No Jacket Required
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. 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.
Production and recording
After touring commitments with Genesis and completion of work on Eric Clapton's album Behind the Sun, Collins produced Philip Bailey's Chinese Wall with occasional work on his solo material. Upon returning from his wedding honeymoon, he focused more on writing for the album in September 1984 over a period of five weeks. Like previous albums, he demoed the tracks on his 8-track recording setup at Old Croft with a range of drum machines and keyboards, later transferring them onto 24-track for overdubs at The Townhouse including drums, guitars and horns. Sessions for what would become No Jacket Required marked his conscious attempt to move to a more uptempo sound, as much of his previous material was influenced by his first divorce: "I have a notion of what I want to do: break out of this 'love song' box that I've found myself in. I'll make a dance album. Or, at least, an album with a couple of uptempo tracks." Some of the songs emerged from Collins' improvisations with a drum machine, including "One More Night" and "Sussudio". Collins started singing "one more night" to an attempt of making a beat similar to The Jacksons and improvised "sus-sussudio" in another. He tried to replace the lyric with another phrase but decided to keep that way, leading to lyrics about a schoolboy crush on a girl at his school. Another song created mostly through improvisation, "Don't Lose My Number", was described by Collins as having been written mostly during the recordings for his first solo album, Face Value. Collins added that he does not fully understand the meaning of the lyrics, described by reviewer Stephen Holden of The New York Times as "vague, sketching the outlines of a melodrama but withholding the full story".Guitarist Daryl Stuermer wrote the music that became "I Don't Wanna Know" in 1983–1984 for the Milwaukee band Oceans as an instrumental called "F Song." Stuermer provided a demo of "F Song" to Collins, and Collins wrote lyrics for it, changing the key from F to E flat. Stuermer would later record it for his first solo album, 1988's Steppin' Out, retaining the Collins title "I Don't Wanna Know" but reverting to the key of F.
Other songs were written with a more personal message. "Long Long Way to Go" is often considered one of Collins' more popular songs never to be released as a single and was at that point in his career his most political song. Former Police lead vocalist Sting provided backing vocals for the song. Sting and Collins first met through Band Aid and would later perform together in Live Aid. Collins was working on a song and thought that Sting, having participated in Band Aid, would relate to it very easily. Collins asked Sting to help him provide vocals for this song, and Sting accepted.
"Doesn't Anybody Stay Together Anymore" is another song in which Collins was making a personal message. The song was made in response to everyone around him getting a divorce, including his manager, friends and himself years before. Collins later said that he sang this at Charles, Prince of Wales' 40th-birthday party, not knowing that the Prince's divorce from his wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, would happen a short time later. The Phil Collins Big Band played this live on tour.
"Take Me Home" is another song in which the meaning was originally very vague. At first listening, it appears that the song is about going home, but this is not true. Collins has stated that the song lyrics refer to a patient in a mental institution, and that it is based on the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Peter Gabriel, Helen Terry and Sting all provide backing vocals.
"We Said Hello Goodbye" appeared as a B-side to "Take Me Home" and "Don't Lose My Number" originally, and as an "extra track" on the CD release of the album. Producer Arif Mardin composed the beginning portion of the song. A remix of the song with additional guitars and without an orchestra was released the following year on the soundtrack for the movie, Playing for Keeps. This remixed version received some radio airplay around the time of the soundtrack's release, though it did not chart. Collins has mused that the song is unfairly classed as a "second class citizen", stating that the song would have been looked at differently if it were added to the album. According to The New York Times reviewer Caryn James, the song is "a straightforward comment on leaving home".
"The Man with the Horn" was originally recorded during sessions for Collins' second solo album Hello, I Must Be Going! in 1982. However, the song was not released until it appeared as the B-side to "Sussudio" in the UK and as the B-side to "One More Night" in the United States. Collins has said that he has "no emotional attachment" to the song. Music by The Jackson 5 inspired Collins to write the song "I Like the Way", which also did not appear on the album, originally appearing as the B-side to "One More Night" in the UK and "Sussudio" in the US. He called the song "dodgy" and has cited it among his least favourite of his songs.
