PHIL COLLINS: "Both Sides" (Virgin)

THIS IS Phil's DIY album. Recorded at home in his bedroom on 8 and 12 track, he produced Both Sides, performed every vocal, played every instrument and probably pressed and packaged the thing as well!

It's also his most subdued offering to date. Despite the busy rhythms of the single 'Both Sides Of The Story', most of the album comprises the kind of largely moody, reflective romantic balladry even he must be getting sick of re-writing again and again.

Collins has eschewed the brassy punchy horns of his pseudo-Motown hits and swapped it for the hi-tech sound of low-budget efficiency. Which really amounts to an over-reliance on keyboards and sampled sounds rather than the "real instruments" which at least in the past gave his music some heart and edge.

Strangely at odds with the melancholy sound of the songs, his lyrics deal in weightier matters like terrorism: "These brave heroes only know to hit and run" ('We Wait And We Wonder'). And urban decay: "Death waits in the darkness with a weapon to cut some stranger down" ('Both Sides Of The Story').

'Can't Find My Way' recalls Peter Gabriel's 'Don't Give Up' with its breathy vocals and 'Everyday' has nice harmonies. But there are moments where valour clearly gets the better of discretion: 'We're Sons Of Our Fathers' features incongruous banjo plucking and 'Please Come Out Tonight' has some decidedly unconvincing bagpipe sounds. Blame it on the keyboards!

In his sleeve notes Collins says that "It's the most enjoyable album I've ever made". That's as may be but it's certainly not his best.

Committed fans will probably love it nonetheless and it'll sell in bucket loads!

• Colm O'Hare