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The “dream” band Phil Collins always wanted to work with: “It’s fantastic”
Phil Collins described working with The Funk Brothers, Motown’s celebrated backing band, as a long-held dream when recording his 2010 covers album Going Back. The collaboration mattered to him because it connected him directly with the musicians behind songs he had admired since childhood and helped him make a faithful tribute to the Motown sound.
The article says Collins sought surviving members of The Funk Brothers for the album, despite assuming such a reunion would be unlikely. He recalled hearing bassist Bob Babbitt play a familiar riff on his record and called the experience “fantastic”; the album included a version of ‘Uptight (Everything’s Alright)’.
In short
- Collins fulfilled a childhood ambition by recording with The Funk Brothers.
- The collaboration took place on his 2010 Motown covers album.
- He called hearing Bob Babbitt play “fantastic”.
Explained simply
Motown Records was a hugely influential record label that produced many classic pop and soul songs from the 1960s onwards. The Funk Brothers were the session musicians who played instruments on these hit records, though they remained largely unknown to the public.
Phil Collins, the drummer and singer of rock band Genesis, has long admired the Motown sound and the musicians behind it since his childhood. In 2010, when he recorded an album of Motown covers called Going Back, he worked with surviving members of The Funk Brothers.
For Collins, the collaboration represented a chance to work directly with the musicians who had created the records he had grown up listening to. The partnership allowed him to produce a faithful tribute to the classic Motown arrangements and to honour the often-uncredited session musicians.