PRIVATE PARTS & PIECES VII - SLOW WAVES, SOFT STARS

This is an extremely underrated album from soft music master Ant. I usually read the words New Age when it's described, but I think that sells it short. It's actually a fine ambient album. The long suite Ice Flight stands up with the best of Eno, Steve Roach or Robert Rich, in my opinion, and I wish that Phillips had done more dabbling in this area, since he has a talent for evocative ambient music. Many of the pieces are such atmospheric synth background music, but Phillips also intersperses some lovely, often energetic acoustic pieces of the kind his fans have come to know and love to break up the sleepiness. Ambient or prog electronic listeners will enjoy this, whether or not they are big fans of the rest Phillips' catalogue.

This is a deceiving album as well as a deception. As the title warns, what you have are bits and pieces of Ant messing around with synths. How can you make an album with that ? I can only dream of the possibilities that Ant could have done with all these bits and pieces pulled together under the name of Genesis... Truly science fiction !!!

There are times when you want something blazing out of the speakers, and others, like me this evening, when you just want to sit back, admire supreme musicianship, and let an ambient mood wash over you.

Phillips has released a number of these Private Parts & Pieces albums, and, I suppose, the only connection between any of them is that they show him at his experimental best, messing about, if you will, with different soundscapes.

Synths are very prominent here, together with his trademark acoustic & classical guitar work.

This album will not have you running out of the bed screaming madly. Actually, it is more likely to put you into bed in a mellow mood! And that is the point. This is one of those albums designed to make you relax, come down, and marvel at the beauty of it all.

Three stars. It is not essential, but if you are interested in expanding the collection of the former Genesis man, you could do worse than start here.

As I have said previously while I was reviewing some prior « Private Parts » from Anthony, there is a mix of very good music and average one throughout this long experience.

The last works from the man left me pretty cold and I never have rated one of these with the minimum rating just for respect. But musically, some didn't deserve two stars as far as I am concerned.

Anyway?this seventh experience of the genre is quite satisfactory and is a complete break with some prior references. I would categorize this album as a full blown electronic prog music one. Of course, there are some delicate pieces of short acoustic work in here; but the high interest of this album is of course held in the long and very good "Ice Flight".

This is a piece of music that could have sat on some albums from great German masters (I hope that you get the idea). It lacks maybe of true poignant moments, but the relaxing and peaceful atmosphere is rather satisfactory.

The whole album is actually a pleasant listening: the acoustic parts are extremely melodic and deserve an interested ear. Anthony didn't release such a good album for quite a long time. Three stars is my logical rating (maybe seven out of ten would have better reflected my opinion).

Elevenses

As one can almost derive from the cover art and the album (sub)title alone, Private Parts & Pieces VII: Slow Waves, Soft Stars saw Anthony Phillips returning to New-Age territory after two purely Classical albums in Private Parts & Pieces VI: Ivory Moon (a Classical piano album) and Private Parts & Pieces V: Twelve (a Classical guitar album). The present album is a bit more diverse and varied and it is most similar to Private Parts & Pieces IV: A Catch At The Tables in its pleasant blend of electronic/ambient and acoustic guitar pieces. Vangelis (in his more ambient, relaxing moods) and Mike Oldfield (in his acoustic moments) come to mind while hearing this album.

In my opinion, this album is much more interesting than the previous two entries in the Private Parts & Pieces-series, and I enjoy the present one a lot more than any of those. Yet, it is still not particularly impressive or challenging in its own right.

Pleasant enough, but not exactly my cup of tea.