(i) Fanfare
(ii) Lutes' Chorus
(iii) Misty Battlements
(iv) Henry Goes To War
(v) Death Of A Knight
(vi) Triumphant Return
| Track: | Rating: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Wind - Tales | | | | ||
| 2. Which Way The Wind Blows | | | | | |
| 3. Henry - Portraits From Tudor Times (i) Fanfare (ii) Lutes' Chorus (iii) Misty Battlements (iv) Henry Goes To War (v) Death Of A Knight (vi) Triumphant Return | | | | | |
| 4. God If I Saw Her Now | | | | | |
| 5. Chinese Mushroom Cloud | | | | | |
| 6. The Geese And The Ghost | | | | | |
| 7. Collections | | | | | |
| 8. Sleepfall: The Geese Fly West | | | | | |
All tracks written by Anthony Phillips except "Henry - Portraits From Tudor Times", "Chinese Mushroom Cloud" and "The Geese And The Ghost", written by Anthony Phillips & Michael Rutherford.
The early 1970s were not the best of times for Anthony Phillips.
Phillips, as most progressive fans will already know, was the original guitarist for Genesis. He was a featured performer on From Genesis To Revelation (1969) and the far superior Trespass (1970), and by some accounts was a dominant figure within the band during their earliest days at Charterhouse. While never regarded as one of more notable guitarists of the early progressive scene, he made a number of strong contributions to the group's sound and songwriting during this period ("Visions Of Angels", "Dusk", etc.). Had he continued with Genesis, he would almost certainly have shared in their subsequent fame within the English art music scene. Instead, he disappeared from professional music in 1970, not to re-emerge on a full-time basis until 1977.
So ... what happened?
The most likely reason for his departure, as noted by more than one source, was an increased level of stage fright throughout the Genesis concerts of 1970. Phillips has avoided public performances ever since this time, which suggests that he probably wasn't exaggerating the scope of his problem (even the live The Living Room Concert was recorded in the pristine isolation of his home; see the Tentative Review No. 112 for a more detailed description of this album). It would not have been reasonable for Phillips to simply ignore this affliction (which was compounded by pneumonia in any event), nor for Genesis to have given up on live performances. His departure, as such, seems both understandable and inevitable. But there may have been other reasons ...
Years after leaving the band, Phillips complained that they generally favoured up-tempo numbers over his quieter, more pastoral compositions (in accordance with audience tastes). Given that "Let Us Now Make Love" and "Pacidy" [now legally available on the Genesis box set] were passed over for Trespass, there may be some truth to this claim; certainly, he would not have been the last guitarist to become disillusioned with the band's song selecting habits. Further, the Spencer Bright biography of Peter Gabriel has suggested that the lyrics to "Visions Of Angels" were actually an expression of Ant's unrequited attraction for the woman later to be known as Jill Gabriel. One can only speculate on internal psychology of the group during this time, but this factor may well have compounded some of Ant's other problems.
One way or another, however, the end of the Trespass tour saw Genesis looking for a new guitarist, an Phillips seeking out a new career [though I suspect, if the reports of his father having been a successful merchant banker are correct, that his financial situation was never perilous; anyway ...].
The early 1970s were not the best of times for solo projects by progressive artists (Peter Hammill and Rick Wakeman aside), let alone artists without strong reputations in the field. Given this, it is perhaps understandable that Anthony gave up on the professional music scene, choosing instead to study classical composition for a few years. This meant, however, that he disappeared at precisely the time when he stood a reasonable chance of achieving some measure of popular success. In 1974, he co-wrote a track with Mike Rutherford entitled "Take This Heart", for a compilation album -- otherwise, he was completely silent during the golden years of the progressive scene.
Then, in 1977, he suddenly returned -- and I'm not certain that he's ever explained why.
Released in the middle of punk's ascension in the British scene, The Geese And The Ghost was anything but an album of it's time. The cover art (by Peter Cross, who would continue to design most of AP's covers in later years) depicts a lush, pastoral scene, taken directly from the standard legends of courts and castles, knights and fairies, etc. Not entirely without humour (the goose in Imperial armour on the back cover has some charm), this image is nevertheless so defiantly romantic that questions of immediate pop-culture relevance are almost absurd. And the music is much the same.
On the back cover of a subsequent album Back To The Pavilion, to be precise), Phillips announced his support for those seeking to uphold classical ideals against the dissonance of modernity. Seen from this vantage point, the music on The Geese And The Ghost makes some degree of sense -- and while I would not wish to dismiss (or even degrade) the concept of dissonance as a viable outlet for musical expression, neither would I argue that classical form is without value. The strongest aspect of The Geese And The Ghost, in fact, may well be its compositional grounding (though "The Geese And The Ghost", the song, may be something of an exception; see below). Had it been released in 1973, the album might have received some favourable attention from the art-scene; in 1977, however, it was probably too late for any dreams of widespread success.
