SAIL THE WORLD

Here we have a greatly expanded and remastered 2CD set of Anthony's 1994 album 'Sail The World', which was composed and recorded for the UK television coverage of the Whitbread Around the World Yacht Race. It was originally released as 23 tracks, with three more provided on the 2010 remaster, but now it is available as 41 tracks with a total running time of more than 111 minutes. The 24 page booklet not only contains some wonderfully evocative photos but also has another incredibly informative and detailed essay from Jonathan Dann which is a perfect read when listening to this.

It must be remembered that this was music written for an event which was actually taking place after everything had been recorded, which meant that Ant had to provide different styles of music at different lengths, not knowing how it would all fit together and whether it would all work. Also, originally there was not supposed to be an album, and it was only due to Rob Ayling's persuasion that it could all be done in time that everything was pulled together. Apart from percussion by Joji Hirota on two tracks, everything is played by Anthony, with electric guitar being the main melodic lead. The album is instrumental, as one might expect, and one can tell it was written to accompany a visual element as there is often the feeling there is something missing, as this was designed to provide finesse and additional elements to what people were watching as opposed to a piece of music which was to be played in isolation. The result is something which is fun and interesting, but this is probably more for diehard Anthony Phillips fans who want to hear everything he has produced as opposed to an album which will be played time again for pure listening pleasure.

That is not to say there are not some fine moments on here, there are, but there are other albums of his which I will probably turn to first. However, this is yet another extremely fine reissue by Esoteric and long may they continue doing this style of work.