Article about Anthony Phillips' solo career by Alan Hewitt.
From Record Collector No. 156, August 1992, pp. 74-77.

Typed up for Paperlate by Adrian Catchpole.


                           ANTHONY PHILLIPS

ALAN HEWITT EXPLORES THE FASCINATING SOLO WORK OF THE FORMER GENESIS
GUITARIST

Like any former member of a major band, Anthony Phillips seems
destined never to be able to escape constant media references to his
long-distant past, His time with Genesis is well documented, and often
overshadows his illustious and lengthy solo career. But it would be
impossible to look back at his work without briefly recalling his time
with Peter Gabriel and co.

Genesis emerged out of the ashes of two groups formed at Charterhouse
public school where 'Ant' (as he is usually known), Mike Rutherford,
Tony Banks and Peter Gabriel were students. Phillips and Rutherford
were in the Anon, while Gabriel and Banks fronted the Garden Wall.
Fate played its part in bringing the fledgling members of Genesis
together and Ant vividly recalls his first sight of Peter Gabriel when
he turned up at an Anon rehearsal: "We had to find a drumkit for Rob
Tyrrell to play, and there was this guy in my house who had a drumkit.
I didn't know what he could do but he came along and sat through this
entire rehearsal, and of course, it turned out to be Peter Gabriel!"

Tony Banks brought Gabriel along to sing on what became the first
Genesis 'session' and soon the band has its nucleus. Under the
tutelage of Charterhous old boy Jonathan King, Genesis recorded their
first single, "The Silent Sun", in late 1968 and their first album,
"From Genesis To Revelation", in 1969 -- which sold just 649 copies
when it was initially released. Despite the lack of public response,
the band persevered and carried on writing fresh material, much of
which has never seen the light of day. Perfectionists that they were,
it was not long before the rather cloistered atmosphere in which they
were living took its toll, as Phillips recalled: "Let's face it, all
the things that happened would probably have happened anyway. But in a
way, we sped the process up because we mishandled it by going at it
too much. We literally never had days off!"

On the road, Phillips and Rutherford collaborated on "a large amount
of acoustic guitar material -- most of which was unabashedly
romantic".  Phillips says that all the early demos of these pieces
have now been lost, but he did attempt to recapture the feel of this
material when he re-recorded "Stranger" for inclusion on the CD of
"Private Parts & Pieces", and "Lucy: An Illusion" on the second in
that series.

Another vintage Genesis song finally surfaced on the CD version of
Phillips' "Ivory Moon" album. Ant recalls in the notes that "Let Us
Now Make Love" was a live favourite on early tours, but was dropped as
the band began to concentrate on more dynamic material in concert. The
version on the CD returns to the solo piano of the original demo,
taped in 1968.

Phillips made a considerable contribution to the writing of
"Trespass", Genesis's first album for Charisma Records, which was
released in October 1970. But by the time it appeared, he had already
left the band -- for several reasons, the most pressing of which were
his inability to cope with stage fright, and his dissatisfaction with
the direction the group's music was taking. He recalled later: "I
remember having a bit of a ding-dong with the engineer (on "Trespass")
about the 12-string sound. I remember him telling me, 'That doesn't
sound like a twelve-string', and I'd been playing this thing on the
road for nine months! I had my own sound and it wasn't everyone's cup
of tea. I didn't go in for this kind of washboard, percussive,
all-plectrum kind of stuff. I was trying to aim towards the more
orchestral thing."

It was this search for a different musical direction that persuaded
Ant to study the subject academically, and he ultimately guaduated
with a teaching degree in 1975. His connection with his colleagues in
Genesis hadn't completely ended, however, and in November 1973 he and
Mike Rutherford enlisted the help of Phil Collins to record a song
Phillips had written in 1969 as a tribute to the original Genesis
drummer. The track was "Silver Song", which would have been Collins'
first recording as a solo singer.  Phillips' own demo of the song has
now been included on the CD of the first "Private Parts & Pieces"
album, though Ant adds in the notes that "there is categorically no
chance that the Phil Collins version will be released". The intended
B-side, "Only Your Love", was another delightful acoustic peice with a
great vocal performance from Collins. Sadly, the single was shelved
and, if any copies were actually pressed up, they would undoubtedly be
extremely valuable today.

Phillips slowly continued work on what eventually became his first
solo album in 1977. "'The Geese And The Ghost' began as a co-thing
between Mike and myself," Phillips explains. "It was only when Genesis
did 'The Lamb', which became a double album, that Mike lost the time,
and it became impractical. He felt more comfortable finishing the
record and calling it my solo album, which was probably fair enough."

| Picture of TG&TG sleeve, with caption:
| /1977's "The Geese & The Goose" [sic] is, like most of Phillips' work,
| available on mid-price CD./

Released in 1977, "The Geese & The Ghost" was the first indication of
the more complex path Phillips was to follow. Composed and arranged in
orchestral form, with instrumental themes linking the longer songs, it
surprised critics and fans alike, but sold very well, helped no doubt
by appearances from both Rutherford (who shared composing credits on
much of the LP) and Collins. The LP spawned a European single on the
Vertigo label, "Collections"/"God If I Saw Her Now" (Vertigo 6837 406)
-- the former sung by Phillips and the latter by Phil Collins. The
album was released in the U.K., U.S.A. and Europe, the Spanish version
being particularly interesting for its variation on the sleeve desing

and title, appearing as "Los Ganso Y El Fantasma" (Philips 9124360).
The recent CD reissue includes a bonus track, a seven-minute demo of
"Masters [sic] Of Time".

