From: "Rob McMonigal" trebro@earthlink.net
>Please, can anybody recommend me Anthony Phillips solo albums? What are
they sound like?
I'll recommend the only one I own personally, "The Archive Collection Volume 1."
It has a lot of demos (some of them with good old Mike Rutherford) and song
samples, and might be a nice way to introduce yourself to Ant's solo stuff. I
know I want to buy more once I get the chance. For Genesis nuts, there's a demo
on there called F Sharp, which is, in fact, the opening sections of "The Musical
Box."
From: "drj_saro" <>
...the place to start is "the Geese and the Ghost". two long instrumental suites
('Henry: Portraits from Tudor Times' @ 12:11 and the title track @ 15:40) and
couple of odd little instrumental miniatures and 3 fairly pleasant and short
songs (vocals are not AP's strong suit, but on this album he only sings on one
track, with the dreaded Phil Collins on the other 2 - one being a duet with Viv
McAuliffe, who sang on Patrick Moraz "I" album.) avoid "Sides" even though the
cast of supporting musicians makes it look like this _should_ be good, it is
quite lack-luster to my ears.
From: "Grant Penton" <>
The first one merits first attention "The Geese & the Ghost". Featuring vocals
by Collins and bass by Rutherford, this collection of songs and nifty
instrumentals came out at the same time as Wind & Wuthering, 6 years after he
left Genesis. A year later came "Wise After the Event", featuring good songs but
AP's weak vocals- about on par with Hackett's work from that period, although
more mellow. Sides was a mix of songs and somewhat stronger instrumentals
featuring gtr, kbds & orchestra. Rutherford's first solo, "Smallcreeps Day"
features very good AP work on kybds (and he would have been the ideal
replacement for Hackett, filling in on both gtr and 2nd kybds when needed with a
decidedly progressive edge!), and then there have been the dozen or so "Private
Parts & Pieces", instrumental works equally balanced between kybds & gtr, except
for the sixth, which was for synth. Oh, there's 1984- stay away from it, as it
was a less successful first outing for AP on synths.
From: "drj_saro" <>
I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to get this together (i don't even
remember _who_ originally asked for it) but for what it's worth, here it is...
1. The Geese & the Ghost -1977
A. Phillips - guitars, keys, percussion, vocals on 1 track; Mike Rutherford -
guitars, keys, percussion; Phil Collins - vocals on 2 tracks ( 1 in duet with
Viv McCauliffe); 5 wind players (including Jack Lancaster and John Hackett); 4
string players and a timpanist; with two major instrumental suites (and two odd
little instrumental "miniatures") played by what amounts to a chamber orchestra,
G&G is a Prog Masterpiece (even if all too few are even aware of its existence).
2. Wise After the Event - 1978
even though this is entirely an album of songs, the ambience is quite similar to
G&G.....and what a _band_! Mike Giles (King Crimson) - Drums,
John G. Perry (Caravan, Quantum Jump) - Bass, Mel Collins (King Crimson, Camel)
- flute & sax (among a couple of other guests).
3. Sides - 1979
while featuring the same great backing band from the previous album (plus
percussion from Ray Cooper, Frank Riicotti, and Morris Pert), AP bowed to record
company pressure and recorded a commercial pop album. while it does still have
some excellent playing from all involved, imo it is a sad waste of talent.
4. 1984- 1981
this is an odd one....virtually NO guitars (except as sonic texture), consisting
almost entirely of synths and drum-machines (with some "real" percussion), there
may be some who appreciate the "experiment", but i'm not one of them.
5. Invisible Men - 1983
another attempt at a "pop" album - i just don't understand!?!?!?!?!?!?!
6. tarka - 1988
the National Philharmonic Orchestra (with added string and wind soloists) plus
Didier Malherbe (Gong) - flute and sax and Guy Evans (Van der Graaf Generator) -
percussion join AP and Harry Williamson (Guitars) in playing music composed by
AP & HW for the soundtrack to a film version of "Tarka the Otter" (written by
HW's grand-father, Sir Henry)
7. Slow Dance - 1990
a serious composition, a piece of two-parts. AP on guitars and synths, joined by
clarinet, oboe, flute, piccolo, trumpet, harp, drums, percussion, and a string
section.
8. The Living Room Concert - 199?
AP solo, just guitar and voice
9. Gypsy Suite - 1994
two "side-long epics" - 1 Gypsy Suite with AP (12-string) and Harry Williamson
(6-string), 2 Tarka with AP (12-string, organ, percussion) and HW (6-string,
piano, autoharp, percussion, glissando guitar)
The Archive Collection -1997
demo versions and unreleased pieces from #1,2,3,5 the Private Parts and Pieces
series
PP&P 1 - 1978 (solo)
1 song, 1 piano piece, 7 pieces for guitar ( and guitar ensembles - all played
by AP himself and overdubbed). MY FAVOURITE!
