Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)
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"Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" is a song originally written and recorded by British singer Phil Collins. The song was the main theme for the 1984 film Against All Odds, and first appeared on its soundtrack. It is a ballad in which its protagonist implores his/her ex-lover to "take a look at me now", knowing that reconciliation is "against all odds" but worth a try. It has been covered by several artists.
About the record
Originally titled "How Can You Just Sit There?", the song was initially from the sessions for Collins' debut solo album Face Value (1981), and it was one of about a dozen written for his first wife, who left him.[1] Phil Collins released the song on the soundtrack to the film Against All Odds, and it was produced by Arif Mardin. Rob Mounsey played piano and keyboard bass, Collins sang and played the drums with his trademark gated-reverb sound, and a string arrangement by Mardin completed the production. According to Collins in a 1985 interview with Dan Neer; "We recorded the song in two days: One day in New York, the other in Los Angeles. The mixes were done by phone and the song went to Number 1. I couldn't believe it." It peaked at number two in the UK upon its release as a single in 1984 (see 1984 in music) and became Collins' third top ten single there, and it peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, from April 15 to May 5 1984. It replaced "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins, and was replaced by Lionel Richie's "Hello". It is the first of six songs by Collins written specifically for a film soundtrack to appear on the Hot 100.
"Against All Odds" won the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 1985, and it was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song. Collins was the only nominee in the category not invited to sing his song on stage, and sat in the audience as Ann Reinking performed it. His perceived negative reaction shown on the telecast is considered to be one of the most awkward moments in the history of the ceremony, and has been a favorite reference for Dennis Miller to relate someone reacting in a horrified fashion.
Collins lost to the Stevie Wonder song "I Just Called to Say I Love You". The song was first included on a Collins album on the 1998 compilation Hits, and it also appeared on his compilation Love Songs: A Compilation... Old and New (2004).
The music-video, directed by Taylor Hackford, and produced by Jeffrey Abelson, was an early example of a highly conceptual approach to creating hybrid movie/music-videos that producer Abelson pioneered. Echoing the love triangle theme of the film, Collins is seen performing in front of a wall of rainwater that's alternately lit red, blue, and green -- each color representing one of the 3 main characters in the film. It is this color schematic that is used as an organic segue to and from character-specific scenes in the movie. The final scene pulls back from Collins to reveal him standing in the middle of a water-filled triangle formed from neon tubes in the same 3 colours -- completing the visual concept as the three main characters are superimposed around the neon triangle's three sides. The concept for the video was created by Keith Williams, a Welsh-born writer who had already worked with Abelson on the video for "Dancin' With Myself" (Billy Idol) and would go on to also create concepts for "Holding Out for a Hero" (Bonnie Tyler) and "Ghostbusters" (Ray Parker Jr) for the same producer as well as "Say You Say Me" (Lionel Richie) from "White Nights" which Taylor Hackford also directed.
A #1 MTV video for several weeks, MTV ranked it as #4 in its 1984 year-end top 20 video countdown.[2]
Collins discussed the song in a phone interview as an example for break-up songs in act one of This American Life, episode 339 "Break-Up" of August 24, 2007.
Charts
| Chart (1984) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart | 2 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
Cover versions
Mariah Carey version
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American pop/R&B singer Mariah Carey co-produced her version of the song with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis for her sixth studio album Rainbow (1999). It was later re-recorded as a duet between Carey and Irish boyband Westlife, with the duet included on Westlife's second album Coast to Coast. It was released as the third single from Rainbow and the first from Coast to Coast in 2000 (see 2000 in music); in the United Kingdom it was released on August 18 with the simpler title "Against All Odds". Carey co-produced the single edit of the song with Steve Mac.
