Development
Both Sides was notable for the fact that Collins made it entirely on his own, without his usual loyal collaborators, such as producer Hugh Padgham, guitarist Daryl Stuermer, bassist Leland Sklar and the Phenix Horns. Over a period of just 6 weeks, Collins played and recorded at his home studio all the instruments himself as well as taking care of the production duties. The sound of the album is different from most previous albums because most of the songs were recorded in Collins's house and taken to the studio for additional work.
This has been the only album upon which Phil Collins has played all the instruments himself with no collaboration from other musicians. For the first time, Collins wrote sleeve notes explaining the meaning of each of the songs on the album.
Collins claims this album to be the one of which he is most proud. It is seen as his most personal album. "In the end I had 17 songs, and kicked out all those that did not fit that mood. As far as performance is concerned this has more heart and soul than anything I have done before."
Collins expresses both his feelings and private problems and addresses political issues over the course of the album. He touches on politics and "the daily cloud of terrorism Britain seems to live under" on "We Wait and We Wonder", but also on a maturing disenchantment with the youth culture on "We're Sons of Our Fathers". The melancholy style of the majority of the songs—as a return to the style of his early albums Face Value and Hello, I Must Be Going!—was because the songs chronicled the widely publicised breakup of his second marriage to Jill Tavelman. About the influence of his emotions on his songs he adds: "I have reached this point. Very intimate, very private songs seem to flow easily. I suddenly felt I had a lot to say."
Read more about this topic: Both Sides
Famous quotes containing the word development:
“Such condition of suspended judgment indeed, in its more genial development and under felicitous culture, is but the expectation, the receptivity, of the faithful scholar, determined not to foreclose what is still a question—the “philosophic temper,” in short, for which a survival of query will be still the salt of truth, even in the most absolutely ascertained knowledge.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)
“The proper aim of education is to promote significant learning. Significant learning entails development. Development means successively asking broader and deeper questions of the relationship between oneself and the world. This is as true for first graders as graduate students, for fledging artists as graying accountants.”
—Laurent A. Daloz (20th century)
“Ultimately, it is the receiving of the child and hearing what he or she has to say that develops the child’s mind and personhood.... Parents who enter into a dialogue with their children, who draw out and respect their opinions, are more likely to have children whose intellectual and ethical development proceeds rapidly and surely.”
—Mary Field Belenky (20th century)