My Phil Collins Journey — From One Record to a Lifetime of Collecting by Kevin Burton.

It was around June 1986 when I heard some music coming from my brother’s bedroom that caught my attention. I asked him, “What’s that?”

He replied, “It’s better than that crap pop music you listen to. This is the new album by Genesis.”

So, when my brother went out, I decided to borrow the 12-inch vinyl of Invisible Touch. At the time, I had no idea just how much that record would change things for me.

I remember putting it on and being completely drawn in by the music.

I suppose that back in the day, with a lot of other music, you were naturally drawn to the lead singer — in this case, Phil Collins. His voice was so distinctive that it was often the first thing that caught your attention.

And that was it. That’s how it all started.

So, I went down to the local record shop to see what else this Phil Collins had done, as there was no internet in those days.

There it was — No Jacket Required. I bought it with my week’s pocket money, earned from doing my paper round. I think I had about £6 to my name, which was quite a lot of money in those days!

I went home and played it non-stop. I absolutely loved it.

Smash Hits and Look-In magazine were also essential reading for teenagers back then. I remember seeing Phil Collins on the front cover of one of them, so of course I bought it as well — anything to find out more about this guy whose music I was becoming obsessed with!

This went on and on, and before long I had bought all the Phil Collins albums that were available at the time on vinyl — Face Value, Hello I Must Be Going! and No Jacket Required.

I was completely hooked. What had started with hearing one song had turned into buying the albums, reading the magazines and wanting to find out everything I could about Phil Collins.

Then I saw a magazine called Record Collector in the paper shop. I started flicking through it and suddenly discovered a whole world of records and collectables that I never even knew existed.

There were 7-inch vinyl singles that you could buy from shops, but then I started seeing adverts for record fairs too. I found out there was one being held locally, so off I went.

OMG — what a discovery! There were exports, picture discs, promotional items and all sorts of rare and unusual Phil Collins records that I had never even seen before. I was completely fascinated. I also got friendly with some of the dealers at the record fairs. By then, they knew me well enough that whenever I turned up, they would point me in the direction of the Phil Collins section on their stalls. That always made me laugh.

They would say, “There you go — I've put the Phil Collins stuff over here for you!”

They would also ask me what I was looking for. If there was something particular, I was trying to find and they didn't have it that day, they would tell me to come back next time and they would try to bring a copy along for me.

It was great because, over time, they got to know exactly what I collected and what I was missing.

The only problem was that I’m pretty sure I overpaid for some of the things they found for me at the time!

But that's the thing about collecting.

When you've been searching for something for ages and finally someone says, “I've got one for you,” you don't always stop and think about whether you're paying too much.

A friend of mine started working in a local independent records shop in 1989 and told me he could see up and coming releases to order and PC But Seriously was coming out in November and did he want me to order a copy, Yes please but now it had turned into getting all formats available which was now Vinyl LP, Cassette, and CD as my back was catalogue covering all versions.

He looked at me and said, “Are you mad? It’s the same thing three times!”

“Yes,” I replied, “but the CD has two extra tracks.”

He just looked at me, shook his head and said nothing. He ordered all three formats for me anyway.

Then the singles started coming out.

There was the 7-inch vinyl, the 12-inch vinyl, the cassette single and the CD single. Six different singles from But Seriously in total.

So, by now, you’ve probably guessed what I said when he asked if I wanted them ordered...

“All formats, please!”

And that was it. The collecting had well and truly taken hold.

It was becoming expensive — but it was also great fun. Every new release meant another format to hunt down, another record to add to the collection, and another excuse to go back into the shop.

There was also an Our Price record shop in town — remember them?

One day, I was walking past and noticed a But Seriously window display. Of course, being the collector I was becoming, I immediately wanted it!

I went into the shop and spoke to the manager.

I asked him, “What do you do with the window display when you take it down?”

He replied, “It goes in the bin.”

“OK,” I said, “can I have it, please?”

He looked at me and said, “Yes, but you’ll need to come into the shop and collect it on the day we take it down.”

No problem!

So, when the day came, I went into Our Price and collected the display.

Another piece of PC memorabilia rescued from the bin — and another little treasure for my collection.

By this point, it wasn't just about owning the music anymore. I wanted the singles, the different formats, the artwork and even the promotional material. If it was connected to PC, I wanted it! And somehow, every time I thought I had everything, something else would turn up... The first Phil Collins gig I went to was during the But Seriously tour, and that was another turning point in my collecting. I walked into the venue and, of course, there was the merchandise stand — tour T-shirts, programmes and all sorts of other items. You can probably guess what happened next...

The collecting continued with the next albums and singles, but it didn't stop there. Before long, I was collecting anything and everything connected with Phil Collins.

There were the albums and singles, live gigs on video, and appearances on television.

Whenever Phil was on Top of the Pops or another TV programmes, I would record it on VHS so I could keep it.

When the next album came out, it was the same story all over again.

Then something happened in the early 1990s that was very interesting for collectors like me: CD singles started appearing in multiple parts, usually CD1 and CD2. By the mid-1990s, this had become a familiar practice, particularly here in the UK.

Instead of buying one CD single, I now had two different versions to collect. CD1 and CD2 would often have different exclusive B-sides, remixes or live tracks, so naturally I couldn't just buy one and leave the other behind.

Of course, there was another reason record companies liked the idea. Releasing a single in multiple formats gave fans more versions to buy and could help boost sales and, in turn, a song's position in the charts.

