Just a quick note about Ant's contribution to Small Creeps Day. I regard Mike's first solo as epic because of the stellar writing and superior musicianship.
Thanks for the wonderful interview , I was having a poor mental health day, and it actually made me smile. I love Anthony's music, and slow dance is a beautiful and relaxing listen. Again cheers.
This setting is brilliant. Id wish for a 5 hour episode with Anthony Phillips going through ALL his albums (So many good ones, no one speaks of, 1984, Tarka, even his pop album Invisible Men !!!) Subscribed !!
He's got a number of interviews, a long one with his Cherry Red label, and one on progcast and a few I cant remember. I remember a podcast that he did with some guy in Nova Scotia, but I cant remember what it was. I know he probably thinks his fanbase is by no means huge, but his example of realizing Debussy predated the Beatles is instructive. NOW people learn 'oh, here's what POP is', but in the future after the 'corporatization' of music, I suspect if there are people studying music, they aren't going to be going "look at the great hook of 'invisible touch', why, it must be about a woman screwing a guy over". In fact thats already happening on the internet. Thats why I'm glad he at least finally made some money, but the karma in the music business is that eventually people discover Rodriguez and Nick Drake even if it doesn't do much for them. I'm glad Tony Banks eventually came around to do classical albums because otherwise, sad to say, music history class is going to be "ok class, what year did Genesis sell out?" They got money and fame in exchange, but as the saying goes, what profit a man if he gains the world but loses his musical soul, or something like that:) He also gets some talk in on the Genesis album by album interviews on Trespass, but those are mostly about the politics around the band. He is in a different boat than the other members in that he STUDIED music. When Peter Gabriel keeps saying "we were more confident" or "we wanted a darker feel" then you realize that as great as his music is, your not going to get much detail out of him. Even Steve Howe admits he doesnt know how to explain what he does, and doesn't WANT to because it would likely make him forget how to DO it. So yeah, it would be great to see exactly what you are talking about. Long ago when I knew squat about him I was writing that "hey, he should have tried with Windham Hill, they were big in the eighties", and then later he talks all about Windham Hill. Too bad becaues in the eighties I was buying tons of Windham Hill stuff because they were an indy label with guys like William Ackerman and Michael Hedges who were by no means 'big'. Live from the Double Planet is a guitar lovers dream album. But for me the problem was that my brother had tons of prog albums but not his. Thats how a became a huge Strawbs fan. To be brutally honest, I did the new agey thing when I was in my twenties so now I like his poppy stuff best, which is ironic. Its always 'really good', but not quite 'great', which is also true of lots of Genesis stuff, so I know what he means by not having the commercial touch, and that thats nothing to be ashamed of. AND that he's got at least a few tracks that are every bit as good as Mike and The Mechanics so it really is partly 'luck'. Had a DJ loved one of his or Tony Banks tracks enough to do like Bohemian Rhapsody and play it over and over til the public finally said "fine, we'll pay attention", then maybe they would have been hits. Rhapsody is good, but no better, and weirder, than lots of prog stuff, it essentially IS prog. Sorry thats so rambling, I"m putting off going to work.
