Fantasy Deluxe #4: No Jacket Required

As outlined in A Love Deluxe, the past year or so has seen me become just a little bit addicted to creating “fantasy” deluxe editions. You take an album, and use whatever extra material is available (B-sides, Single Edits, 12″ Remixes, Demos, Out-takes, non-album 45s) to piece together a multi-disc celebration of it. 

We’re back in familiar territory again, with a none-more-80s classic album by Phil Collins. Suits you, Sir!

No Jacket Required was everywhere in 1985. Phil Collins was here, there and every bloody where in 1985, wasn’t he? Even played both legs of the Live Aid concert, flying off from Wembley Stadium to arrive in Philadelphia to do another set there. In the sus-sus-studio, he was no less of a workaholic, producing albums by numerous other artists as well as his own (third) solo record and several standalone singles (often in conjunction with yet more other artists). Phew.

The devil has all the best tunes, huh? Is it me or is it hot in here…

In 2016, Phil deluxed his entire solo catalogue, with those infamous updated sleeves and bonus discs of all the stuff nobody wanted (mostly live recordings from the 1990s, a few so-so demos). If you bought them all, there was a lovely (um…) box to house the double digipaks in, with Phil’s eagle eye peering through some shattered glass (“Take A Look At Me Now” was the title of the project). The record label later issued a budget version of this, with the basic CDs in card sleeves and a clamshell case.

It got better (he says, sarcastically) with digital-only editions of B-Side and Remix compilations. The king of the CD era no longer even bothering to release the most-sought-after section of his output on the compact disc format. So in the real world, all those No Jacket Required edits, non-album singles, B-sides and whatnot would never be curated together on a glorious Super Deluxe Edition. Well, that meant only one thing to me. SOMETHING HAD TO BE DONE.

Cheer up, mate…that proper No Jacket deluxe is underway. Just give me one more night…

The original 10-track album was released in February 1985. The CD version added an extra song, We Said Hello Goodbye (which ended up as a B-side to Take Me Home). For the purposes of my fantasy set, it’s sent packing to the final disc with the other non-album material.

01 SUSSUDIO 4.23
02 ONLY YOU KNOW AND I KNOW 4.20
03 LONG, LONG WAY TO GO 4.20
04 I DON’T WANNA KNOW 4.12
05 ONE MORE NIGHT 4.47
06 DON’T LOSE MY NUMBER 4.46
07 WHO SAID I WOULD 4.01
08 DOESN’T ANYBODY STAY TOGETHER ANYMORE 4.18
09 INSIDE OUT 5.14
10 TAKE ME HOME 5.51

Although only 3 singles were lifted from the album in the UK (Sussudio, One More Night, Take Me Home), the US also got Don’t Lose My Number (yet another Billboard smash) while Long, Long Way To Go was featured in Miami Vice (a guest role in which our Phillip also managed to fit into his impossibly busy schedule in 1984/85). Really, just about any of the tracks could have been singles, and would have been hits.

We’re keeping the 2016 remaster as part of this (dubbed “Still No Jacket Required”), since despite being louder and more in-your-face than the 80s mastering, it actually sounds very good. Only the 10 tracks again, mind.

“Would you care to take a seat? afdpj will have finished your deluxe in a moment”….

Finally, as ever, it’s the bit that I enjoy the most. Gathering up the single mixes, radio edits, 12″ versions, B-sides, non-album 45s and anything else I can lay my hands on.

The album itself was part of an era that felt as though it began with the film song Against All Odds in the Spring of 1984. That was his first solo outing since the Genesis self-titled album, which had followed hot on the heels of Hello I Must Be Going!, and not wishing to cast such a well-known track into the wilderness, I decided it should belong on the third disc here.

Likewise the transatlantic chart-topper Easy Lover, with Philip Bailey, which interrupted the sequence of Jacket singles in March/April 1985. Surely the best example of peak Collins in his 80s pomp, it’s almost effortless in its ability to sound like an absolutely monster hit. Phil’s annus mirabilis concluded with yet another US number 1, a duet with the gorgeous Marilyn Martin on the (love) theme from White Nights, a ballad entitled Separate Lives.

Fortunately, many of the 12″ versions were released in the 80s on a US compilation called, surprisingly, The 12″ers. Easy Lover turns up on a few 80s-themed compilations, so I just needed to cherry pick a few of the digital-only B-sides to complete my intended tracklisting.

JUST SINGLES REQUIRED FILM SONGS, B-SIDES AND REMIXES

01 AGAINST ALL ODDS (TAKE A LOOK AT ME NOW) Single Version
02 EASY LOVER duet with Philip Bailey
03 SUSSUDIO Extended Mix
04 ONE MORE NIGHT Extended Mix
05 DON’T LOSE MY NUMBER Extended Mix
06 ONLY YOU KNOW AND I KNOW Extended Mix
07 TAKE ME HOME Extended Mix
08 WHO SAID I WOULD Extended Mix
09 EASY LOVER Extended Dance Mix
10 WE SAID HELLO GOODBYE B-side
11 THE MAN WITH THE HORN B-side
12 I LIKE THE WAY B-side
13 SEPARATE LIVES duet with Marilyn Martin

Next for some new artwork. I didn’t fancy using any of the Phil-on-fire visages, and attempts to find something suitable for the gentleman was proving a bit of a task until I saw the No Jacket Required tour programme. Among the jokey photographs was a shot of PC with his arm around a tailor’s dummy. Bingo!

For the rear, a simple background consisting of the jacket featured in the same tour programme allowed me to overlay all the text and tracklisting details without any fuss. In keeping with the tongue-in-cheek joviality of the original approach, a mock hype-sticker with “3 CDs of Hot Stuff!” was added to the front. Finding the exact “Phil Collins” font proved elusive, but I used something that looked reasonably similar and would pass muster.

Job done!