (1998)


 

  1. Another Day in Paradise
  2. True Colors
  3. Easy Lover
  4. You Can't Hurry Love
  5. Two Hearts
  6. I Wish it Would Rain Down
  7. Against All Odds
  8. Something Happened on the Way to 
     Heaven
  9. Separate Lives
 10. Both Sides of the Story
 11. One More Night
 12. Sussudio
 13. Dance Into the Light
 14. A Groovy Kind of Love
 15. In The Air Tonight
 16. Take Me Home

 

By the time Hits was released in 1998, it was fairly clear that Phil Collins’ commercial peak had come and gone. The massive success of the 1980s—both as a solo artist and as the frontman for Genesis—had cooled off considerably, and Collins had officially transitioned into the “veteran artist” phase of his career. So the timing felt right for a proper greatest hits package—a retrospective that would remind everyone just how dominant he had once been on the charts.

Collins’ solo run throughout the '80s had been almost absurdly successful. Beyond the usual album singles, he also had a knack for churning out standalone hits—duets, soundtrack contributions, and radio-only singles that never found a home on his studio albums. This compilation wisely corrals five of those hard-to-find tracks, finally making them accessible in one place instead of scattered across soundtracks and long-forgotten CD singles.

With 16 tracks on the disc, there’s not a lot of room for filler, and very little of it is wasted. Most of the major milestones are here: In the Air Tonight, Against All Odds, One More Night, and Take Me Home all make the cut, alongside some of his lesser—but still recognizable—hits from the 1990s like Both Sides of the Story and Dance Into the Light. Neither of those moved the needle much commercially, but their inclusion helps round out the narrative of his career rather than freezing it at its most lucrative moment.

There are a couple of curious omissions—Don’t Lose My Number being the most notable—but that’s often the case with single-disc collections. Choices have to be made, and with a catalog this hit-heavy, something had to give. Still, for a casual fan or someone looking for a tidy summation of Collins’ solo success, this delivers admirably.

The lone “new” track here is a cover of True Colors, a ballad made famous by Cyndi Lauper and written by songwriting duo Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg. Collins doesn’t stray far from the original arrangement, which makes its inclusion feel more like a polite gesture than a bold new direction. It doesn’t detract from the collection, but it doesn’t add much either.

Ultimately, Hits is exactly what it claims to be—a solid, no-frills compilation that gathers most of Collins’ defining moments in one convenient package. For longtime fans, it’s a satisfying recap. For newcomers, it’s an ideal entry point. And for everyone else, it’s a reminder that for over a decade, Phil Collins was everywhere.

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