"Dusk" is poetry that is every bit worthy of Leonard Cohen, and the music matches. When you get to "Wait, A new dawn seems to be rising, Never to recall this passerby, born to die", whew. Cohen was over thirty before he wrote Suzanne, these guys were 20. There are only two songs I know of about going through chemotherapy, this one and "shaved head" by the Rheostatics. It also goes through the seven emotions leading to the acceptance of death, in the latter case ending with "the minute they shaved my head...I asked, begged, to let me, a minute more, to breathe. My days are my lungs, but my love for you is endless". Ironically the lead singer for Rheostatics, Martin Tielli, eventually succumbed to the stage fright that early on stopped Mr. Phillips career. Also under similar circumstances as Rheostatics lengthy career still had them labour in pretty much obscurity. And CANADIAN obscurity is REAL obscurity. Although ok, when the band outnumbers the patrons.... I hate when talk of genesis inevitably gets around to Phil collins, but "Sun in the Night" by Brand X with lyrics sung in sanskrit by Phil is extremely relaxing for about half of it. If you go look up the lyrics its even moreso. I'm not much of a fan of Phils solo stuff, but whenever somebody is ragging on him I say "but remember that song he sang in sangskrit?" He did what? "Stopover at Djibouti" by Anouer Brahim is in the same category, totally relaxing til the horns kick in, but even then its very relaxing. Go watch it on youtube and the grins on the guys faces as they are playing are as relaxing as the song. For escapism, I dare anybody to listen to the soundtrack to Blade Runner and try to even GUESS what the movie may be about. I'm a big fan of arab music, and the soundtrack to "Passion of the Christ" is way beyond the movie. "The Mission" has a soundtrack that is unbelievalbe as well. I used to be a big fan of Enigma til I found out that their first big hit they simply ripped off a guys vocal from an international folk singers concert and never paid him til they got sued. "We're all as we Lie" is so far my most relaxing Phillips tune, meaning with vocals, again up to the horns. The singing is excellent as well but I made up my own lyrics as I haven't the foggiest idea in the world what he's singing about. Oddly enough I find Bowie's Warzawa extremely relaxing, and the whole side two of Low. People can look up Goetia and its supposed to be really creepy 'horror' music, but tons of people are posting how relaxing it is, I"m not sure if thats good or bad. Picnic at Hanging Rock is just a wigged out movie and almost ANY music would get taken to another level, but many on youtube have linked videos of it with tracks from Comus' First Utterance, which is just about the weirdest music I've heard short of beefheart. And for asian music, Kung Fu Hustle is a real treasure.
It's funny he mentions as a schoolboy being unable to afford albums. I was in the same boat when I first purchased 'Trespass' in Auckland at the age of 16. It was a gorgeous mint New Zealand pressing in gleaming laminated sleeve, pressed from the same stampers as the UK pink scroll original (which somehow I still have!). I distinctly remember the shop owner getting annoyed because I had no cash and was instead trading things in for it 😁
I think there is SOME value to the argument that haveing so much music so easily accessible and able to 'click through' that something is lost. Although I hated vinyl because I always scratched them and it would repeat one section over and over. I can remember the 'ka chunk' of flipping through the four sides of my brothers eight track machine.
@@badrogue66 His parents were well off but he was at boarding school. Which means his disposable income would be what his parents would decide to give him. And since he was at boarding school and his clothes, food, and board, were all provided, then I doubt that amounted to much. Of course there are different ages, he's talking about the early sixties, his first record was the FIRST beatles album. So that explains it better than "he's lying". Obviously at SOME point he was able to buy records, his memory is going back to the age when parents really thought kids didn't need money. Clearly if he was that bad off in the EIGHTIES that he had boarders and a new mortgage then he wasn't exactly born with a lifelong trust fund. But that would maybe be in his biography. He's got wood panelling here, thats hardly a gilded hall. The thing about 'family money' is it very much depends on the family. You even see some artists now saying they aren't leaving a cent to their kids. Some don't like how 'easy money' may affect their kids, some want to use money to control their kids. It goes all over the place depending on the person who has control. I've known people with 'family money', usually they are bumming off everybody else like in 'the importance of being earnest'.
Was sooo hoping to get some insights into the work with Enrique Berro Garcia, i.e., PP&P III. Alas, no. Am I the only person on the planet that thinks that's his best work?
Hi Robin. Sorry to disappoint on that front. Perhaps next time. He has so much material to cover and the main focus was the new release this time round.
Just a quick note about Ant's contribution to Small Creeps Day. I regard Mike's first solo as epic because of the stellar writing and superior musicianship.
Hi James. A much underrated album. I still play it. Just a shame about Acting Very Strange....
Thanks for the wonderful interview , I was having a poor mental health day, and it actually made me smile. I love Anthony's music, and slow dance is a beautiful and relaxing listen. Again cheers.
Hi. So glad this was helpful.. Hope you are in good spirits today, and wishing you the very best. Thanks also for the kind feedback.
