If you’re a Phil Collins fan then it’s imperative that you take the time to view the recently released BBC documentary Band Aid: The Making of the Original Do They Know It’s Christmas, available on iPlayer in the UK and on YouTube via the link below.
The clip features Collins at the peak of his powers, let loose on the track and reinterpreting its four-on-the-floor digital, programmed plod to inject new life.
After contributing to the single (five weeks at number one over Christmas 1984) Collins would, of course, famously appear at both Live Aid in London AND Live Aid in Philadelphia in 1985, thanks to the time difference between the two venues and swift trips via helicopter and supersonic jet (now retired) Concorde.
In the clip below – posted to Collins' Facebook – Phil plays a funky shuffle beat that – unless you're an aficionado of Collins’ skills or a fan of DTKIC 40 years on – you might not have actually spotted on the record. So funky in fact that Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet can be seen biting his bottom lip and visibly ‘getting down’.
Sure he misses the arrival of the chorus and fumbles his stick in disappointment – “I f’ed up,” he admits – but even with the session’s hastily set up kit and questionable mic placement he still sounds great.
The story goes that after agreeing to play the drums on the track Collins was kept waiting all day until the procession of preening popstars had performed their vocals.
Thus every time a section of the track was completed and the engineers appeared to be changing gear, Collins would jump up in the control room and optimistically shout “Drums!” only to be put back in his box as there were still more vocal tweakments in progress.
The footage comes on the back of Collins’ upcoming documentary Drummer First, in which he tells his story and addresses the fact that he’s sadly not been able to play drums for the last 15 years.
"My vertebrae have been crushing my spinal cord because of the position I drum in,” he said back in 2009. “It comes from years of playing. I can't even hold the sticks properly without it being painful, I even used to tape the sticks to my hands to get through."
Discussing the possibility that he might play again in the future, Collins says: “If I wake up one day and I can hold a pair of drumsticks then I will have a crack at it, [but] I just feel I’ve used up my air miles”.
Phil Collins: Drummer First will be available on the Drumeo YouTube channel from 18 December.
