| Track: | Rating: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Reaper | | | | | |
| 2. Which Way The Wind Blows | | | | | |
| 3. Henry: Portraits Of Tudor Times | | | | | |
| 4. Conversation Piece | | | | | |
| 5. Flamingo | | | | | |
| 6. Field Of Eternity | | | | | |
| 7. Sistine | | | | | |
| 8. Lights On The Hill | | | | | |
| 9. Last Goodbyes | | | | ||
| 10.Collections | | | | | |
Let it never be said that the world of Progressive Music lacks internal diversity. Consider the enterprise of live performance, for instance.
In the past few years, the progressive world has seen the release of two albums which represent the opposite poles of concert spectacle. On one hand, we have Pink Floyd's Pulse: a documentation of a multi- million tour complete with light shows, inflatables, numerous backing musicians, and rather impressive promotional skills. One can't help but wonder if the hype outreaches the music on occasion, and not just on account of the quality of recent PF material. Even the Pulse CD itself seems to be at least as famous for its flashing light fixture as for any of the music included therein.
On the other end of the scale, we have a minor release by Anthony Phillips entitled The Living Room Concert. As the title implies, this album was recorded live in Phillips's living room - no public audience was there to witness the event, and no extra-musical considerations mar the presentation of the material. In return for the price of this album, the listener receives ten spartan performances of Phillip's solo material -- interspersed among which are occasional announcements in a thoroughly likeable accent.
For those with an awareness of Phillips's past, an album of this sort cannot come as a major surprise. While Genesis promoting the Trespass release, Phillips's health took a turn for the worse in prompt order -- suffering from stage-fright and bronchial pneumonia, he left the band and swore off the music business entirely for several years. When he returned in 1977 with The Geese And The Ghost, he still refused to tour to promote his material. As of this writing, Phillips has not granted a public performance in approximately 28 years. Under the circumstances, The Living Room Concert should accordingly come as a welcome release to fans of his material.
The material on TLRC is fairly representative of Phillips's career -- lush, scenic instrumentals combined with poignant lyricism in the vocal numbers. The classical studies which he took following his departure from Genesis obviously made some difference in his compositional skills -- the material falls somewhere between "folk" and "art song" styles, with a strong emphasis (as Phillips has elsewhere made a point of noting) on consonance and balance. Too much of this type of music would be rather problematic, but there's nothing wrong with it if taken in the proper dosages.
That said, it's fairly easy to spot one problem with the track listing -- too much of the material seems to come from too few albums. Six of the ten tracks on this album are taken from either The Geese And The Ghost or Private Parts And Pieces ... and a further two are taken from Private Parts And Pieces IV. This problem of selectivity can be partly explained by the character of Phillips's career -- some of his material has been recorded on commission; other albums have involved commercial compromises; as he himself admits in the Bowler & Dray biography, not all of the music released under his name has been to his liking. Still, with about 20 albums to his name, it seems odd that he'd choose to dwell so strongly on only 3.
This complaint aside, the music itself tends to be of a high quality (for the most part). The selection begins with a version of "Reaper", from PP&P -- foregoing any sort of introduction, our Ant simply starts with the strumming which begins the track. If a few of the variations seem a bit rough-hewn at times, it's still a tribute to AP that he's willing to play around with these ideas at all. The strength of the form comes through in the gradual development of the track, and the reprise of the main theme halfway through is well done. As per some other Phillips track, this one may take a while to convince the listener -- eventually, though, the results become rewarding.
This leads us to "Which Way The Wind Blows" (the original version of which, in Ant's words, was sung by a "at the time promising backup vocalist named P. Collins" ... one can only wonder how AP felt at that moment in assessing their respective careers). Although Phil probably sang it better, Phillips nonetheless manages to put forth a credible version of the number -- the English countryside lyrics seem believeable in his hands, and the somewhat traditional folk stylings seem to coincide well with AP's idiom (though, admittedly, the chorus is the determining factor in convincing this particular listener). Some nice guitar work appears at the conclusion as well.
The highlight of this release is "Henry: Portrait Of Tudor Times" (from tGatG, where it also followed "Which Way The Wind Blows"). It's arguable that this loses something with only one guitar, but this doesn't amount to a serious problem -- some of the tricks aren't really possible, but the memorable refrains are still in full effect. This track, moreso than "Reaper", exhibits Phillip's skills in composition -- balance and proportion for the most part, mixed with occasional lead melodies that seem to emerge out of nowhere (the middle section of this track is particularly notable as such). Some might note as well that the music actually has some marginal basis in Tudor times -- those raised on a steady diet of Rick Wakeman's "historical" works might find this especially notable.
Following another introduction (involving a charmingly upper middle- class pronunciation of "portraits"), Phillips shifts the focus to the only previously unreleased track of the concert. The piece, to judge by AP's own words, lacked a title at the time of the performance -- one of his friends once commented that it was like listening to a beautiful conversation, though; ergo, it became "Conversation Piece" on the official release. And, indeed, this piece is rather akin to a beautiful conversation -- perhaps to a fault ... there isn't as much drama in this piece as in the ones preceding it, despite its merit from a more rigidly aesthetic assessment. There are some interesting bits, but it doesn't quite rate with the best of the album.
A minimalist introduction leads to "Flamingo" (from PP&P), which has a strong melody, good development of the various themes, and a nice movement from quiet ambience to activated strumming in less than thirty seconds. ;) Following this, we have the final track from PP&P to be featured on this release -- "Field Of Eternity". As per the title, the development within this piece seems to occur at a level of continuum -- the "peace" of the work never seems to be threatened. One might also note that the guitar strings seem abnormally tight on this piece, which obviously doesn't hurt the quality in the slightest.
This is followed by two works from PP&P4. "Sistine", the only vocal track on that particular album, tells the story of a young soldier trapped overseas on a military expedition (AP claims that he wrote the lyrics on a sudden flash of inspiration while visiting Rome). This song may seem somewhat prosaic on first listen, but its substance may eventually be revealed on subsequent hearings -- the innocence of the lyrics seems an authentic enough manner in which for AP to present the song. The echo effect on the strings is a nice touch too. This is followed by "Lights On The Hill" (from the "Arboretum Suite") -- similar to Phillips's other guitar features, this one is actually better in some aspects (particularly in terms of the textural diversity). [It may be worth noting that this piece previously appeared on its own on the Harvest Of The Heart compilation].
At this juncture, Phillips switches from the guitar to the piano, where he remains for the last two tracks on the album. The two tracks which follow are segued, beginning with a performance of "Last Goodbyes" (from PP&P8, where it appears as part of the "New England Suite"). Sadly, this is the least impressive feature of the album -- it sounds pleasant enough, but ultimately seems rather unchallenging. Thankfully, this soon leads into the familiar tones of "Collections", with its much more poignant melody, shaky-but-honest vocals, and stately performance. The lyrics aren't quite as profound as the author probably hoped, but fit their role nonetheless. Although not listed as such, this then leads into "Sleepfall: The Geese Fly West" (from the same album), with AP throwing in a little bit of improvisation as the album comes to its conclusion.
This may not be a necessary album for casual Phillips fans (assuming some such beast exists ...), but complements his studio works quite well. It may also work as a fair introduction to his material, although either The Geese Or The Ghost or PP&P/PP&P2 might ultimately be a better choice.
(review originally posted to alt.music.yes on 25 Jun 1998)