ANTHOLOGY

Since leaving Genesis after their "Trespass" album in the early 70's, the reclusive Anthony "Ant" Phillips went on to record numerous albums of a mostly acoustic or pastoral nature. I've always liked the Trespass album, and I was curious to hear more from a major originator of this unique sound. But I also don't play the Trespass album all that much anymore, so it didn't seem to make sense to me to buy a whole bunch of Phillips albums either. This Anthology cd from 1995 was a nice compromise.

I freely admit that trying to give listeners a one-cd overview of his vast catalog is a bit akin to asking someone to summarize Shakespeare's "Hamlet" in one or two paragraphs; you get the gist of the story (or music), but you lose out on the optimal enjoyment of the whole work. But let's be frank: Phillips' output is not so very varied in nature that one couldn't get a pretty good taste of his music from a nice 79-minute anthology like this one. So, for the casual Phillips fan, or for someone who would just like to sample his music, I think this cd does a very good job. But just as I can't imagine a single-disc anthology that could do justice to Genesis, I'm sure that Phillips' ardent fans will have many complaints that too much great material is ignored here on this one. Fair enough.

I do think most people will agree that the vast majority of his music shares a great similitude with the songs "Dusk", "Visions of Angels" and "Stagnation" (at least the beginning of that song) from Trespass - dreamy, slower-paced, acoustic strumming in a very pastoral/Canterbury sort of way. His music is not real challenging - I daresay it's not even "rock" music per se. Some call it "mood" music, at least the material from most of his "Private Parts and Pieces" albums, which are well represented here on this disc. But not all of the music here is slow either; some of the songs feature a full band, and even include playing and singing from Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins. Phillips plays most of the keyboards and guitars, though you won't find him doing many solos.

When an artist doesn't have a string of hits or singles from which to compile a "best of" album, you have to rely on a sampling from many albums - that's what this Anthology does. In addition to selections from his "PP&P" series, you get one or two songs from albums such as "The Geese and The Ghost", "Wise After The Event", "Tarka", "Sides" and more. This is all very enjoyable music. (Gawd, even my wife likes it!)

If this is your type of music, then you're going to want to go out and buy a few of the albums referred to above, some of which have garnered rave reviews on their own. Regardless, "Anthology" is a great place to take pleasure in this man's unique style of music.