Phillips' next album appeared in 1978. "Wise After The Event" (Arista
SPART 1063) was a more commercial affair and included his first U.K.
single, "We're All As We Lie", which featured two previously
unreleased tracks, "Squirrel" and "Sitars And Nebulous", on the
B-side. A subsequent reissue ommitted the gatefold sleeve and lyrics
of the original. There was also a picture disc edition in the U.S.
(Passport PB9829).

The recent CD reissue of the album explained why the track listing of
the original set didn't match up with the artwork: the project was
conceived to run over an LP and an EP, but this idea had fallen by the
wayside by the time the cover had been designed. Several linking
tracks were omitted (subsequently appearing on the second "Private
Parts & Pieces" set), along with "Squirrel" -- now restored to the CD.

"Sides" (SPART 1085) was Phillips' follow-up, released in 1979 in the
U.K.  It continued the song-oriented atmosphere of "Wise After The
Event", with the opening "Um & Aargh" sounding like a potential hit.
An edited version of the track was issued as a single, couple with the
non-album "Souvenir" (which has now been added to the CD, alongside an
instrumental mix of another LP cut, "Magdelen"). The first 500 copies
of the album were coupled with a limited editon LP titled "Private
Parts & Pieces" which featured unheard material recorded between
Phillips' departure from Genesis and his first solo set. This album
was subsequently released by Passport Records in the U.S., who handled
all of Ant's albums there until their demise in 1988.

| Phillips/Rutherford/Banks/Gabriel/Stewart, caption:
| /Straight out of public school, here's the early Genesis line-up,
| featuring Phillips (far left)./

A second collection of unissued archive material appeared in the
States in 1980, entitled "Private Parts & Pieces II: Back To The
Pavillion". Later that year, Philips was approached to write the music
for an ITV series called "Rule Britannia", and extracts from his
soundtrack appeared on his synthesiser-based "1984" album on RCA --
which was broken down into a "Prelude", a closing "Anthem" and two
extended 'parts' of the main work.  Initial copies contained a
black-and-white poster of Ant which is now hard to find. "Prelude '84"
was issued as a single at the same time, and was actually awarded
single-of-the-week status in several music papers. RCA continued the
Phillips archive series with "Private Parts & Pieces III: Antiques".
White label promo copies of this LP seem to be even more common that
the commercial release, in fact. The album is effectively a
collaboration between Phillips and classical guitarist Enrique Berro
Garcia, described as "a collection of guitar duets and ensembles".

The period 1983/84 proved to be a busy one for both Phillips and
collectors of his music, with the appearance of no fewer than three
albums. The first of these, "Invisible Men", recorded with the help of
co-producer Richard Scott, was released in late 1983, at first only in
America, and only, as Phillips explained, "after an enormous amount of
trouble with the cutting.  The Americans actually rejected the first
two cuts, saying it didn't sound like the original tapes they'd heard.
But it was cut at the Townhouse, which is about the best place in
London!"

The album subsequently emerged in the U.K. in 1984 on an independent
label with a different catalogue number, a new cover and one song
changed from the U.S. edition. A track called "Exocet" had been on the
original LP, but public sensitivity about the Falkland Islands war
persuaded Phillips to delete it for the British edition, where it was
replaced by "It's Not Easy".  The difference in sleeve and tracks
makes both versions of the LP collectable, and in fact the U.K. issue
is harder to find than its U.S.  counterpart. "Exocet" finally gained
a British airing as the B-side of "Sally", which was Phillips' first,
and so fat only, 12" single.

With its combination of attractive, memorable tunes and
state-of-the-art synthesiser work, "Invisible Men" deserved to be a
major hit, but the inevitable Genesis links meant it was never heard
by fans of bands like Ultravox, who might well have taken Phillips'
music to their hearts. [what?]

                                E X O C E T

The CD release of the album at the end of 1990 restored "Exocet to the
album, and added three further tracks: "Trail Of Tears" (originally
only included on the "Harvest Of The Heart" compilation LP); "The
Ballad Of Penlee", inspired by the tragic lifeboat disaster of 1983;
and "Alex", one of many tracks begun during the "Invisible Man"
sessions but never completed at the time.

1984 also saw two further LPs in the archive series. "Private Parts &
Pieces IV: A Catch At The Tables" (PVC 8919) appeared only in the
Passport label and is of particular interest as it contained the
backing track to one of the songs Phillips wrote with Richard Scott
for their musical "Alice". On the album, the piece is called "Lights
On The Hill", though in the musical it was known as "Walls & Bridges".

