Going Back is the eighth solo studio album by English singer-songwriter and drummer Phil Collins, released on 13 September 2010 by Atlantic Records.
In September 2009, Collins said that despite a successful subsequent operation on his neck, he did not regain full functionality of his hands, particularly his left, which made it "impossible for me to play drums or piano".
[7] Despite this setback, in the following month Collins announced his next studio album which was to feature 1960s Motown and soul standards covers, with the aim of having the tracks sounding "exactly like the originals".
[9] Collins had wanted to do such an album for many years, and was greatly influenced by his time watching former London-based group The Action perform the same tunes at The Marquee club.
[11] The album originated in 2008 when Collins selected lesser known and "darker" Motown songs that he liked best as a youngster, and produced demos of them at his home studio in Geneva, Switzerland, using Cubase software.
[12] In late 2008, Collins approached Swiss audio engineer, producer, and mixer Yvan Bing, a former drummer who lived near Geneva, to help finalise the tracks and co-produce the album.
[13] Bing realised early into the project that using digital audio workstation was the ideal platform to recreate all the individual parts to the songs, and opted for Pro Tools, with the sound enhanced by analogue equipment.
[13] Collins enlisted musicians Bob Babbitt, Eddie Willis, and Ray Monette, who were part of The Funk Brothers and played on several Motown recordings from 1959 until 1972.
But the chance discovery of a photograph of 13-year-old Collins playing drums in the Getty Images library caused a change in direction, resulting in the album being called Going Back.
"Up Close & Personal: Phil Collins Plays 60's Motown & Soul" was exclusively devoted to the music from the new album and were not part of an upcoming world tour.
The band included Funk Brothers bassist Bob Babbitt, guitarists Eddie Willis & Ray Monette, Genesis touring musicians Daryl Stuermer on guitar and drummer Chester Thompson, a five-piece horn section, six back-up singers (Amy Keys, Lamont Van Hooke, Lynne Fiddmont-Linsey, Connie Jackson-Comegys, Terron Brooks and Bill Cantos), percussionist/vocalist Leslie Smith and keyboardist Brad Cole.
[23] David Sheppard of BBC Music said "So faithfully have Collins and his confreres recreated the Sound of Young America – shimmering tambourines drowning out drums, bass compressed to a fat, distorted throb – that it's hard not to be swept along".
Expressing the refreshingly modest desire to make an "old-sounding" album of cover versions the 59-year-old singer zips through a selection of mostly-Motown classics like 'Jimmy Mack' and 'Uptight' with the verve energy and wit of a man reborn.
"[31] Graeme Thomson of Uncut was not so impressed, giving the album 2 stars out of 5 and stating "You can't fault the raw material, but Collins brings nothing new to these songs.
"[37] Terry Staunton of Record Collector was even more negative, defining the album as a set "of 60s soul covers of baffling irrelevance" and wondering, "what possible use could anyone have for weedy-voiced faded Xeroxes of songs readily available in their wondrously uplifting original form?
The likes of 'Uptight', 'Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever' and 'Jimmy Mack' capture the exuberance of those '60s sides, but the slower ballads – particularly 'Blame It on the Sun' and a desperately cloying 'Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer' – are plain dreary.
"[38] All tracks are written by Holland–Dozier–Holland, except where noted.iTunes has a digital download deluxe version in the "iTunes LP" HD format which contains 26 (of the 29) audio songs plus the music video for "(Love Is Like a) Heatwave".
The album was reissued as The Essential Going Back on 10 June 2016 with fewer tracks than the original release, but with the addition of "Too Many Fish in the Sea," and a bonus disc with live recordings.