The Genesis album that Phil Collins likes least

In an interview with Drumeo for the documentary “Phil Collins: Drummer First”Collins, among other things, also talked about some of the songs Genesis. Of one of these, “Down and Out”the opening track of “And Then There We Three…”the English group’s first album as a trio after the guitarist’s exit Steve Hackettrevealed that he is not a big fan, also explaining why.

Phil Collins
he said the following while reflecting on that almost 50-year-old era: “Well, that Genesis period, ‘Then There Were Three,’ I don’t particularly like. That’s just my point of view. I mean, I do some fills on ‘Down and Out’ that I couldn’t do today. I did them in the studio and they worked great. It was when, after a couple of albums, I was becoming the singer to do things that I’ve never done it before. So “Down and Out” is, I mean, I haven’t listened to it in years. But it’s a period piece.”

“Then There Were Three”released in 1978, is not among the best-known albums of the Genesisbut it contained the hit “Follow YouFollow Me”and achieved good success in the sales charts, reaching number 3 in the UK and number 14 in the US.

However, as Collins stated in an interview with Mario Giammetti for the book “Genesis: 1975 to 2021 – The Phil Collins Years”, he is not a big fan of the record. “This is probably my least favorite album. But maybe only because it wasn’t a particularly happy time in my life. I only contributed a little. But the songs were a little short, a little meaningless. Apart from “Follow You Follow Me” which I thought was great. I remember writing some lyrics for different things. But certainly not the kind of lyrics I would write a couple of years later (for the following 1980 “Duke” album, ed.), which were much more personal”.

Phil continued his reflection by explaining: “I guess there are a couple of lyrics there that I might have written based on personal experiences. But I was still writing some fantasy stuff, based on what the history of Genesis was. Contrary to what I would be I have always been more direct, while Genesis had always been more storytellers.”