Anthony Phillips thread

[Dave (in MA)]

There's no other Anthony Phillips thread, so here's one.

When I saw the announcement for PP&P XI I realized that I hadn't picked up Seventh Heaven yet, so I rectified that situation. I was already somewhat familiar with much of it since I'd listened at Andrew Skeet's Soundcloud page here and here, collections of tracks that preceded the release of the album.

If anyone else has done the same, you may have noticed discrepancies in some of the titles. I went through the list and was able to identify almost all of the preview tracks within the album, except for 2:

Soundcloud title [Seventh Heaven title]
Phillips & Skeet
1. Tangled Clues 3.53 [Shipwreck of St. Paul]
2. Long Road Home 2.32 [same]
3. Our England 3.02 [A Richer Earth]
4. Always and Always 1 3.11 [Forever Always]
5. Fields Of Butterflies 1 4.00 [The Golden Leaves of Fall]
6. Perpetual Motion 2.23 [?]
7. Waltz 2.17 [?]

First Flight (Skeet & Phillips)
1. Rain on Sag Harbour 1.41 [same]
2. Credo 1.59 [Credo in Cantus]
3. Grand Central 2.25 [same]
4. In Flight 2.15 [Credo in Cantus (instrumental)]
5. Sojourn 2.51 [same]
6. Cortege 2.16 [same]
7. Daniel's Theme 2.48 [same]
8. Interlude 2.56 [Courtesan]
9. Kissing Gate 2.28 [same]
10. River of Life 3.11 [same]

Perpetual Motion and Waltz seem to be unique to the Soundcloud page, unless they're rearranged and incorporated into some of the other tracks and I haven't found them yet.

[bill g]

Interesting. Never knew about the Soundcloud page. Seventh Heaven didn't move me like many of his albums, but it was pleasant enough. I hope there's some serious composition on the new one. Ant can produce some seriously beautiful and intriguing music, pieces like 'Passepied' (Soiree), 'Tropical Moon Over Dorking' (Fingerpaintings), 'Salmon Leap' (Back To The Pavilion), 'Tearaway' (Field Day), and of course the title track to 'Geese & The Ghost', and the heartwrenching last couple minutes of Slow Dance part 2. Would love to have something like that appear on the new one.

[Dave (in MA)]

pieces like 'Passepied' (Soiree), 'Tropical Moon Over Dorking' (Fingerpaintings), 'Salmon Leap' (Back To The Pavilion), 'Tearaway' (Field Day), and of course the title track to 'Geese & The Ghost', and the heartwrenching last couple minutes of Slow Dance part 2.

I should give these a closer listen. My Phillips collection is somewhat neglected for a fairly stupid reason; it's at the bottom of the left half of my floor-to-ceiling CD shelving unit , behind a storage bench that sits in front of it.

[Progatron]

Good timing! I'm thinking of expanding my Ant Phillips collection a bit. I have eight titles currently (The Geese And The Ghost, Private Parts And Pieces 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, Wise After The Event and 1984). I suppose I should get Sides next? I recall hearing it years ago but I don't remember much about it. Or should I continue with the PP & P series? Recommendations?

[bill g]

Good timing! I'm thinking of expanding my Ant Phillips collection a bit. I have eight titles currently (The Geese And The Ghost, Private Parts And Pieces 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, Wise After The Event and 1984). I suppose I should get Sides next? I recall hearing it years ago but I don't remember much about it. Or should I continue with the PP & P series? Recommendations?

Well one of the best in the PP&P series is 'New England' (#8). It is probably the most consistent, and overall my favorite in the series. Sides has more of a rock/pop first half, but a great 2nd half. 'Sisters of Remindum' is a killer instrumental, like a more summer version of 'Salmon Leap'. 'Soiree' (PP#10) is all solo piano, but is very very good-I'm not usually really keen on solo instrumentation. Field Day is also good. But the one I'd probably get over all of those is Slow Dance, which is probably his most epic cd.

[Progatron]

Thanks Bill. I'm going to scan around for the availability of some of those titles. I may have to skip over #6 and 7 for now. As for solo piano albums, I must admit I love Rick Wakeman's rarely-mentioned and therefore underrated Sea Airs, so PP & P #10 may well work for me. Anyway, my annual birthday CD order is coming up very soon so I'm really hoping to add a couple of these to that list! Currently listening to PP & P #3 (Antiques) and remembering just how good it really is. The 'variation' bonus tracks are beautiful too.

[bill g]

Thanks Bill. I'm going to scan around for the availability of some of those titles. I may have to skip over #6 and 7 for now. As for solo piano albums, I must admit I love Rick Wakeman's rarely-mentioned and therefore underrated Sea Airs, so PP & P #10 may well work for me. Anyway, my annual birthday CD order is coming up very soon so I'm really hoping to add a couple of these to that list! Currently listening to PP & P #3 (Antiques) and remembering just how good it really is. The 'variation' bonus tracks are beautiful too.

