Face Value (album)
| Face Value | ||||
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| Studio album by Phil Collins | ||||
| Released | 13 February 1981 (UK) | |||
| Recorded | June 1980 – January 1981 | |||
| Studio | The Town House (West London, England) | |||
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| Length | 47:49 | |||
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| Phil Collins chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Face Value | ||||
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| 2016 reissue cover | ||||
Recreated cover photograph, as part of Collins' 2016 studio album reissues
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  |
| PopMatters | 9/10 |
| Q |  |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Rolling Stone (DE) | |
| Scunthorpe Telegraph | 10/10 |
Face Value is the debut solo studio album by English singer-songwriter Phil Collins. It was released in February 1981 on the Virgin label internationally and Atlantic Records in North America. The album topped the UK Album Chart on its initial release and was well-received by critics. It opens with his successful debut single "In the Air Tonight", which had a dark mood inspired by the separation from his wife Andrea and rose to number two on the UK Singles Chart in January 1981. The album was reissued, with bonus tracks included, on 29 January 2016. The reissued version's cover art is taken in the same fashion as the original's, except it features a present-day Collins instead.
By 1978, Phil Collins had been part of the progressive rock band Genesis for eight years. After spending the first five of those years as a drummer, he reluctantly accepted the role of frontman of the group following original vocalist Peter Gabriel's departure at the end of the tour for their concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Collins took over vocals for 1976's A Trick of the Tail. While still featuring the complex progressive rock the group had been recording since its 1970 album Trespass, it also featured a more mainstream sound which attracted a larger audience. Their 1978 album, ...And Then There Were Three..., featured their first crossover hit single, "Follow You Follow Me".
Collins had been planning to record a solo album for some time. He told Modern Drummer in 1979:
One ambition is to do my own album which will have a lot of variety. I write songy [sic] stuff, as well as some from the Brand X area. I'm also hip to what Eno does - those kind of soundtracks which I've always been interested in - two or three minutes of just mood. The album, when it does come out, will have a lot of different styles on it.
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Wikipedia