This setting is brilliant. Id wish for a 5 hour episode with Anthony Phillips going through ALL his albums (So many good ones, no one speaks of, 1984, Tarka, even his pop album Invisible Men !!!) Subscribed !!
He's got a number of interviews, a long one with his Cherry Red label, and one on progcast and a few I cant remember. I remember a podcast that he did with some guy in Nova Scotia, but I cant remember what it was.
I know he probably thinks his fanbase is by no means huge, but his example of realizing Debussy predated the Beatles is instructive. NOW people learn 'oh, here's what POP is', but in the future after the 'corporatization' of music, I suspect if there are people studying music, they aren't going to be going "look at the great hook of 'invisible touch', why, it must be about a woman screwing a guy over". In fact thats already happening on the internet. Thats why I'm glad he at least finally made some money, but the karma in the music business is that eventually people discover Rodriguez and Nick Drake even if it doesn't do much for them.
I'm glad Tony Banks eventually came around to do classical albums because otherwise, sad to say, music history class is going to be "ok class, what year did Genesis sell out?" They got money and fame in exchange, but as the saying goes, what profit a man if he gains the world but loses his musical soul, or something like that:)
He also gets some talk in on the Genesis album by album interviews on Trespass, but those are mostly about the politics around the band. He is in a different boat than the other members in that he STUDIED music. When Peter Gabriel keeps saying "we were more confident" or "we wanted a darker feel" then you realize that as great as his music is, your not going to get much detail out of him. Even Steve Howe admits he doesnt know how to explain what he does, and doesn't WANT to because it would likely make him forget how to DO it.
So yeah, it would be great to see exactly what you are talking about. Long ago when I knew squat about him I was writing that "hey, he should have tried with Windham Hill, they were big in the eighties", and then later he talks all about Windham Hill. Too bad becaues in the eighties I was buying tons of Windham Hill stuff because they were an indy label with guys like William Ackerman and Michael Hedges who were by no means 'big'. Live from the Double Planet is a guitar lovers dream album. But for me the problem was that my brother had tons of prog albums but not his. Thats how a became a huge Strawbs fan.
To be brutally honest, I did the new agey thing when I was in my twenties so now I like his poppy stuff best, which is ironic. Its always 'really good', but not quite 'great', which is also true of lots of Genesis stuff, so I know what he means by not having the commercial touch, and that thats nothing to be ashamed of. AND that he's got at least a few tracks that are every bit as good as Mike and The Mechanics so it really is partly 'luck'. Had a DJ loved one of his or Tony Banks tracks enough to do like Bohemian Rhapsody and play it over and over til the public finally said "fine, we'll pay attention", then maybe they would have been hits. Rhapsody is good, but no better, and weirder, than lots of prog stuff, it essentially IS prog.
Sorry thats so rambling, I"m putting off going to work.
"Dusk" is poetry that is every bit worthy of Leonard Cohen, and the music matches. When you get to "Wait, A new dawn seems to be rising, Never to recall this passerby, born to die", whew. Cohen was over thirty before he wrote Suzanne, these guys were 20.
There are only two songs I know of about going through chemotherapy, this one and "shaved head" by the Rheostatics. It also goes through the seven emotions leading to the acceptance of death, in the latter case ending with "the minute they shaved my head...I asked, begged, to let me, a minute more, to breathe. My days are my lungs, but my love for you is endless". Ironically the lead singer for Rheostatics, Martin Tielli, eventually succumbed to the stage fright that early on stopped Mr. Phillips career. Also under similar circumstances as Rheostatics lengthy career still had them labour in pretty much obscurity. And CANADIAN obscurity is REAL obscurity. Although ok, when the band outnumbers the patrons....
I hate when talk of genesis inevitably gets around to Phil collins, but "Sun in the Night" by Brand X with lyrics sung in sanskrit by Phil is extremely relaxing for about half of it. If you go look up the lyrics its even moreso. I'm not much of a fan of Phils solo stuff, but whenever somebody is ragging on him I say "but remember that song he sang in sangskrit?" He did what?
