UM & AARGH

In my late teens I had bought on used vinyl the first two albums by the ex-Genesis guitarist Anthony Phillips, and liked them both very much, as different as they are from each other. A bit later I also found his third album Sides (1979) which was a disappointment for me, despite some resemblance with Wise After the Event (1978). The opening track 'Um & Aargh' was especially hard for me to like, and re-listening it now for the first time in probably thirty years, I still don't like it. With a much, much better production and a much, much better vocalist it could be a decent uptempo song by The Alan Parsons Project around the time, but the sharp & noisy soundscape and Ant's vocals really put me off. The song is so heavily vocal-oriented that it absolutely craves for a good singer.

The B side song 'Souvenir' wasn't on the album but it's been included on the reissues of Sides as a bonus track. This is a tender and romantic ballad, slightly comparable to some AP Project ballads, although the production is not quite as sophisticated. The vocals are by Dan Owen who also sang some album tracks. I like his clean voice, which is not very far from Noel McCalla (the vocalist on Smallcreep's Day by Mike Rutherford), or a not-as-high version of Colin Blunstone. In fact this is a surprisingly good B side song.

2 stars for 'Um & Aargh' and 3+ stars for 'Souvenir'.