It is worth noting, however, that the presence of Mike Rutherford & Phil Collins (not to mention John Hackett) gave the album a viable position in relation to contemporary Genesis goings-on. The guitar duets between Phillips and Rutherford signal back to their earlier days, to some extent (especially on the beginning of "The Geese And The Ghost"), and its probably safe to say that fans of A Trick Of The Tail wouldn't have been entirely confused by much of the album. While The Geese And The Ghost was not a belated follow-up to the directions suggested on Trespass, neither was it entirely divorced from Genesis's history ... which was not, however, enough to propel the album to any sort of market success.
As to the songs ...
For some curious reason, both sides of the album begin with a brief instrumental lead-in. Side One has "Wind - Tales", a romantic guitar performance with backwards tape-loop effects. Similar in form to Steve Hackett's "The Lovers" [hmm ...], the track ends after only one minute. Side Two, meanwhile, begins with the even briefer "Chinese Mushroom Cloud", an acoustic/electric guitar duet between Phillips and Rutherford (I can only assume that the stylistic clash corresponds to the title). Both tracks fit their context on the album, though "Wind - Tales" hardly stands terribly well on its own.
The first song-proper on the album, then, is "Which Way The Wind Blows", featuring fairly impressive multi-tracked vocals from Phil Collins. PC uses the higher range of his voice here, similar in some respects to "Ripples" -- it would be difficult to imagine him performing this track today, even if he had the inclination. The overlaying guitar work throughout the song works rather well, and the instrumental conclusion is carried off without any real problems (seemingly with a direct nod to "Ripples", this time).
It would be difficult to imagine a title less suited to the popular culture of 1977 England than "Henry - Portraits From Tudor Times"; nevertheless, this semi-historical drama counts as the best track on the album. The wind instruments provide the lead motif of "Fanfare", with acoustic guitar accompaniment, whereas "Lute's Chorus" is unsurprisingly dominated by a string presence (with a flute overlay from J. Hackett). The essential "plot" of the work effectively begins with "Misty Battlements", wherein a knight looks out from a tower and worries about his fate in battle -- the primary musical "action" of the work then appears in "Henry Goes To War" (with a number of carefully arranged guitar "stabs"), with the story line then culminating in the more reserved guitar expression of "Death Of A Knight". "Triumphant Return" (featuring an extremely amplified tympani in the opening section) brings the track full circle, and is also notable for featuring vocal harmonies toward the end (vaguely akin to "Visions Of Angels", actually). A Marxist interpretation of the track might give some credit to Phillips for at least focusing on a member of Henry's army (albeit a noble); in general, though, the plot of this little drama is far less important than the music (which, unlike some comparable Rick Wakeman works, actually has a bit of relevance to the musical history of the time frame under consideration). As a studied amalgam of English classical and rock-ish styles, this works quite well.
"God If I Saw Her Now" is primary a vocal duet between Phil Collins and Viv McCauliffe, though it is also notable for its instrumental mid- section. The strength of the composition is key to its success, though the ending might be considered as somewhat anticlimatic.
"The Geese And The Ghost" has been completely written off by Bruce Eder, who in an All-Music Guide review refers to the track as "hopeless", a hodgepodge of undeveloped motifs that wouldn't merit development in any case. Obviously, I don't quite agree with this assessment -- it's true that the track doesn't necessarily cohere terribly well, but the sections which do appear are worth listening to. The track as a whole has something of a Mike Oldfield ethos about it, with numerous progressive themes emerging at odd occasions; some parts of the track sound premised on the guitar duet sections of "Stagnation", which may very well have been its inspiration.
"Collections" is the weakest of the vocal tracks on the album, which may perhaps have something to do with the fact that Anthony himself sings it -- never a strong lead vocalist, AP wasn't exactly helped by a seven- year break from criticism by his peers. The main problem with this track, however, is its superfluous string section. One might have thought that AP would have had a natural disinclination to such matters in the aftermath of the From Genesis To Revelation experience, but the track seems overdone in this regard all the same. The version on The Living Room Concert is better, all things considered. It then falls to "Sleepfall: The Geese Fly West" to conclude the album, with a simple-but-effective keyboard melody eventually developing into a (more successful) piece of instrumental diversity.
This album is something of an acquired taste, and might not make much impact on Genesis fans on the first listen. Nevertheless, this is recommended for those interested in explored Phillip's solo history [it's certainly better than Wise After The Event and Sides, the two more poppish albums which followed].
(review originally posted to alt.music.yes on 12 Feb 1999)