Yeah PP6 is 'Ivory Moon', which is solo piano too, but 'Soiree' is in my opinion better, more of a heartfelt mood, plus an unreleased Genesis track is on there. PP7 is pretty easily his worst in the series in my opinion. I didn't even bother buying that one on cd (had on vinyl back in the day). If you love Sea Airs, I think you'll love both AP solo piano albums too. Sea Airs is probably my favorite Wakeman album. PP9 is pretty good, but not quite the level of most of the series, but it does have some duets with Berro-Garcia of PP3.

[Progatron]

Yeah PP6 is 'Ivory Moon', which is solo piano too, but 'Soiree' is in my opinion better, more of a heartfelt mood, plus an unreleased Genesis track is on there. PP7 is pretty easily his worst in the series in my opinion. I didn't even bother buying that one on cd (had on vinyl back in the day). If you love Sea Airs, I think you'll love both AP solo piano albums too. Sea Airs is probably my favorite Wakeman album. PP9 is pretty good, but not quite the level of most of the series, but it does have some duets with Berro-Garcia of PP3.

Gee, so all it took after all these years to get someone else to acknowledge Sea Airs was just to mention it?

Okay, PP & P comments have been noted. I actually just ordered Sides because amazon.ca had one copy left in stock, so I should have it for the weekend to refresh my memory. I quite like these Voiceprint 2-CD reissues of Ant's albums.

[Arkangel3]

...I actually just ordered Sides because amazon.ca had one copy left in stock, so I should have it for the weekend to refresh my memory. I quite like these Voiceprint 2-CD reissues of Ant's albums.

I just ripped the two disc edition to my Mac the other day; Sides remains one of my favorites in his catalog and that two-disc edition is excellent, as are all of those two disc re-releases. The 2 disc "Geese and The Ghost" makes an incredibly beautiful album even more so because of the material that was left off of it (which is mind boggling). Ant is an incredibly prolific musician; I love his synth playing and arrangements (to say the least I love his guitar playing even more). The two disc "Field Day" is a wonderful selection of acoustic guitar (and some synth/keyboard pieces as well). He's a VERY underrated musician both in terms of his playing and his composing/arranging. Slow Dance is stunningly beautiful; 1984 is frighteningly good and even presents an Orwellian-like vibe in the playing and arranging. PP&P I and II will always be my favorites from that series...and I absolutely love the quiet beauty of the "Missing Links" series, all four of those albums. I have (I think) just about everything of his available on CD and certainly a nice chunk of vinyl too. The guy never ceases to amaze me.

[bill g]

I just ripped the two disc edition to my Mac the other day; Sides remains one of my favorites in his catalog and that two-disc edition is excellent, as are all of those two disc re-releases. The 2 disc "Geese and The Ghost" makes an incredibly beautiful album even more so because of the material that was left off of it (which is mind boggling). Ant is an incredibly prolific musician; I love his synth playing and arrangements (to say the least I love his guitar playing even more). The two disc "Field Day" is a wonderful selection of acoustic guitar (and some synth/keyboard pieces as well). He's a VERY underrated musician both in terms of his playing and his composing/arranging. Slow Dance is stunningly beautiful; 1984 is frighteningly good and even presents an Orwellian-like vibe in the playing and arranging. PP&P I and II will always be my favorites from that series...and I absolutely love the quiet beauty of the "Missing Links" series, all four of those albums. I have (I think) just about everything of his available on CD and certainly a nice chunk of vinyl too. The guy never ceases to amaze me.

Nice. You know I never got the 2-disc remaster of Sides. I love the remastering of Geese & The Ghost and Wise After The Event, really beautiful remastering there, and I got the 1984 2-disc remaster too, which had some good unreleased stuff on disc 2. How is disc 2 of sides, I'm not even sure what's on it?

By the way, Field Day is all guitar and string instruments, no synth or keyboard. The opening, closing and a couple tracks in there are so heavily reverbed 12-string that it sounds like a keyboard.

I do most of my Ant Phillips listening in the late fall/winter (depending on the cd of course-some are more summery) so good timing for the new one due next month

[Progatron]

I also spun A Catch At The Tables this evening (and enjoyed it) before moving on to another listen of Steve Hackett's Genesis Revisited II - it's Night Of The Ex-Genesis Guitarists!

[Progatron]

I've added all four Missing Links discs as well as Field Day to my Birthday CD want list. I'm planning on ordering the whole lot this weekend, so whichever of those titles are in stock will be a part of the stack of goodness!

[ThomasKDye]

Well one of the best in the PP&P series is 'New England' (#8). It is probably the most consistent, and overall my favorite in the series.

