Testify (Phil Collins album)
Testify is the seventh solo studio album by English musician Phil Collins. Released in 2002, the album debuted at No. 30 on the American Billboard 200 albums chart, which was also the album's peak position. It was also the second Phil Collins studio album where no track peaked within the American top 40 singles chart. It was also his lowest charting album in the UK, becoming his only solo effort not to reach the Top 5. However, the album achieved success in some countries of Continental Europe. It is his second album not to be co-produced by Hugh Padgham, who co-produced Collins' most successful albums.
Production[edit]
Testify was crafted over a two-year period at Collins' home in Switzerland and was recorded in France and Los Angeles. Most of the album's twelve tracks are derived from demos Collins made in his bedroom studio and finished off with the help of producers Rob Cavallo and James Sanger, engineer Allen Sides, guitarist Tim Pierce, and bassist Paul Bushnell. Collins worked extensively with computers during production, work that can be seen throughout the album. After Collins made Dance into the Light without any drum machine, he returned to the device for Testify.[6]
The album begins with an up-tempo "Wake Up Call". It was based on a 16-bar doodle Collins wrote, and only began to formalise when he brought it into studio. The title track, the longest and most complex sounding song on the album, is according to Collins "one of the most direct and most personal love songs I have ever written". Another up-tempo song, "Don't Get Me Started" follows a tradition of critical statements about politics and society Collins began with "That's Just the Way It Is", "Another Day in Paradise", and "Both Sides of the Story" in his previous albums and songs such as "Tell Me Why" with Genesis.[6]
The soulful "It's Not Too Late" refers to lost faith in dreams – "It's never too late to make your dreams come true. We all should try it". "Driving Me Crazy" is another upbeat track. Collins said the song is about the narrow path between love and dangerous obsession.[6]
Songs such as the aforementioned "Testify" and "This Love This Heart" were inspired by Collins' then-wife, Orianne, while their first child, Nicholas, was the main inspiration for tracks "Come with Me" and "Swing Low", and "You Touch My Heart". "Come with Me" was originally a lullaby Collins sang to his daughter Lily when she was a baby when on tour in 1990, Seriously Live! and the lyrics were developed when Nicholas was born.[6]
Collins collaborated with his longtime associate Daryl Stuermer for "The Least You Can Do", Stuermer providing the music and lead guitar and Collins the lyrics and arrangement. Stuermer also plays guitar on the next track, "Can't Stop Loving You", a cover of Leo Sayer's 1978 country hit. Collins heard the song on the radio and brought a modern feel to the country song. "I heard Leo Sayer's version of 'Can’t Stop Loving You' on vacation and I was impressed by the fantastic melody. I have attempted to breathe new life into this song and change its feel." It was the first single off the album, hitting No. 1 in the Adult Contemporary Charts. The album ends with "Thru My Eyes" and "You Touch My Heart", another song inspired by his son. ("Thru My Eyes" is not to be confused with "Look Through My Eyes", a song recorded by Collins for the Brother Bear soundtrack in 2003).[6]