"Stopover at Djibouti" by Anouer Brahim is in the same category, totally relaxing til the horns kick in, but even then its very relaxing. Go watch it on youtube and the grins on the guys faces as they are playing are as relaxing as the song.
For escapism, I dare anybody to listen to the soundtrack to Blade Runner and try to even GUESS what the movie may be about. I'm a big fan of arab music, and the soundtrack to "Passion of the Christ" is way beyond the movie. "The Mission" has a soundtrack that is unbelievalbe as well. I used to be a big fan of Enigma til I found out that their first big hit they simply ripped off a guys vocal from an international folk singers concert and never paid him til they got sued.
"We're all as we Lie" is so far my most relaxing Phillips tune, meaning with vocals, again up to the horns. The singing is excellent as well but I made up my own lyrics as I haven't the foggiest idea in the world what he's singing about.
Oddly enough I find Bowie's Warzawa extremely relaxing, and the whole side two of Low. People can look up Goetia and its supposed to be really creepy 'horror' music, but tons of people are posting how relaxing it is, I"m not sure if thats good or bad. Picnic at Hanging Rock is just a wigged out movie and almost ANY music would get taken to another level, but many on youtube have linked videos of it with tracks from Comus' First Utterance, which is just about the weirdest music I've heard short of beefheart. And for asian music, Kung Fu Hustle is a real treasure.
Hi Mike. Thank you so much for your very helpful and detailed reply. It's great that people share these kind of suggestions.
Peter Cross’s art was AMAZING on AP’s albums! Like the music, it took me somewhere in a hazy history…
Indeed it was. One of the joys of vinyl (where available in that format) is to see the artwork in detail.
It's funny he mentions as a schoolboy being unable to afford albums. I was in the same boat when I first purchased 'Trespass' in Auckland at the age of 16. It was a gorgeous mint New Zealand pressing in gleaming laminated sleeve, pressed from the same stampers as the UK pink scroll original (which somehow I still have!). I distinctly remember the shop owner getting annoyed because I had no cash and was instead trading things in for it 😁
Hi Jeff. Yes I think a few of us were in that boat! Glad you hung on to the album and didn't give it away when CD's became all the rage.
I think there is SOME value to the argument that haveing so much music so easily accessible and able to 'click through' that something is lost. Although I hated vinyl because I always scratched them and it would repeat one section over and over. I can remember the 'ka chunk' of flipping through the four sides of my brothers eight track machine.
@@mikearchibald744 Couldn't agree more Mike, the average attention span has greatly diminished since the advent of broadband internet.
I love Ant and his music BUT Im not so sure Im buying the " not being able to afford it "considering he was quite well off growing up .
@@badrogue66 His parents were well off but he was at boarding school. Which means his disposable income would be what his parents would decide to give him. And since he was at boarding school and his clothes, food, and board, were all provided, then I doubt that amounted to much.
Of course there are different ages, he's talking about the early sixties, his first record was the FIRST beatles album. So that explains it better than "he's lying". Obviously at SOME point he was able to buy records, his memory is going back to the age when parents really thought kids didn't need money.
Clearly if he was that bad off in the EIGHTIES that he had boarders and a new mortgage then he wasn't exactly born with a lifelong trust fund. But that would maybe be in his biography. He's got wood panelling here, thats hardly a gilded hall.
The thing about 'family money' is it very much depends on the family. You even see some artists now saying they aren't leaving a cent to their kids. Some don't like how 'easy money' may affect their kids, some want to use money to control their kids. It goes all over the place depending on the person who has control. I've known people with 'family money', usually they are bumming off everybody else like in 'the importance of being earnest'.
Was sooo hoping to get some insights into the work with Enrique Berro Garcia, i.e., PP&P III. Alas, no. Am I the only person on the planet that thinks that's his best work?
Hi Robin. Sorry to disappoint on that front. Perhaps next time. He has so much material to cover and the main focus was the new release this time round.
@@thatsmyvinylanswer Sure, no worries. PP&P 3 would be ACE
I think Antiques is a very special album. He recorded some lovely stuff with EBG later on, but they captured an amazing 1981 weekend on Antiques!