The record's central piece was "Arboretum Suite", of which "Lights On
The Hill" formed one segment. The CD reissue adds an instrumental
track taped in 1990 and titled after the name of the LP, plus "Erotic
Strings", some of Phillips' incidental music for the play "Tropical
Moon Over Dorking", which starred Pauline Collins.

Before the end of 1984, the fifth LP in the series was also released:
"Private Parts & Pieces V: Twelve" (PVC 8926) was a mainly acoustic,
guitar-based album comprising musical interpretations of the twelve
months of the year, and inspired by Ralph Bernascone's operetta, "12
Viola Night".

In 1985, Phillips attempted to broaden his appeal to his U.K. fans by
compiling the best pieces from the first four archive releases, plus
two previously unheard tracks. The resulting collection, "Harvest Of
The Heart", was issued on the Cherry Red label and is now quite rare.

"Private Parts & Pieces VI: Ivory Moon" (PVC 8946), a set of acoustic
piano pieces, followed in 1986. Phillips also contributed a track to a
compilation of progressive music, "Double Exposure". His entry was an
acoustic guitar piece called "Promenade", making this release on No
Man's Land a highly sought-after item for Phillips completists.

"Private Parts & Pieces VII: Slow Waves, Soft Stars", featuring
material cut between since 1983, appeared in 1987 on Audion, a
subsiduary of Passport Records. Shortly after the company went
bankrupt and supplies of Phillips' back catalogue immediately dried
up. Before their demise, however, Passport had managed to release two
of Ant's albums on CD: "The Geese & The Ghost" (PVCD 8905) and "Slow
Waves, Soft Stars" (SYNCD 308). The former was of special interest
because it reprinted the album sleeve artwork on the disc itself; and
this item is now very rare. Meanwhile, "Slow Waves" is now highly
collectable among U.K. fans because it was only imported here in
limited quantities. Strangely enough, it also appeared in Brazil on
the SBK Records label. The album features two tracks written and
performed with Enrique Berro Garcia, plus several improvised pieces.

| "Collections" and "Um and Aargh" 7" sleeves, caption:
| /(above) Phillips' British debut single, "Collection", is now worth
| A330 in its pic sleeve./
| /(below) An edited version of "Um & Aargh" threatened to give
|  Phillips a hit single in 1979./

Despite the demise of his major U.S. outlet, Phillips kept working on
new projects. In 1988 he recorded an LP with Harry Williamson, son of
Henry Williamson, the author of the famous children's book "Tarka The
Otter". The album, simply titled "Tarka", had been a long time in the
making, as Phillips explained: "Originally, we hoped to write the
score to the film they were doing of 'Tarka' in 1977/78; we thought it
was a good nepotistic line, Harry being Henry's son. But it turned out
to be a bit far-fetched.  Eventually, Hit & Run put up some money to
finish the orchestral score, but the problem was, the whole pop scene
was going through its radical punk upheaval, so we couldn't really get
anything going with it at the time!"

Steve Heyworth, whose previous credits included work on Mike
Oldfield's classic "Tubular Bells", was heavily involved with this
project, and it was at his suggestion that film-makers Amy
International took up the music for a movie called "The Dragon Under
The Hill". With their finance behind the project, the music was
finally completed ten years after it had originally been conceived. In
late 1988, "Tarka" was issued by PRT in the U.K, Baillemont in France
and EMI in Australia. The album was also Phillips' first to receive a
simultaneous CD release in this country. Another first was the CD
single, "The Anthem From Tarka", which also appeared on 7". The demise
of PRT in 1989 didn't affect initial sales, but has ensured that
copies of the singles and the LP are now hard to find.

Left without a record contract, Phillips decided to give a private
airing to a collection of some of the best pieces from his growing
library of TV and incidental music, most of which is unavailable to
the public. The resulting tape, "Missing Links Volume One", was a
limited edition of 1,000 copies, and is now one of his most
sought-after releases.

In 1990, Virgin Records signed Ant to a five-album deal, and also
picked up the rights to his entire back catalogue (except "Tarka").
The first fruit of the new contract was the "Slow Dance" album,
followed by a steady stream of CD reissues.

Phillips has recently become increasingly involved in writing music
for television programmes, and several of his pieces have been used on
British TV over the last year or so. The "Missing Links" compilation
of his material is due for CD transfer, while the eighth in Phillips'
"Private Parts And Pieces" series, subtitled "New England", is set to
appear on Virgin CD and cassette on August 24th. The album should help
revive interest in a rich back catalogue which demonstrates that
Anthony Phillips deserves far more than a footnote in the Genesis
story.

/For more information about the Anthony Phillips fanzine 'The
Pavillion', send an SAE or 2 IRCs to Alan Hewitt, 174 Salisbury Road,
Everton, Liverpool, L5 6RQ./

[Followed by ANTHONY PHILLIPS COMPLETE UK (& US) DISCOGRAPHY]