Although the song was promoted as part of Rainbow in the United States, it was not released as a commercial or radio single there. It was initially released in some markets in early 2000, and the duet with Westlife was released in September 2000. Although Carey did not re-record her vocals, the instrumental track was reproduced with a more organic sound complete with violins. The single was successful; in the UK, where the original Phil Collins song had reached no higher than number two, it reached number one and stayed there from September 24 to October 7 2000. It replaced "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" by Modjo, and was replaced by All Saints' "Black Coffee". It gave Westlife their sixth consecutive number-one entry in the UK charts, making them the first act in the UK to have their first six singles enter at number one. It also gave Carey her second number-one single in the UK; however, to date she has only managed one solo UK number-one, "Without You" (1994). It was her sixth number-one on the Brazil Singles Chart.
There is more than one video for the single. The video for the Carey-only version of the song, directed by Paul Misbehoven, consists of a montage of clips of Carey singing the song from her various Rainbow World Tour stops to cullings from her Homecoming special. A more popular video shows Carey and Westlife recording the song and exploring the island of Capri by boat. Remixes of this song, made by the Pound Boys, do not feature vocals by Westlife. The Pound Boys first gained attention from Carey and her label after completing an underground "white label" mix of her song "Petals", a track from Rainbow.
Others
Deja Vu and Tasmin recorded "Against All Odds" in 2001, which appeared on Dancemania X8 and was licensed to be featured in the dance video game Dance Dance Revolution 5thMIX. It later appeared in North America in Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME 2. The American indietronica band The Postal Service covered "Against All Odds" for the soundtrack to the 2004 film Wicker Park, and their version is available on the soundtrack. Later that year Steve Brookstein won the televised UK talent competition The X Factor, and recorded a cover of "Against All Odds" as his debut single. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number one, a position it held for one week from January 2 to January 8 2005 (see 2005 in music). It replaced "Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Band Aid 20, and was replaced by Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock". It was later included on Brookstein's debut album Heart & Soul.
In 2005 Canadian Idol competitors Rex Goudie and Melissa O'Neil performed the song as their final duet together during the show's third season finale. Korean R&B singers Wheesung and Lena Park recorded a cover of "Against All Odds" for a 2006 Hyundai television commercial, and their version was later released as a digital single. In 2005 English-singing Japanese rock band Beat Crusaders recorded "Against All Odds" for their covers album Musicrusaders.
As of March 2007, LaKisha Jones' performance of this I Have Nothing on March 7, 2007 has made the Whitney Houston-recorded song the most performed song on American Idol (six times in total). This broke the tie with Phil Collins' song, performed five times-both "I Have Nothing" and "Against All Odds" were performed by Katharine McPhee. Other Idol contestants who sang this song were Corey Clark, George Huff, Jessica Sierra, and Scott Savol.
During their fall 2006 tour, New York band We Are Scientists opened with a cover of Against All Odds, the song being played on the PA until the band arrived on stage and finished from the second verse, without pause.
Charts
| Chart (2000) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Brazil Singles Chart | 1 |
| UK Singles Chart | 1 |
| Sweden Top 60 Singles | 3 |
| Italy Top 50 Singles | 17 |
| France Top 100 Singles | 18 |
| United World Chart | 18 |
| Netherlands Top 100 Singles | 20 |
| Switzerland Top 100 Singles | 20 |
| Canada Singles Chart | 22 |
| Germany Singles Chart | 29 |
| Tokyo Hot 100 | 41 |
| Japanese Oricon Singles Chart 1 | 78 |
1 (Titled as "Mitsumete Hoshii (見つめて欲しい; Take a look at me (now))".)
| Chart (2005) | Peak position |
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| UK Singles Chart | 1 |
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See also
- Hot 100 number-one hits of 1984 (USA)
- List of number-one singles from the 2000s (UK)
- Number-one singles in Ireland (2000)
Notes
- ^ Tobler, John. "The Progressive Reign of Genesis". Billboard Magazine. 7 March 1987.
- ^ "Remember back when MTV used to be cool?". Platypus Comix. Retrieved 2006-08-18.
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