SIDES

Shortly after ''Wise after the event'' a third album by Phillips was released, but he did not put much effort on it.And that's because ''Private parts & pieces'' contains tracks dating from 1972 and 1976, showing that Phillips was far from inactive during his dark period.The album, which mostly contains lush acoustic and piano tracks, was originally released in the USA on PVC and appeared in the UK the following years for some time as a complementary album to Phillips' next regular recording, the album ''Sides'', his last effort on Arista.This was recorded again at Essex Studios and Matrix Studios at the fall of 1978, featuring once more Rupert Hine on control of the production and quite about the same line-up with ''Wise after the event''.However he received some nice help on vocals by newcomers Dale Newman and Dan Owen.

Listening to the first half of the album you get the feeling that Anthony Phillips and GENESIS lived in a parallel world.And that's because, as time passed by, both presented a quite similar approach to music.So, Phillips' fourth release shows a tendency towards more poppy compositions, always with very sophisticated arrangements and artistic performances, but definitely relying too much on vocals and melodious textures, while the songwriting is accesible and secure.At some point there are also some STEVE HACKETT influence from the ''Please don't touch''-era, as ''Side door'' even presents some Reggae influences in the mix.All these until the middle of the album, because from now on Phillips returns to the sound of his previous releases and that is smooth Soft/Symphonic Rock with rural inspirations and excellent vocal harmonies.Tracks are longer and a couple of them end up to be absolutely dramatic and 100% progressive with intricate textures and some beautiful keyboard themes.There are even complex passages and high quality instrumental room for a combination between keyboard-led Symphonic Rock and a vocal-driven Art/Folk Rock with delicate piano and acoustic guitars.Proto Neo-Prog touches are also clear during these pieces and the second side eventually recalls the works of STEVE HACKETT and KEVIN PEEK around the period.

Uneven, still quite enjoyable material by Phillips on his fourth studio effort.The second part of the album contains majestic and well-crafted Progressive Rock, while the weaker first part is dedicated to a more accesible side of his talent.But even these pieces have lots of goodies to offer.Recommended.