Hello, I Must Be Going! – Christopher Thelen

As Genesis continued to climb in popularity and his solo career
took off, one could think that Phil Collins could do no wrong.
After all, he was managing both gigs as a solo artist and as the
lead vocalist/drummer for Genesis. But sooner or later, something
was going to have to give. (One could say it finally did when
Collins departed Genesis in the ’90s to devote his energy to his
solo career.)

But in 1982, Collins finally did step on the first landmine,
with his second solo album
Hello, I Must Be Going!. Even though it spawned a major hit
with his cover of The Supremes’s “You Can’t Hurry Love” and a minor
hit with “I Don’t Care Anymore,” the remainder of the album was
light fluff, weakly written and sometimes poorly performed. The
album has its moments, but it also has a lot of mistakes.

Let’s cover the hits first. “I Don’t Care Anymore,” the album’s
opener, is an interesting twist for Collins – a song driven almost
completely by the drums and some keyboard work. By the time Daryl
Steurmer comes in on the guitar, it’s almost unnecessary; the
primitive pounding on the skins is what seals this song from the
start.

“You Can’t Hurry Love” is also interesting, in that Collins
proved on his previous album
Face Value that he was more than capable as a songwriter. So
for him to go to a cover is a curious fork in the road. Fortunately
for Collins, he nails it with agility and grace. Besides, I guess I
really shouldn’t be surprised that Collins did a cover tune; he did
have his version of “Tomorrow Never Knows” on
Face Value.

Unfortunately, that’s where most of the praise stops for
Hello, I Must Be Going!. Some tracks on this album are just
mediocre, such as “I Cannot Believe It’s True” and “Do You Know, Do
You Care?”, almost performed as if Collins and crew knew they were
capable of better works. Then there are tracks such as “Like
China,” which are so god-awful annoying that I almost pitched the
tape out my car window. Did we really need to hear Collins deliver
a song in a Cockney accent?

For every few so-so songs on
Hello, I Must Be Going! like “Don’t Let Him Steal Your Heart
Away,” there is at least one undiscovered gem. Case in point, “It
Don’t Matter To Me,” a track I’ve heard get a little airplay over
the years. This is a cut that is more indicative of what Collins
and crew were capable of; pity it didn’t get the attention it
deserved.

Collins would obviously recover from this album with his
mega-success
No Jacket Required (which we’ll get to one of these days;
the inbox is getting to be like Fibber McGee’s closet), but
Hello, I Must Be Going! is an album that is definitely a
“for the fans only” release. If you absolutely have to hear the
hits from this one, then pick up
Hits. Otherwise, this album might consider following its own
title, and going for a major retooling.