Sides

Sides Artist: Anthony Phillips
Label: Blueprint UK
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Format: Limited Edition
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 604388100521
EAN: 0604388100521
ASIN: B0000072W1


Release Date: 1994-10-25

Sides


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General General
Categories | Rock | Styles | Music
Progressive Rock Progressive Rock
Categories | Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music
Pop Rock Pop Rock
Categories | Pop | Styles | Music
Progressive Progressive
Categories | Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music
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Categories | Imports | Stores | Music

Tracks:

  1. Un & Aargh
  2. I Want Your Love
  3. Lucy Will
  4. Side Door
  5. Holy Deadlock
  6. Souvenir
  7. Sisters Of Remindum
  8. Bleak House
  9. Magdalen
  10. Nightmare
  11. Magdalen (Instrumental)

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Album Description

Full color picture disc reissue of the early Gen- esis member's 1978 album that was produced by Rupert Hine & adds two bonus tracks (#'s 6 & 11). 11 tracks.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Into his own.......2004-07-17

I got the original U.S. Passport/Jem LP out of the blue at a yard sale. This is the only the second solo LP of Ant's I've heard so far. Longtime Genesis crew members/hit & run staff Dave Owun and Dale Newman do some vocals. King Crimson alum Michael Giles plays drums. More rock-focused than the first two, which were mostly instrumental and sounded like something from the Middle Ages. I can't fathom what made Ant want to use a foosball table as the centrepiece.

3 out of 5 stars Some great material, some awful material.......2003-04-10

This is a 1979 album by former Genesis guitarist Anthony Phillips. I got this album shortly after it came out, and it took me 24 years to get why it's called "Sides". Side 1 of the LP was Phillips' attempt to write more accessible, radio-friendly music. The opening cut "Um and Aargh" IS the most accessible cut I've heard in the 11 Phillips albums I've owned, with a lyric about trying to break into pop stardom. (Hint: For pop stardom, avoid repeating a lyric like "Hospital Carolina, so who needs Rudolf Steiner?") The other four tracks are poor, comparable to the weakest material that has shown up on Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks' solo albums. The only cut I find listenable is "Holy Deadlock", about a bad marriage. The worst is the awful funk attempt on "Side Door". Side 2 returns to Phillips' customary progressive rock. The first two cuts, "Sisters of Remindum" and "Bleak House", are pretty forgettable, but "Magdalen" and "Nightmare" are as good as anything Phillips has ever recorded. "Magdalen" is similar to the style of Phillips' previous album, "Wise After the Event", with pastoral acoustic verses and a rock chorus. "Nightmare" is an instrumental based on a 7/8 riff that rocks harder than anything else Phillips has done; it's reminiscent of some of Steve Hackett's solo work. So there's three great songs and a lot of drek--half an album that's 4 stars, and half that's 1-1/2 stars. On average, we're at the lower end of the "pretty good" range. The CD includes a bonus track that wasn't on the LP (I'm just as happy not to hear a song that wasn't good enough to make this album) and an instrumental version of "Magdalen".

Phillips is assisted by bassist John G. Perry and ex-King Crimson drummer Michael Giles, who both played on "Wise After the Event." Phillips shares lead vocals with Dale Newman and Dan Owen, but why bother? Neither of them sound much different than Phillips.

(1=poor 2=mediocre 3=pretty good 4=very good 5=phenomenal)

4 out of 5 stars Not "Wise After the Event"....but pretty close.......2000-09-20

Anthony has many talents, and I suppose it would be a little unfair to compare to his other releases, but if you don't it's harder to get a sense of the relative quality of the material.

"Sides" has some truly fascinating material on it, although the consistency of quality does not always rival "Wise" or "Geese." Still, if you yearn for more vocal-based AP tunes, this is the next best thing after "Wise." While "Invisible Men" stretched towards mainstream pop, and "Wise" went for the genesis-prog crowd, "Sides" takes the middle road and succeeds very well with that balance.

AP uses other (and much more skilled) vocalists (sorry, Phil Collins does not appear here) quite effectively on pieces such as "Bleak House," a piano-based ballad with fine, balanced accompaniments, and "I Want Your Love" a mellow pop tune, both that are among his finest works. The melodies are superb and memorable, while the lyrics take on more mainstream themes such as love and yearning and away from the fantasy themes of old.

Another in this category is "Lucy Will" which AP sings in a humorous manner that fits the lyric well. His ballads throughout the CD are very strong.

Those longing to hear AP's electric guitar and genesis-type stylings, will be pleasantly surprised on "Magdalen" and the more-electric "Nightmare." (The Magdalen bonus track is a bit redundant).

The bonus track "Souvenier" is a very pleasant surprise.

I found the weakest moments were on "Um and Argh," on which AP's vocals were a bit too grating and the tune a bit out of context with the other great tunes on the CD, and on "Side Door" and "Holy Deadlock" where he tends to stray too far into pop-land. Even so he does make them fit more comfortably than on "Invisible Men," and even the weak tracks are not unlistenable.

All in all, a very satisfying CD.

(P.S. - IMHO, first purchase Geese, then Wise, then PPP I and II, then Tarka, then this one)

5 out of 5 stars

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