MISSING LINKS, VOLUME 1 - FINGER PAINTING

This is a compilation album of music Phillips wrote for television, libraries, jingle and audio- visual purposes between 1979 and 1989. There's no connection between the different tracks, you simply get lots of fragments which aren't related to each other. This is one of Phillips instrumental keyboard albums, some sounds have aged not too well, while others still are a joy to listen to. You won't find any guitars, vocals or real drums on this album ; this is electronic music with some progressive elements.. Phillips delivers some fabulous soundscapes full of great moods. The difference between the tracks is more an advantage than a weakness, from the moment you get bored by an atmosphere, there's another one coming up. Tracks are quite simple but do have some mysterious atmospheres on which you sometimes can guess the images this was written for. Some fragments have no real melodies and I guess some people will get bored with this record. You'll find the same kind of soft atmospheres here like on the "Slow waves, soft stars" album but in "Fingerpainting" the tracks are much shorter. My favourite moments are "Force majeure", "Lord of the smoking mrror" and "after the rain" which do have some sparkling harmonies between different layers of synthesizers. This music could be used for relaxation purposes. Not really exciting music but valuable in its own way.

This is an album that could almost be divided into 2 sections. The first, is mostly ambient electronic pieces, more about mood than form, and although interesting, not particularly brilliant with some exceptions. The 2nd half is largely wonderful, with more emphasis on form and melody. 'Tropical Moon Over Dorking Suite' is tremendous, as are the albums poignant closer, 'Paradise Found', and the haunting 'Boulevard of Fallen Leaves'. 'Three Piece Suite' is another interesting track with some rich chords. So overall, not the classic that Slow Dance or Soiree is, but certainly worth buying for the gems that are there, especially as the following cds in the Missing Links series do not have pieces of quite the feeling of these four tracks.