Blog Assignment, Cover Songs

(Top) Phil Collins-In the Air Tonight
(Bottom) Non Point- In the Air Tonight

The song “In the Air Tonight” is one of legendary music composer Phil Collins’s most famous hits.  From the 1981 album Face Value, “In the Air Tonight” has been a timeless hit for decades now.  The song has had such success because it sounds like it hasn’t aged at all.  Collins really was ahead of his time with the production and sounds he used for the song.  The song almost certainly couldn’t sound any better, but then a band named Non Point came along and made the song even more intense than it already is.  Non Point’s cover was so good that it was featured in the film “Miami Vice” with Colin Ferrell and Jamie Foxx.  Both versions are great in their own right, but they both have unique sound characteristics also.

            “In the Air Tonight” is a song that revolves around tension and release.  The original version begins very slow with quiet and haunting sounding instruments.  The intensity is very high, but strangely enough the feeling is created with very soft and suspenseful sounds.  I have always been drawn to this song because it draws you in.  The timbre creates this very spacey atmosphere as if you are wandering around in darkness looking for something.  I think this is what Collins was trying to achieve in the arrangement of the song.  There is an uneasy tension; to me this is the wandering feeling, as if I’m looking for something.  Later on in the song we find what we were looking for, which is a much faster and louder Rhythm brought to the forefront by an epic drum fill in.  At last our ears have found the release they were anticipating.

            In Non Points cover, all the original emotions are simply amplified with a much louder intensity and slightly more chaotic musical organization.  Non Point managed to take a song and add to it without hurting the original mood and feeling of the song.  Everything remains the same, except the excitement our ears were waiting for in the Phil Collins version is there from the beginning with heavy drums and distorted guitars.  Non Point successfully added modern rock features to this timeless classic.

            I personally really enjoy both.  I almost listen to them as if they were two different songs.  Even though they both have the same lyrics and melody the moods are very different.  The original is mysterious and you could almost relax to the sound of it.  The Non Point cover is very aggressive and angry; almost surely to excite your brain and raise your heart rate.  If I had to listen to the song over and over again, I would probably choose the Non Point cover for the previous reasons.  I enjoy the constant excitement without having to wait and wait for the release.  For all of these characteristics “In the Air Tonight,” regardless of the version, is guaranteed to be a radio classic forever; just as it has been since 1981.