PP&P 2 - "Back to the Pavillion" 1980 (Andy McCulloch (King Crimson)-
Drums, Mike Rutherford - Bass, Mel Collins - flute, Rob Phillips - oboe) more
_electric_ guitar this time, but otherwise not too dis-similar to #1.
PP&P 3 - "Antiques" 1982
guitar duets (and overdubs) with Enrique Berro Garcia.
PP&P 4 - "A Catch at the Tables" 1984
1 song, 2 keyboard piece (1 polymoog improv, the other Polymoog & mellotron-flute),
plus 6 guitar pieces (some with synth "colorings").
PP&P 5 - "Twelve" 1984
twelve pieces for solo 12-string guitar.....BEAUTIFUL!
PP&P 6 - "Ivory Moon" 1986
Solo Piano Pieces, pleasant enough, but.....
PP&P 7 - "Slow Waves, Soft Stars" 1987
mainly synth based pieces, mostly slow and spacey. (much better than "1984"!)
recorded for Larry Fast's Audion label.
PP&P 8 - "New England" 1992
back to a chamber-music setting, AP mainly on guitars, with guests adding sax,
cello, and percussion. My favorite since #1.
PP&P 9 - "Dragonfly Dreams" 1996
carries on in much the same vein as #8, but the tunes aren't as memorable (to me
anyway).
the Library Music series
Fingerpainting - mainly short bits and pieces of music done for nature
documentaries - for the completeist only.
The Sky Road *unheard
Sail the World *unheard
From: "Dave Lane" <>
>4. 1984- 1981
>this is an odd one....virtually NO guitars (except as sonic texture),
consisting almost entirely of synths and drum-machines (with some "real"
percussion), there may be some who appreciate the "experiment", but i'm not
one of them.
I think this album could be vastly improved by going back to the original master
tapes and removing the annoying cricket chirp that passes for drum machine
sounds -- the same noise that can be heard in the Genesis song "Duchess".
>The Archive Collection -1997 demo versions and unreleased pieces from
#1,2,3,5
Also contains the original instrumental version of "The Musical Box",
performed by AP, Rutherford and MacPhail.
>the Library Music series
Releases in this series are known as "Missing Links".
>Fingerpainting - mainly short bits and pieces of music done for nature
documentaries - for the completeist only.
I don't see why these are for completists, and the PP&P albums aren't.
>Sail the World *unheard
HERE is the one that is for completists only. There is nothing about
this album that would suggest that it's an Anthony Phillips album aside from the
name on the cover. Very generic-sounding TV background & theme music.
Two of the more recent releases weren't mentioned:
The Meadows Of Englewood - AP & Guillermo Cazenave
This is a collection of mostly improvised pieces, with GC doing the lion's share
of the guitar work, AP handling most of the keyboard work. Recommended.
Live Radio Sessions - AP & Guillermo Cazenave unheard[expensive!]; live sessions
from Spanish radio
From: Christopher Robbin <>
About Anthony Phillips: I only have a few of his albums, Geese And The Ghost,
1984, Sides, and the first, I think the fourth and the fifth of the Private
Parts And Pieces albums. I also have the Invisible Men album, and a comp of
unreleased demos, etc that came out a couple years ago. 1984 I think is
interesting, as it seems to be entirely keyboards. I like the opening track, the
1984 Prelude, and the rest of it's interesting. Geese I think is just a great
album, especially the last three songs on what used to be side two. PPP IV I
like for Sistine, and the Arboretum Suite (there's a couple other tracks on
there that I like as well, but I can't think of their titles off hand). PPP V is
of course subtitled "Twelve" and nowadays I like it a lot more than when I first
bought it. I remember thinking at the time, that I couldn't go wrong with an all
12 string guitar album (I was really into 12 string at the time, the reason why
I got into the early Genesis stuff, in fact). The Invisible Men album, from what
I remember of it (I listened to it once) is mostly synth pop. And the
compilation is an interesting collection of tunes from various stages of his
career, including various duets with Mike Rutherford. One of the
Phillips/Rutherford duets, in fact, spells out the foundation of a certain
classic Genesis song that wasn't recorded until Ant left the group (if you know
your early Genesis, you'll recognize it right from the intro). Oh yeah, I also
have a nice tape of a performance he did on BBC radio, includes Reaper, which he
refers to as being "Untitled" (this was obviously before PP&P I was released).
From: "Rick Gutleber" <>
> > Anthony Phillips (originally from Genesis, he's not really progressive,
but fits your other criteria well),
> I have to disagree. I bought Anthony Phillips solo album "The Geese and Ghost"
'77 recently. And I think that it is a perfect classic
Some of his albums are more progressive than others, especially "Sides",
Private Parts and Pieces II", and "Wise After the Event"; others are more
classical in style like "PP&P III", "PP&P V", "PP&P VI" or poppy like "Invisible
Men" and a few tracks on "Sides". "The Geese and the Ghost" is certainly one of
his best, but all of them (he's done about 18 albums or more) are excellent.