Phil Collins/The Supremes -- You Can't Hurry Love

 

When I look back at Phil Collins, he's left the impression on me that he was one of the 1980s pop balladeers as well as the drummer/front man of the British band Genesis. And yet, when I was a teen back then, I hadn't known him much at all aside from his association with this band whose albums I used to see tons of at the various record stores without giving any of them a try.

But then one day, perhaps it was on "America's Top 10", I saw this video. I immediately liked it even though it was just a darkened stage with lights focused on Collins backed up by two other Collins; it looked rather old-timey TV. And the song itself "You Can't Hurry Love" was fun and fast-paced with the feeling of 1960s Motown and a killer percussive intro. I knew that Collins was also trying his hand at acting at the time...well, the three Collins were squeezing the thespian juice out of their performances. I've heard many of his other songs since "You Can't Hurry Love", which was released as a single in October 1982, and this one will go down as his breeziest and most joyful...and it doesn't even last three minutes!. If this had been televised back in the 1960s, I could imagine a lot of bobbysoxers bobbing their heads or twisting on their bedroom floor.

I've known Diana Ross and the Supremes since I was a baby. Their big hits such as "Stop in the Name of Love" and "Baby Love" will always live rent-free in my oldest memories. But I hadn't known that "You Can't Hurry Love" was one of theirs until a number of years following my introduction to the Collins cover. Created by the Motown team of Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier, the original was released in July 1966. And indeed it's the Supremes doing their usual wonderful sound here as they provide music's most congenial form of advice for the romantically inclined. "You Can't Hurry Love" hit No. 1 in both Canada and the United States. As for the version by Collins, it reached No. 9 in Canada while Stateside, it reached No. 10.

I had already meant to post "You Can't Hurry Love" many weeks ago but wasn't sure about the right time. However, yesterday, when I had to go to the local government office to get some paperwork done, as I was waiting for my turn in the sitting area, the Collins cover played over the speakers and as they say, "Music has charms to soothe a savage breast", and I'd say that for the folks waiting along with me, "You Can't Hurry Love" had a lot of breast-soothing charms. That was good enough to post it today.

So, what else was coming out as singles in Japan during October 1982?

Southern All Stars -- Ya Ya ~ Ano Toki wo Wasurenai（あの時代を忘れない）

Yu Hayami -- Answer Song wa Aishuu（アンサーソングは哀愁）

Anzen Chitai -- On My Way