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Thread: Anthony Phillips: The Living Room Concert, Remastered & Expanded Coming July 24

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    Member Koreabruce's Avatar
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    Anthony Phillips: The Living Room Concert, Remastered & Expanded Coming July 24

    https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/...SJN6WlGUBgGf10

    This includes three previously unreleased tracks from the original broadcast: Jaunty Roads, Let Us Now Make Love and Lucy: An Illusion.

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    Parrots Ripped My Flesh Dave (in MA)'s Avatar
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    Cool.

    Perhaps a missed opportunity to get this album back out in its original book form, though:
    https://www.discogs.com/Anthony-Phil...elease/2539464

    Maybe a book like the Harvest of the Heart set instead of the spiral bound format.
    But Esoteric could skip adding sonic glitches that were not present in the original pieces like they did on the Harvest release.
    Last edited by Dave (in MA); 04-27-2020 at 11:04 AM.

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    Good to see.

    One of the more frustrating moments for me relative to Anthony Phillips is the "Sides" album from 1979. I found side 1 to be a complete wash out from my way of listening, with Pop songs that weren't even that good for the more commercial style. Then, when I finally got the nerve to play side 2 a couple of times, I was very impressed. Those 4 cuts were very good to great and it was all I played from that moment on.

    In reading about the making of the album I can see that he was not confident in what direction to take, musically. Prog had faded fast and yet he didn't want to go the way of a too Pop oriented approach, so he apparently split it up the middle.

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    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SunRunner2 View Post
    One of the more frustrating moments for me relative to Anthony Phillips is the "Sides" album from 1979. I found side 1 to be a complete wash out from my way of listening, with Pop songs that weren't even that good for the more commercial style.
    Although I agree that side two is superior, I actually love the song Um & Aargh. It's a clever stab at the A&R men at the record companies at that time, one of whom had told Ant's good friend John Perry that his album was "too good to release".
    Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.

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    Parrots Ripped My Flesh Dave (in MA)'s Avatar
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    I don't hate the pop material, but I finding myself listening primarily to Um & Aargh, Sisters of Remindum and Nightmare on this one.

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    Member Gizmotron's Avatar
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    Thank you for the Thread!

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    Quote Originally Posted by SunRunner2 View Post
    One of the more frustrating moments for me relative to Anthony Phillips is the "Sides" album from 1979. I found side 1 to be a complete wash out from my way of listening, with Pop songs that weren't even that good for the more commercial style. Then, when I finally got the nerve to play side 2 a couple of times, I was very impressed. Those 4 cuts were very good to great and it was all I played from that moment on.
    Sides is an odd album. Ironically, despite the jabs at the music business, this one was heavily pushed by his label. If you read the sleeve notes on one of the re-releases (sorry, I don't now remember which), he describes this a particularly unhappy time for him as the label sent him on a tour of radio stations for interviews to promote the LP.

    I tend to agree side one is relatively weak - but I still have a fondness for it. "Um and Argh" is a strong opener. "Lucy Will" is fine - very Ant. I also have a fondness for "Side Door" - mainly because it used to make my daughter laugh when she was little. But side 2 is great! I even love the Barry Manilow-esque Bleak House!!!

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    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    Fun fact re: Sides - it was originally going to be called Balls, after Ant had been told by record execs that his music had none. True story!
    Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.

    *** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***

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    Bleak House is one of my all-time favorites from Ant. The solo piano version is also fantastic. --Peter

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    Quote Originally Posted by Progatron View Post
    Fun fact re: Sides - it was originally going to be called Balls, after Ant had been told by record execs that his music had none. True story!
    Now, that's a good side bar story if I ever heard one. I don't know about "balls", but his music certainly is emotive and sometimes beautiful. I always liked the album cover with the foosball depiction on it as well.

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    Member interbellum's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Progatron View Post
    Fun fact re: Sides - it was originally going to be called Balls, after Ant had been told by record execs that his music had none. True story!
    Yes, Ant tells about in the liner notes of the 2016 boxset of Sides: "It was two fingers time and I felt exasperated by being told that the songs I'd written didn't have 'enough balls'."

