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Phil Collins certainly has enough hits to fill out a double-disc compilation -- in the U. K. he had 25 Top 40 singles and he reached the Billboard Top 40 21 times in the U. S. , with many of them overlapping -- but the 2016 set The Singles doesn't march through these hits in chronological order. Opening with "Easy Lover, " his 1985 duet with Earth, Wind & Fire's Philip Bailey, this 33-track compilation happily hopscotches through the years. Such non-chronological sequencing does mean certain hits are saved for the greatest emotional impact -- naturally, "Take Me Home" closes out the proceedings -- but it also focuses attention on songs that weren't blockbusters, whether it's such meditative turn-of-the-'90s adult contemporary hits as "That's Just the Way It Is" or the brooding early single "Thru These Walls. " Ultimately, this forced perspective is why The Singles is something more than just a collection of big hits: it helps illustrate that Collins' solo catalog ran deeper than "In the Air Tonight, " "You Can't Hurry Love, " "Sussudio, " "One More Night, " "Against All Odds, " and "Another Day in Paradise. "
