U-Catastrophe
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''U-Catastrophe'' is the third album by
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
-
Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
musician and singer-songwriter Simon Collins, son of
Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and later became the lead singer of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis and had a successful solo career, ac ...
. Phil plays on the track "The Big Bang", while another former Genesis member,
Steve Hackett Stephen Richard Hackett (born 12 February 1950) is an English guitarist who gained prominence as the lead guitarist of the progressive rock band Genesis (band), Genesis from 1971 to 1977. Hackett contributed to six Genesis studio albums, three l ...
, plays on the track "Fast Forward the Future". It was first digitally available in August 2008 on
iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
.


Production

While recording a cover of the 1981
Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...
song "
Keep It Dark "Keep It Dark" is a song by British band Genesis (band), Genesis, released on 23 October 1981 in the UK as the second single from ''Abacab''. It reached number 33 in the UK Singles Chart. Song information "Keep It Dark" describes a man who h ...
" in 2007, Collins met Canadian record producer
Kevin Churko Kevin Gregory Churko (born 19 January 1968) is a Canadian record producer, sound engineer and musician best known for his work with artists such as Ozzy Osbourne, Papa Roach, Modern Science, Five Finger Death Punch, Disturbed, In This Moment, ...
. As a result of the meeting, they decided to produce Collins' next album together. That same year Collins signed with the record label
Razor & Tie Razor & Tie was an American entertainment company that consisted of a record label and a music publishing company. It was established in 1990 by Craig Balsam and Cliff Chenfeld. Based in New York City (with additional offices in Los Angeles and ...
. Work began on the album in September 2007, finishing in February 2008.


Theme and highlights

Collins recounts that much of the album as well as the album's title were inspired by events in his own life, stating, "I went through some hard times a couple years ago and I had to find a way back to love and a way back to living a life that I knew was healthy for me. There were certain things I felt a need to sing about, so a lot of these songs were inspired by my own personal u-catastrophe.". "Us (Love Transcends)" is according to Collins "one of the most personal songs on the record" and was written for his partner and stepdaughter. Collins has also related that songs on the album such as "Disappearing" and "Eco" are his response to the global warming issue: "I know everyone's sick of hearing about it but it's not gonna go away." Collins' father,
Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and later became the lead singer of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis and had a successful solo career, ac ...
, appears on the track "The Big Bang" in a drum duet between the two. This appearance marks what the elder Collins has called his final drum track as health issues have since made drumming too difficult and painful for him. In his memoir ''Not Dead Yet'', Phil recalls studio techs needing to tape drumsticks to his weak hands to allow him to record. Former Genesis guitarist
Steve Hackett Stephen Richard Hackett (born 12 February 1950) is an English guitarist who gained prominence as the lead guitarist of the progressive rock band Genesis (band), Genesis from 1971 to 1977. Hackett contributed to six Genesis studio albums, three l ...
contributed to the final track, "Fast Forward the Future".


Reception

Musicplayers.com wrote in their review of the album, "There is definite greatness here. On the drumming front, Simon shares style and tone with his dad, but he goes far more in a modern rock direction with programming electronic beats and grooves." The album's first single "Unconditional" reached the Canadian Hot 100 in November 2008.


Track listing


Personnel

* Simon Collins – vocals, keyboards (1-6, 8-12), acoustic piano (1, 5, 6, 9, 10), sound design (1-6, 8-12), drums (1, 2, 4-9), guitars (3), sampler (9), additional guitars (11), drum programming (12) *
Dave Kerzner David Nathaniel Kerzner (born July 10, 1968) is an American musician, songwriter, producer, and sound designer as well as founder of the sound sampling development company Sonic Reality Inc. Along with Simon Collins, Kerzner is the co-founder ...
– additional keyboards (1, 6), sound design (1, 3, 4, 6, 8), keyboards (3, 4, 8) * Brian Dillman – sound design (4), additional sound design (6, 9) * Debora Lucyk – sampler (9), additional sound design (9), backing vocals (9), chanting (9) *
Kevin Churko Kevin Gregory Churko (born 19 January 1968) is a Canadian record producer, sound engineer and musician best known for his work with artists such as Ozzy Osbourne, Papa Roach, Modern Science, Five Finger Death Punch, Disturbed, In This Moment, ...
– guitars, bass, backing vocals (1-7, 9-12), keyboards (3-10), drum programming (3, 12), strings (9), drums (11) * Kelly Nordstrom – guitars (1, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12), additional guitars (2-5, 9) *
Steve Hackett Stephen Richard Hackett (born 12 February 1950) is an English guitarist who gained prominence as the lead guitarist of the progressive rock band Genesis (band), Genesis from 1971 to 1977. Hackett contributed to six Genesis studio albums, three l ...
– guitar solo (12) *
Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and later became the lead singer of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis and had a successful solo career, ac ...
– drums (8)


Production

* Simon Collins – producer * Kevin Churko – producer, recording, mixing, mastering * Michael Caplan – A&R * Greg Martin – artwork, design * Joseph Cultice – photography * Alan Wolmark – management * Recorded at Kung Fu Studios (Las Vegas, Nevada, USA) and MAP Studios (Twickenham, England, UK). * Mixed at Kung Fu Studios * Mastered at
Armoury Studios Armoury Studios is a Canadian recording studio located in Vancouver, British Columbia's Kitsilano neighbourhood. History The Armoury building was constructed, from the ground up, in 1990 by Canadian songwriter/producer Jim Vallance. Vallance co ...
(Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada).


See also

*
Sound of Contact In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
* '' Dimensionaut''


References


External links


Simon Collins'
at
MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
* ''U-Catastrophe''on
Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
{{Authority control 2008 albums Albums produced by Kevin Churko Simon Collins albums Razor & Tie albums