Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)
Against All Odds ( Take a Look at Me Now) is a song by Phil Collins from the year 1984. It comes from the soundtrack to the film Against All Odds, the first soundtrack work by Phil Collins. In the plot of the song the protagonist implores his ex- mistress of, to reconcile, but knowing that the reconciliation has no chance.
History
Originally called the song How Can You Just Sit There? and is taken from the recordings of the Phil Collins album Face Value. The production was the song of Arif Mardin, Rob Mounsey played the piano and keyboard bass, Collins sang and played the drums.
1985 Collins said in an interview with Dan Neer: " We took the song in two days: one in New York and the other in Los Angeles. Was mixed by phone and the song reached # 1 I could not believe it. "
Against All Odds reached number 2 in the UK after the release it was Collins third top - ten single, and held from April 15 to May 5, 1984 for three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard charts. It replaced Footloose by Kenny Loggins and was in turn replaced by Hello by Lionel Richie. It was Collins ' single - piece mainstream rock in the course of his solo career, although he had published two such songs during his time with Genesis.
Against All Odds ( Take a Look at Me Now) won at the Grammy Awards in the category Best Male Vocal Performance in 1985 and was nominated for the Academy Awards in 1985 for Best Song. Collins was the only nominee in the category, which was not invited to his song to sing on stage. Instead, he had to sit and watch as Ann Reinking singing the song in public. The piece ultimately lost I Just Called to Say I Love You by Stevie Wonder.
As with Separate Lives another song by Collins in a film was nominated (in this case to White Nights ) for an Oscar, Collins said, referring to its snub by the Academy organizers at Against All Odds jokingly: " To hell with it, I go up with "the written by Stephen Bishop song should win.
The song also appeared in the album ... Hits from 1998 and is also in the compilation Love Songs: A Compilation ... Old and New included from 2004.
Music Video
The director of the music video led Taylor Hackford, who also directed to the music video for Separate Lives. The producer of the music video was Jeffrey Abelson. In the video you can see how Phil Collins sings the song while it is set to a wall of rain water with the back, which is illuminated in changing colors. Furthermore, you can see the three main characters of the film counter Any chance arranged around a triangle of neon tubes ( around the theme of the film, a love triangle to make clear ), as well as some scenes from the movie.
The concept of the music video comes from Keith Williams ( Ray Parker Jr.) also participated in the music video for Dancin ' with Myself ( by Billy Idol ), Holding Out for a Hero ( Bonnie Tyler ) and Ghostbusters.
Live performance
A live performance of the song appeared in the album Seriously Hits ... Live!. The live version was the B-side in the publication of the song Do You Remember? be used.