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by SunRunner2 View Post
    I always liked the album cover with the foosball depiction on it as well.
    It's s great cover and works well with the title concept - presenting the "pop" and "progressive" sides of Ant's music, split across two sides.

    By the way, we call it "bar football", not foosball. I never worked out whether that's because the "players" are attached to bars or whether it's because the tables are found in bars (pubs).

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    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    My review of this new set is now up:

    https://www.velvetthunder.co.uk/anth...cert-esoteric/
    Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.

    *** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Progatron View Post
    Although I agree that side two is superior, I actually love the song Um & Aargh. It's a clever stab at the A&R men at the record companies at that time, one of whom had told Ant's good friend John Perry that his album was "too good to release".
    If this John Perry is the guitar player from The Only Ones, then I’d love to hear him and Ant collab.

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    Parrots Ripped My Flesh Dave (in MA)'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rye-Ergot View Post
    If this John Perry is the guitar player from The Only Ones, then I’d love to hear him and Ant collab.
    This is John G. Perry, a bassist who had a stint with Caravan and is best-known (to me, at least) for his work with Ant.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Dave (in MA) View Post
    This is John G. Perry, a bassist who had a stint with Caravan and is best-known (to me, at least) for his work with Ant.
    Yes I was pretty sure it was him, ha. I have seen “Sunset Wading” around but never heard it. I might YouTube it later for a listen.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Dave (in MA) View Post
    This is John G. Perry, a bassist who had a stint with Caravan and is best-known (to me, at least) for his work with Ant.

    Also the singer on the 45 version of Steve Hackett's "Narnia."

  19. #19
    Member bill g's Avatar
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    Sisters of Remindum was always one of my favorite things Ant ever did. Another really good one is Souvenir, which was a later bonus track, possibly my favorite of the vocal songs from Sides, although Magdalen is close

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    Quote Originally Posted by bill g View Post
    Sisters of Remindum was always one of my favorite things Ant ever did. Another really good one is Souvenir, which was a later bonus track, possibly my favorite of the vocal songs from Sides, although Magdalen is close
    I love the whole second side of Sides - I do enjoy the first side as well but the ones you mention as well as Nightmare and Bleak House are a great string of songs.
    Last edited by taliesin; 04-13-2021 at 03:06 PM.

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    All-night hippo at diner Tom's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by taliesin View Post
    I love the whole second side of Sides - I do enjoy the first side as well but the ones you mention as well as Nightmare and Bleak House are a great strong of songs.
    This, though my enjoyment of the first side is kind of lukewarm. It's pop, but not excellent pop, and the sound isn't great. Despite the production, the second side is sheer excellence; I guess "Magdalen" would be my favorite in a pinch.
    ... “there’s a million ways to learn” (which there are, by the way), but ironically, there’s a million things to eat, I’m just not sure I want to eat them all. -- Jeff Berlin

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    Member Gizmotron's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom View Post
    This, though my enjoyment of the first side is kind of lukewarm. It's pop, but not excellent pop, and the sound isn't great. Despite the production, the second side is sheer excellence; I guess "Magdalen" would be my favorite in a pinch.
    I mostly agree. But...its...ANTHONY PHILLIPS!

    LOL.

    I never try too hard or for too long to convince people when they feel that way, because I do see what they mean. But in all seriousness, it IS Ant. Any Ant music is so worth having, at least that is my feeling.

    YMMV

  23. #23
    Parrots Ripped My Flesh Dave (in MA)'s Avatar
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    I've even rebought the PP&P and Missing Links and a bunch of others just in order to get the extras.

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    Member Koreabruce's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom View Post
    This, though my enjoyment of the first side is kind of lukewarm. It's pop, but not excellent pop, and the sound isn't great. Despite the production, the second side is sheer excellence; I guess "Magdalen" would be my favorite in a pinch.
    That first side of Sides is, to me, the very definition of 'quirky.' I can smile, then cringe a bit in certain places, ... AND still find space for awe and reverence for what Ant can deliver.

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