Title and cover
The album is named after an incident at The Pump Room restaurant in Chicago, Illinois. Collins, entering the restaurant with former Led Zeppelin lead vocalist Robert Plant, was denied admittance because he did not meet the restaurant's dress code of "jacket required" for dinner, while Plant was allowed in. Collins was wearing a jacket and argued about it. The maître d'hôtel argued that the jacket was not "proper". Collins said in an interview with Playboy that, at that point, he was as angry as he had ever been.After the incident, Collins often appeared on shows such as Late Night with David Letterman and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, denouncing the restaurant and telling his story. The management of the restaurant later sent him a complimentary sport coat and an apology letter, stating that he could come to the restaurant wearing whatever he wanted.
The cover image of No Jacket Required of Collins' face lit by red/orange light was to emphasise the "hot", up-tempo nature of the album. Collins stated in his autobiography Not Dead Yet, that glycerol was sprayed onto his forehead during the photography session to give the illusion of perspiration. In the photography for the album's inner sleeve and subsequent publicity materials, Collins appeared to lampoon the incident by wearing a suit that was several sizes too big.
Release and commercial performance
No Jacket Required was released on 18 February 1985. The lead singles were "Sussudio" in the UK and "One More Night" in the US. Both songs had music videos that were shot at a London pub owned by Richard Branson, featuring Collins playing both before and after the building closes.In the first week of March, shortly after Collins won a Grammy for "Against All Odds", the album debuted at the top spot of the UK Albums Chart and 24th in the Billboard 200. It also got to tenth in the German charts and 15th in Canada. By the end of the month, it had climbed to number 1 in America as well. Collins had become the fifteenth British artist to top both the album and single Billboard charts, as "One More Night" was leading the Billboard Hot 100 that same week. The same thing was happening in the UK, where Collins' duet with Philip Bailey, "Easy Lover", was the UK Singles Chart number 1. No Jacket Required was number 1 on the US charts for seven weeks, and on the British chart for five.
"Sussudio" was the first track to be released as a single in the UK, where it peaked at number 12. It was the second single to be released in the US and entered frequent rotation on MTV in May 1985. By 6 July 1985, both the single and the album had reached number 1 on their respective US Billboard charts. "One More Night" was Collins' second US number 1 single, following "Against All Odds" and was his fourth single to reach the Top 10 in the UK, peaking at number 4 on the singles chart.
Meanwhile, "Don't Lose My Number", a single that Collins only released in the US, peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts during late September 1985, and the B-side of the single was "We Said Hello Goodbye". Collins had difficulty conceptualising a plot for the corresponding music video. He decided to create a gag video based on this difficulty. In the video, he is provided conceptual ideas by various clients and directors. Collins parodies several other videos, including those by Michael Jackson, David Lee Roth, Elton John, The Cars and The Police. The singer also filmed parodies of Mad Max, western films and samurai movies.
"Take Me Home" was the final single released from the album and has been included in all of his concert tours since The No Jacket Required World Tour. It reached number 7 on the US Billboard charts and number 19 on the UK charts. The song was not slated for a single release, but the label decided to do so after it became an airplay hit on several US radio stations who decided to play the track. "Take Me Home" also received a video where Collins sung in various locations around the world.
The studio version of "Who Said I Would" was not released as a single, but a live version from the Serious Hits... Live! album was issued as a single in the US, reaching number 73 on the Billboard Hot 100. A music video of the original version was filmed for the No Jacket Required home video and featured footage of Collins playing the song live. Certain songs that were not released as singles still charted on Billboard charts, including "Inside Out", which went to number 9 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. "The Man with the Horn", though not released as a single, charted at number 38 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks.
No Jacket Required remains Collins' highest-selling album, having sold over 12 million copies as of 2001 in the US, where it was certified diamond status. Twenty years after its release, No Jacket Required remains among the 50 highest-selling albums in the US. In the UK, the album was certified 6× platinum, selling over 1.8 million copies. It has also sold over 20 million copies worldwide. Alternate versions of six songs from No Jacket Required were included on the remix album 12"ers, released in January 1988.
The album was re-released using a flat transfer done by Steve Hoffman for the Audio Fidelity label in 2011. It was reissued as a deluxe edition on CD, vinyl and digital on 15 April 2016, including a new second disc with bonus tracks.
In September 2025, a 40th Anniversary LP Boxset entitled No Jacket Required was released alongside a standalone Blu-ray which contains 2025 Stereo, 5.1 Surround and Dolby Atmos mixes by Steven Wilson, plus a remaster of the Original 1985 Mix.