Phil Collins – No Jacket Required 4xLP Box Set

No Jacket Required is the third solo album by the English drummer and singer-songwriter Phil Collins. It was released on 18 February 1985 by Virgin Records in the UK and by Atlantic and WEA internationally.

After finishing touring commitments with Genesis and working with Eric Clapton in 1984, Collins resumed his solo career and started work on a new album. He made a conscious decision to write more uptempo and dance-oriented songs, as much of his previous material was influenced by matters surrounding his first divorce. The album features Helen Terry, Peter Gabriel, and Sting as guest backing vocalists. Some songs, like “Don’t Lose My Number” and “Sussudio”, were based around improvisation, and others, like “Long Long Way to Go”, had a political message.

No Jacket Required was received favourably by the majority of critics and was a huge worldwide commercial success, reaching number 1 in the UK for five consecutive weeks and for seven non-consecutive weeks in the US. It was the second-best-selling album of 1985 in the UK, behind Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms. “One More Night”, “Sussudio”, “Don’t Lose My Number” and “Take Me Home” were released as singles with corresponding music videos. All four were Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, with “Sussudio” and “One More Night” reaching number 1. The three singles released in the UK all reached the Top 20. Some tracks were featured on the television shows Miami Vice and Cold Case, and “The Man with the Horn” was re-written and re-recorded for the episode “Phil the Shill”.

In 1991, one the songs of this album, “Who Said I Would”, was released as a live single from his 1990 live album Serious Hits… Live!, it reached the Billboard Hot 100 at number 73.

In 2001, No Jacket Required was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling 12 million copies in the US and amassed worldwide sales of over 25 million copies, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. It won three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The No Jacket Required World Tour saw Collins perform 85 concerts which culminated with a performance at both Live Aid shows in London and Philadelphia. Remixes of six songs from the album were released on the compilation 12″ers (1987). In 2010, it was among ten albums nominated for the best British album of the previous 30 years by the Brit Awards. It ranked No. 74 on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s “Definitive 200” list. A remastered deluxe edition with updated artwork and bonus tracks was released in 2016, and a remix by Steven Wilson followed in 2025.