I was just spinning "Swimming in the Wind" and can't believe he is not discussed more often on this site. He is a true visionary and ranks up there with Zappa and Frith as my favorite guitar players of all time. This album was never released on CD. but an original minty copy can be had for under $20. He is progressive in the truest sense of the word. Also check out Hampton Grease Band.
I agree - his first album Lost at Sea is even more astonishing.
Both are relased as CD on the Compilation: "Echoes 1975-1985" (1992) US ESD, rest of world Virgin CDVM 9015 double CD compilation.
He absolutely killed it when we had him at ProgDay back in 2005. This video is not the greatest, but you get the idea. He was a really really nice guy too:
^^
Glenn is an extremely nice man.
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
Any time any one speaks to me about any musical project, the one absolute given is "it will not make big money". [tip of the hat to HK]
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
I'm still kicking myself for missing that ProgDay.
I've got the Echoes set and a few other things from him. I recall at one point there was a review of one of his albums on Amazon that was written by someone who had apparently mistaken him from a Glen Phillips (one n), apparently one of the guys in Toad The Wet Sprocket. At the time you couldn't post replies to reviews, so I had no way of telling the guy of his mistake.In fact, I think Glenn himself told a story once of a guy who called him up, again mistaking him for the Toad The Wet Sprocket guy, who wanted Glenn to talk his ex-girlfriend (apparently a huge TTWS fan) and talk her into getting back together with him.
I've only ever heard his tune "Vista Cruiser" on the SST Records No Age instrumental music sampler compact disc released back in 1987 or so.
I really liked that song and was always on the lookout for his SST album Elevator but never could find it even in the stores that had all the other SST releases that I was into back then (Meat Puppets, Minutemen, Hüsker Dü).
Glenn Phillips is a great guy and awesome musician. I always love hearing his unique tone. As far as the music industry is concerned, he has always gone his own way.
Just a little ProgDay anecdote:
Mike Keneally Band was booked as one of the headliners for ProgDay that year. After we announced Glenn, Mike asked for Glenn's contact info. It happened that he was a big Glenn Phillips fan. Mike wanted to jam with Glenn at ProgDay. Glenn was into it. So that's how we got that great jam with various musicians at the end of Mike's set that year.
Michael
www.progday.net
www.michaelbennett.com
Enjoyed that jam immensely and Glenn's set. I was only familiar with the Hampton Grease Band and did not know Glenn as a solo artist. I was pleased.Originally Posted by Miciah
Lou
Looking forward to my day in court.
That jam at the end was truly one of those magical moments in Progday history.
I can hardly think of a single even mildly leftfield guitarist who wouldn't be once he/she was exposed to the HGB's Music to Eat or Lost at Sea. I know for a fact that Kaiser, Chadbourne, Uchihashi, Ribot and C. Brôtzmann are all fans of Phillips. But his influence goes way into the strands of mainstream pop/rock music; for instance, there's the famous quote by Peter Buck (R.E.M.) that "[...] the reason I don't play solos is that I've heard Glenn Phillips".
One of my all-time fav axemen.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
One of my all-time fave axe-men as well. I love his unique tone and overall approach to guitar playing; solos in particular. He's a guy whose stuff I collect like Holdsworth, Aarset, Kaiser, Frith, Bailey, Fahey, Torn, Frisell, etc.
I used to have all of his LPs, bought a few of them from Glenn himself who included nice little notes with the purchases. Now I have only Echoes, Elevator and Scratched By The Rabbit on CD. Echoes covers most of my favorite stuff, and Elevator is far and away my favorite disc of his. I love the way he plays on the edge of feedback, where you feel his guitar could combust at any second during one of his long solos.
Caught him with HGB back when; interesting player....
Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes
A new release - Live at the Rainbow 1977
http://shagratrecords.com/shagrat_sa...llips-ATR.html
^Wow, thx for the tip! That's one of his great periods of musicmaking, I think...
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
https://glennphillips.bandcamp.com/
"Glenn Phillips has recently put his albums and their individual tracks up for streaming and downloads on bandcamp! That includes out-of-print albums like his double-CD compilation Echoes, Supreme Court (with Glenn and Jeff Calder), and more. If you'd like to show your support for Glenn's music, there's no better time than now to download it."
A favorite track of mine. Desperate, melodic, melancolic...
Last edited by Zeuhlmate; 05-02-2021 at 10:02 AM.
I may check those out. I remember a bit of a Hatfield feeling in some tracks from Lost At Sea.
Thanks for the heads up on this...I have a bunch of his stuff but will check out the BC page for things I may have missed. I saw him play once...must have been 1980 or 81, they were the opener for Jack Bruce and Friends (the "I've Always Wanted to do This" tour). I have a feeling no one in the audience (including me) ever heard of them but ....jeebus....did the blow the doors down. Glenn was an unhinged maniac wrangling feedback laden solo's and melodies all over the place and the rest of the band held it down masterfully. One of the best opening acts I ever saw, and they immediately won me over because I started gathering all the recorded music I could find of them at the time. Such an underrated player!
best
Michael
If it ain't acousmatique-It's crap
I remember his performance at Progday also. He looks and sounds a bit like Adrian Belew too which is a good thing(well the sounds part anyway).
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