jeff@dciem.UUCP (Jeff Richardson) (08/04/83)
This probably belongs in net.records, but the discussion was started here
and people who read net.records probably read net.music anyway.
Anthony Phillips played guitar and did a little vocals on the first two
Genesis albums. He also plays keyboards, although I don't think he did
any for Genesis. Although his solo albums are pretty different from the
early Genesis stuff, his influence is noticeable on the Genesis albums,
especially the first one ("From Genesis To Revelation"). Since leaving
Genesis, he has done six solo albums. It is possible but unlikely that
there are others I don't know about. Here's the discography:
1. The Geese And The Ghost (1977)
2. Wise After The Event (1978)
3. Private Parts And Pieces (released 1978 but recorded 1970-76)
4. Sides (1979)
5. Private Parts And Pieces II--Back To The Pavilion (released 1980
but recorded earlier)
6. 1984 (1981)
His early stuff (albums 1, 3 & 5) is very relaxing, very mellow (some
would say "boring") and is almost all instrumental. He usually uses
only one instrument on each piece, either guitar or piano. The Geese
and The Ghost is probably the most interesting of the three. It contains
a few vocal songs, two of which have Phil Collins singing in a different
way from his usual. It also has help from Mike Rutherford. The first
Private Parts album is mostly long instrumentals, and the second is
mostly short ones. The long instrumental from Private Parts II is the
best piece of his early works. Wise After The Event was a big change.
All songs are vocal, and more instruments are used. The songs sound
more like ordinary songs, but he still maintains the mellow, relaxed
atmosphere. Sides is a little more interesting. The first side is
mostly ordinary pop songs, and is not very good, but the second side
is a classic. Overall, the album is his most diverse, combining pop
with longer, more interesting songs and a couple of excellent instrumentals,
one piano dominated and the other mostly electric guitar and drums.
1984 is completely different from all his other albums. It is mostly
keyboards, entirely instrumental (except for a little vocoder stuff),
and pretty upbeat throughout most of it. The album is one long piece,
and sounds more like something Mike Oldfield might have done if he
wasn't allowed to use guitars. That's really the only comparison I can
make, because it's so different from anything else I've heard. It is
by far my favourite Phillips album and was one of my favourite albums
of 1981.
Unfortunately, the only thing I think he's done since then is
Camel's "The Single Factor" album of last year, on which he plays
guitar, keyboards and co-writes a little. His influence is noticeable,
and his guitar duet with Andy Latimer on the song "Sasquatch" (Latimer
plays electric and Phillips acoustic, I believe) is excellent.
Phillips also played keyboards on Mike Rutherford's first solo album.
Here's a list of other solo albums by Genesis alumni (not including
Bill Bruford, who did not play on any Genesis studio album anyway):
Hackett: Voyage Of The Acolyte (75), Please Don't Touch (78), Spectral
Mornings (79), Defector (80), Cured (81) and another one just
released, the name of which escapes me. The first three are worthwhile,
and one song on Defector is excellent, but starting with Defector,
he quickly fell into mindless pop, and Cured was so boring I haven't
bothered with the new one.
Rutherford: Smallcreep's Day (80), Acting Very Strange (82). The first
one has some pretty good stuff, including a 24-minute piece on one
side, but none of it is very innovative. The second album is pure
pop, and is not very interesting, although most of it is pretty
different from Genesis.
Banks: A Curious Feeling (79), The Fugitive (83). The first is pretty
boring and pretty Genesis-like, but kind of a darker feeling. The
vocals are terrible, but a couple of the instrumentals are pretty
good. The new album is much more interesting, and contains some
pretty good stuff, as well as some not-so-good stuff.
Collins: Face Value (81), Hello I Must Be Going (82). His stuff is so
popular I don't think I have to say much about it. I thought that the
less pop-like stuff on Face Value was very innovative and certainly
worthwhile, and his use of the EWF horns is very effective.
Gabriel: his albums have all been described elsewhere in this news
group. Security is by far my favourite, and the rest are all excellent,
except his second album, most of which I find boring and too
commercial.
This does not include all the work they have done with other, such as
Gabriel with Robert Fripp and Collins with Brand X, Frida, Robert Plant,
Mike Oldfield, etc.
Jeff Richardson
DCIEM, Toronto
PS: Hackett did play on the Seconds Out live album. He and Bruford
also play on the fourth side of the British version of 3 Sides Live,
which has four live sides instead of 3 live and one studio. The 4th
side has excellent versions of One For The Vine, The Fountain Of
Salmacis and an It/Watcher Of The Skies combination.