Ditto. If you want a truly complete AP collection, #8 is a must-have.

[Arkangel3]

Disc 2 of Sides is mostly alternate (and instrumental) versions of the songs with vocals (and there are some alternate vocal pieces as well). A few new and unheard unreleased tracks as well. Absolutely beautiful remastering throughout.

[bill g]

Well I'd like to hear those unreleased tracks. Today I was inspired by this thread and listened to PP1, and PP6 (Ivory Moon). Basking Shark from Ivory Moon is amazing-among his very best works. I was pretty floored by it. Sea-Dog's Air was another really great one. From PP1, 'Beauty and The Beast' stood out, as well as 'Harmonium In The Dust', and of course an old favorite 'Tregenna Afternoons'. Always liked 'Autumnal' too. Then I started playing 'The Sky Road' (ML 2), but it didn't have the same depth for me as the two PP I listened to, so I didn't finish it. Not that it wasn't good, just not AS good.

[Progatron]

PP&P 8 seems to be a difficult one to find in stock anywhere. Amazon marketplace copies are available though, might eventually have to go that route for a few dollars more. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to the four Missing Links titles + Field Day arriving!

[bill g]

you can purchase PP&P 8 at the Anthony Phillips website:

http://astore.amazon.co.uk/theoffici...?node=0&page=2

[Progatron]

Silly me, I hadn't thought to check for the 2CD release with PP&P 7. There it was for thirteen bucks on amazon marketplace. And since I need part 7 as well - ordered!

[ThomasKDye]

Silly me, I hadn't thought to check for the 2CD release with PP&P 7. There it was for thirteen bucks on amazon marketplace. And since I need part 7 as well - ordered!

Oh dear. Not to really destroy your satisfaction at finding it, but for some reason, that two CD collection is missing half of Part 7. I mean, it has all of Part 8 (half is on the first disc, and half is on the second), but the second half of Part 7 is GONE. That's really weird; I don't know why it's been released like that, unless Anthony Phillips did like Genesis did in the second Archives set and redacted himself.

[Progatron]

Oh dear. Not to really destroy your satisfaction at finding it, but for some reason, that two CD collection is missing half of Part 7. I mean, it has all of Part 8 (half is on the first disc, and half is on the second), but the second half of Part 7 is GONE. That's really weird; I don't know why it's been released like that, unless Anthony Phillips did like Genesis did in the second Archives set and redacted himself.

Strange indeed. Well I would have happily spent the thirteen bucks on JUST part 8, so getting most of part 7 as well is just a bonus I guess. From most accounts, part 7 is the weakest in the entire series, so it wasn't one I was really seeking out anyway to be honest. But thanks for the heads-up!

[Dave (in MA)]

Oh dear. Not to really destroy your satisfaction at finding it, but for some reason, that two CD collection is missing half of Part 7. I mean, it has all of Part 8 (half is on the first disc, and half is on the second), but the second half of Part 7 is GONE. That's really weird; I don't know why it's been released like that, unless Anthony Phillips did like Genesis did in the second Archives set and redacted himself.

Are you sure about that? The Amazon.co.uk tracklist matches what you say, but the description at Amazon.com describes it as "2010 two CD release that pairs up two albums from the former Genesis guitarist" despite the fact that it says "number of discs: 1" (not uncommon at Amazon for 2 CDs in a single-width jewel case). Bolstering this theory is the fact that the track list on the back is the complete 2 albums:

51BK-OEjOUL._SS400_.jpg

Also, AP's site says "A double CD re-issue of the seventh and eighth albums in the Private Parts & Pieces series, offering two albums for the price of a single CD.".

[ThomasKDye]

Are you sure about that? The Amazon.co.uk tracklist matches what you say, but the description at Amazon.com describes it as "2010 two CD release that pairs up two albums from the former Genesis guitarist" despite the fact that it says "number of discs: 1" (not uncommon at Amazon for 2 CDs in a single-width jewel case). Bolstering this theory is the fact that the track list on the back is the complete 2 albums.

Hmm. Progatron, when you get it, let me know, I'd be very curious before I recommend it to someone else.

I certainly hope you're right, Dave, because the second half of Part 7 is certainly worth hearing.

[Progatron]

It hasn't arrived yet (California to Toronto shipping... sometimes it takes five days, other times twenty days!), but I am bumping this thread to let you guys know that Lasers Edge has the 2-CD 1984 for the 'blowout' price of $12. A good deal, IMO! This album has a lovely mood to it.

[Progatron]

Anyone heard City Of Dreams yet? I had it pre-ordered at amazon.ca, but of COURSE they didn't get it in stock.

[Arkangel3]

Anyone heard City Of Dreams yet? I had it pre-ordered at amazon.ca, but of COURSE they didn't get it in stock.

Ditto here. Just waiting for Godot...er...my disc to get here