ARCHIVE COLLECTION: VOLUME I & VOLUME II

The compilations of archive material can be frustrating, but it also depends very much on how to represent it. I certainly feel a special sympathy for this five-disc set of Anthony Phillips. Basically, as the title reveals, it brings together The Archive Collection Volume One (1998) and Archive Collection Volume 2 (2004) but goes beyond that. On the other hand, it's worth pointing out that I wasn't in advance familiar with those compilations, so this expanded set was all "new" to me and my reception may be much warmer than of someone already familiar with the original Archive Collections. Everything on them were previously unreleased, and so is the case with the extra material discovered from Ant's attic in more recent years. Of course the words "previously unreleased" refer, in several cases, to these particular versions -- demos, alternative mixes -- of tracks from Ant's studio albums, but there are plenty of previously unheard compositions as well. For each track there's a background information in the 60-page leaflet. Because of such huge quantity, I choose not to deal much with details in a track-by-track approach. And it's extraordinary how good the overall sonic quality is. Only a few tracks with the emphasis on the historic interest sound less clear.

As we all know, Phillips left Genesis in 1970 and released his debut album The Geese and the Ghost in 1977. Much of the material dates from the years in between and thus helps the listener to form a picture of his initial years and the development as a solo musician. Those Genesis afficionados who have a sweet tooth for the pastoral nature of the band's music (up to, say, 1977) will be delighted by a great deal of what's heard here. It's evident that Anthony Phillips was a crucial original member in shaping the sound and style of Genesis. [In his career he's often questioned about sounding so much like Genesis, and that must have been extremely frustrating for him!] Ant's music is most often instrumental solo pieces for either guitar or piano or other keyboards. These pieces often have the same pastoral feel as one can hear embedded in Genesis' more complex prog compositions. By the way, 'F Sharp' demo from 1969 that Ant recorded on 12-string with Mike Rutherford on bass and Richard Macphail on tambourine contains elements later used in 'The Musical Box'.

Volume One originally had just one full-length disc and only four tracks on the second disc. Here the second disc is expanded to 70 minutes. There are both completely unheard pieces and alternative mixes or demos of album tracks (from The Geese and the Ghost, Wise After the Event, Sides). For example: guitars only mix of 'Henry Goes to War', initial orchestral run-through of 'Regrets' and an instrumental mix of 'Greenhouse'. These moments of familiar stuff are happily in minority after all. The disc ends with a real surprise: a rock'n'roll song 'Pennsylvania Flickhouse' demoed by Ant's pre-Genesis Charterhouse group The Anon in 1966. Five pages of the booklet deal with The Anon. A rare history lesson!

Volume Two was a full 127-minute 2-disc set originally. The fifth disc on this box set is devoted to a previously unreleased project, titled "The Masquerade Tapes", and textwise this is by far the lengthiest part in the booklet. In 1979 Kit Williams released Masquerade, using the picture book format in a new innovative way. In the wake of the book's success there was an idea of a musical adaptation. Rupert Hine started working on it, helped by Ant, but soon Hine was too busy as a producer and Ant continued making music on his own. The 15-part suite recorded mainly in 1980-81 is all composed and played by Ant. Musically it's a very nice addition to the box set. Instrumental, apart from a beautiful song sung by Lindsey Moore.

In short, this finely edited box set is a cornucopia that really deepens the picture of this fascinating musician. I personally would have enjoyed a chronological order too, but that's not a big deal.