Osaka Tapes ’85 (Siréne-65)
Festival Hall, Osaka, Japan – April 26th, 1985
Disc 1: I Don’t Care Anymore, Only You Know And I Know, Japanese mc, I Cannot Believe It’s True, This Must Be Love, Japanese mc, Against All Odds, Inside Out, Who Said I Would, Japanese mc, Leaving Me Is Easy, Sussudio, Behind The Lines, mc
Disc 2: Don’t Lose My Number (fade in), The West Side, Japanese mc, One More Night, In The Air Tonight, mc-member introduction, Like China, You Can’t Hurry Love, It Don’t Matter To Me, Hand In Hand
There was a time when Phil Collins, if not exactly cool, was extremely influential. Back in the 80s it seemed he was everywhere: recording with Genesis, touring with Robert Plant, helping out Eric Clapton, and being the only artist to play on both sides of the Atlantic during Live Aid. And his 1985 LP No Jacket Required perfectly sums up the decade. Lots of soul, catchy hooks and plenty of sax solos.
Osaka Tapes ’85 comes from a new tape source that has never circulated before. It contains the show except for the encores “Take Me Home”, “People Get Ready”, and “It’s Alright” which are present on the older source. The sound quality is very good at the beginning. It’s clear but distant with a loud echo surrounding the music coming from the stage. It begins to deteriorate because of weak batteries in the recorder by the end of disc one in “Sussudio” and gets progressively worse on disc two. By the time we reach “In The Air Tonight” and the band introduction the distortion becomes unbearable until the end when it’s hard to make out what’s going on. The Festival Hall in Osaka doesn’t help matters either. Many tapes have been made there and unless they’re professionally recorded, on stage or in the first couple rows, making a good tape there is a challenge.
It’s a shame the tape is in such poor condition because it is a wild and fun show. The drum-dominated “I Don’t Care Anymore” begins on a heavy note segueing seamlessly into the Motown “Only You Know And I Know”. “Against All Odds” receives a loud reaction, and “If Leaving Me Is Easy” features a fantastic saxophone solo, which in turn segues into fun track “Sussudio” finally ending in Collins’ only nod to Genesis with “Behind The Lines”. Overall this is a fun show which Siréne chose to release on cdr in only thirty copies. This would appeal to the Phil Collins/Genesis completist as it’s too rough of an aural experience for the curious.
