Phil Collins Reveals His Favorite Album From His Career

Both Sides was the album that Phil Collins released during a difficult time in his personal life and even though it was his least commercially successful record in the United States, he revealed that it will remain his favorite album from his career.

All his emotions at that time led him to write his most intimate record yet, thus the songs included on the album explain themselves. During a web chat with readers from The Guardian in 2016, Collins was asked what album he enjoyed making. He responded:

“Both Sides is my favourite album, from a songwriting and creative perspective. It was very much a solo album.

“I played everything, the songs just streamed out of me, and as a writer, that’s the kind of thing that you dream of. It was the second divorce! Personal relationships at that time were tangled, is a better way of saying it, and it all came very spontaneously.”

His romantic relationships were an open book. In 1980, Collins first encountered divorce when he split from Andrea Bertorelli. Four years later, he married again, with Jill Tavelman, and had his daughter, Lily. However, that didn’t last, and Collins separated from Tavelman in the early 1990s before it was officially ended in 1996. Three years before the divorce, Both Sides was released.

In a 1993 interview, Collins said about the album:

“Midlife crisis? It probably also has to do with that. But on top of this, something profound has happened in my personal life. I won’t say anything else about it.

“I have reached this point. Very intimate, very private songs seem to flow easily. I suddenly felt I had a lot to say.”