Given his staying away from the touring life and his later slip into library music, it is easy to forget that
Anthony Phillips was once an excellent songwriter.
Radio Clyde captures him in a "live in the studio" radio session following the release of his second solo album,
Wise After the Event, which features the man, his stunning 12-string guitar playing, and his frail voice (an acquired taste, granted). The set list offers a selection of songs from
Wise and its predecessor,
The Geese & The Ghost, plus a couple of instrumentals from the then-upcoming
Private Parts and Pieces, and a few pieces that would find their official release further down the road. The most surprising inclusion is
"Silver Song," co-written with
Mike Rutherford in honor of
Genesis' first regular drummer
John Silver. A bootleg recording of this song has been circulating among collectors. As an acoustic number, it has all the pastoral feel of the pre-
Trespass Genesis (think
"The Shepherd"). If
"Now What (Are They Doing To My Little Friends?)" suffers from the scaled-down arrangement,
"Moonshooter" and
"Which Way the Wind Blows" (sung by
Phil Collins on
The Geese & The Ghost) showcase the strength of
Phillips' songwriting. Of the instrumental pieces,
"Reaper" and
"Flamingo" (both from
Private Parts) stand out as lyrical and virtuosic compositions. Sound quality is fine considering that the session has been salvaged from a cassette copy of the lost master tapes. Candy for the fan. ~ Francois Couture