For a collector — which I suppose is what I was by this point — it meant even more items to track down.

And once you start thinking like a collector, you begin noticing things you probably wouldn't have cared about before — different catalogue numbers, artwork variations, B-sides, remixes, promotional releases and Radio releases.

When the next few albums came out it was in realised in multiple formats but as time when on the 12-inch Vinyl was phased out in the UK but no in Europe so the hunt went international. This also happened to the Cassette formats.

Then came what I like to call the “Disney era.”

Phil Collins became involved with Disney's Tarzan, writing and performing the songs for the soundtrack.

There was the Tarzan soundtrack itself, but then came the different releases and versions connected with it. Suddenly I wasn't just looking for Phil Collins albums and singles anymore — I was looking for soundtrack releases as well.

And naturally, my collecting rule still applied:

If Phil Collins was on it, I wanted it!

One of the interesting things was that Phil recorded the songs in different languages, with releases appearing across the world.

And when Brother Bear was released, he did it again.

So, once again, I found myself looking beyond the usual UK releases and searching for the different international versions.

For most people, one soundtrack would have been enough. For me, it was the start of another collecting challenge!

Different languages, different countries and different releases meant even more items to track down and add to the collection.

The collecting did slowdown due to the lack of PC releases but still active.

Then eBay became a good place to find things I didn't even know existed.

Suddenly, I could search for Phil Collins releases from all over the world, and I was discovering things I had never seen in the record shops — different pressings, promotional items, foreign releases and unusual versions. But there was a downside. You had to be careful, because not everything being sold was genuine. There were bootlegs, unofficial releases and, occasionally, items that simply weren't what the seller claimed they were. So, I started learning to look very carefully at what I was buying — the catalogue numbers, record labels, artwork, country of release and all the little details that could tell you whether something was a genuine release or not.

Then, in 2019, came the Digital Collections — Other Sides and Remixed Sides.

Now, for a collector who had spent years collecting CDs, vinyl, cassettes and pretty much anything else Phil Collins-related, there was a slight problem.

They were digital only.

It was a bit disappointing for me because there was nothing physical to add to the collection.

Of course, being a collector, I started looking to see whether somebody had produced physical copies themselves. I have seen copies of Other Sides and Remixed Sides for sale online, but as far as I know, there was no official physical release, so I can only assume these are unofficial releases or bootlegs.

If anyone knows differently, I'd be very happy to be proved wrong!

After collecting Phil Collins for all those years, having two collections that were only available digitally felt rather strange.

I wanted something I could actually put on the shelf!

Then came the re-releases over the last few years.

And yes — vinyl was back!

For a collector like me, this was both brilliant and slightly dangerous!

The albums started appearing again on CD and, of course, on vinyl. But these weren't always simply reissues of the original albums.

There were new and updated album covers, extra tracks, previously unreleased tracks and demo versions.

Some of the demos had actually been released back in the day, while others were completely new discoveries.

Then there were the coloured vinyl editions, new sleeve notes and updated artwork.

So just when I thought I had collected most things, the reissue campaign came along and gave me another reason to start looking all over again.

The funny thing was that I already owned the albums — sometimes more than once — but that didn't seem to matter.

A new pressing? I'll have that, please! A different colour vinyl? Yes, that one too! Extra or unreleased tracks? Definitely!

And before I knew it, I was collecting the same albums all over again — only this time in new and sometimes very different forms.

After all these years, the collecting bug clearly hadn't gone away.

The “Take a Look at Me Now" Reissue Campaign (2015–2016) in CD, Vinyl and Limited Collector’s Box Sets. Now Concord Music Group have brough the right in September 2022 we are seeing Vinyl boxes sets coming out with tiles “No Jacket Required (Fully Tailored)”, “Both Sides (All the Sides) which are really the Take a Look at Me Now in Vinyl. And now the just released “Face Value (Full Value)” which does have some never been released material tracks on it so would be nice to have that on CD so maybe that will come. And then there are the little surprises that turn up along the way. The Record Store Day releases are always good news for collectors like me.

Limited editions, special pressings and releases that you might not otherwise get the chance to own — they certainly keep things interesting!

Which means, for me, the collection isn't quite finished.

So, I suppose I'll just have to keep an eye out for whatever comes next.

After all these years, I’m still waiting for that next release to add to the collection.

There are a few more Phil Collins albums that have not been released yet by Concord Music so hopefully more to come “We wait and we Wonder” sorry but had to add it.

So that's the story.

It all began one day in June 1986 when I heard some music coming from my brother's bedroom.

One album led to another.

One record led to another.

Then came magazines.

Record shops.

Record fairs.

Different formats.

Promotional releases.

Picture discs.

Exports.

Concerts.

Merchandise.

VHS recordings.

International releases.

eBay.

Reissues.

Box sets.

Coloured vinyl.

Record Store Day.

And somehow, forty years later, I'm still collecting.

Am I obsessed with Phil Collins?

Do I have everything Phil Collins?

I'd probably say no.

But after everything I've just told you, you might have a slightly different opinion!

With the internet, I now know there are people all over the world just like me, collecting, searching and sharing their passion for Phil Collins.

And that's brilliant.

Because I prefer to think of myself not as obsessed, but as a completist.

There will always be another release.

Another pressing.

Another version.

Another country.

Another catalogue number.

Another little piece of Phil Collins history waiting to be discovered.

And when that next release comes along, I already know what I'll be saying:

“All formats, please!”

Peace & love,

Kev B