PRIVATE PARTS & PIECES II - BACK TO THE PAVILLION

Another hodgepodge of old and new material, featuring a return (of sorts) to "The Geese & The Ghost". PHILLIPS acknowledges the similarity between the opening "Scottish Suite" and "Geese"'s "Henry", and fans of his first work will enjoy the encore. Recorded in the summer of 1976, the suite actually pre-dates the release of "Geese", with "Salmon Leap", "Electric Reaper" and "Amorphous, Cadaverous and Nebulous" again picking up where "Trespass" left off (MIKE RUTHERFORD and ANDY MCCULLOCH support PHILLIPS' arsenal of guitars and keyboards). The rest of the record is a continuation of the music found on the first "Private Parts & Pieces"; instrumentals featuring PHILLIPS on keyboards or guitar, sometimes incorporating a flange effect, other times playing tracks backwards, with a homespun sense of studio experimentation. Ever the sentimentalist, PHILLIPS stoops to conquer our hearts in some instances (none more annoying than "I Saw You Today", in which PHILLIPS croaks out maudlin lyrics), but there are some pretty and wistful pieces to be salvaged, such as "Spring Meeting" and "Nocturne." Most surprising is an excursion into Eno's ambient world on "K.2." that recalls Discreet Music; this song and "Heavens" suggest that PHILLIPS might have a very good album of fuzzy keyboard music up his sleeve. Given the fact that many of these songs date from 1976 and 1977, it's no wonder Back to the "Pavilion" sounds like a cross between "Geese" and "Private Parts". Due to PHILLIPS' uneven and occasionally unrewarding catalog, some critics have pegged "Pavilion" as a worthy successor to "Geese", which it's not. That said, it does rank among the more substantive of the "Private Parts & Pieces" archival digs, and will prove more amenable to fans of "Geese" and the first PP&P than his "pop" albums, which have sent more than one listener into synthetic shock.