Archive Collection Volume I & II review
(News date: 6-12-21)
An early review of the forthcoming release of the re-mastered five CD
clamshell box set of Archive Collection Volume One and Two has now
been published on the Velvet Thunder site and can be read
here.
Thanks to Lorne Murphy for letting us know about the review.
Archive Collection Volume I & II (News date: 1-11-21, updated 6-12-21)
Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce
the release of a newly re-mastered five CD clamshell boxed set of
Archive Collection Volume One and Two.
In March 1998 Ant issued the first volume of
The Archive Collection, which featured previously unreleased
recordings including demos recorded with Mike Rutherford in
September 1969.Due to
the popularity of the first release, the double CD release Archive
Collection Volume Two followed in May 2004, which gathered together
further previously unheard tracks and variations made over the
years. Ant has now worked with his archivist Jon Dann to prepare
this new boxed set edition of this wonderful music, compiling a new
expanded version which features an additional 27 tracks of
previously unreleased and rare archive material, including a 1966
demo by the pre-Genesis band Anon and also an additional CD of 'The
Masquerade Tapes' featuring music inspired by the illustrated book
by Kit Williams.
This new boxed set edition of Archive
Collection Volumes One and Two features liner notes by Jon Dann and
is a fine collection of music by one of Britain's most imaginative
and respected musicians. It is sure to appeal to aficionados of
Anthony Phillips' highly respected work.
Archive Collection
Volume I & II is due for release on 28th January 2022 and is
available to pre-order now from
Cherry Redand
Amazon.
David Longdon(News date:
27-11-21)
It is with great sadness that we learnt of the untimely death on November
20th of David Longdon, the prodigiously talented front man and wordsmith of
Big Big Train.
Ant says: "It was my privilege to meet David at the Prog Awards in 2016 and
thereafter share occasional and insightful email correspondence with him.
What shone through was his innate sense of decency and humanity. Kind,
compassionate, funny yet modest, he also very nearly became the Genesis
singer after Phil's departure in 1996.
Big Big Train's increasingly brilliant music has deservedly brought them an
ever-growing audience over recent years and I was very flattered that they
chose to do a cover of 'Master of Time'- a masterful, mighty version that
rather left my original in the starting blocks!"
David, 56, leaves a wife and two daughters and our thoughts are with his
family at this very difficult time.
On Track...Camel (News date:
22-9-21)
Out now is On Track...Camel by
Hamish Kuzminski, a book in the series which takes a look at every
song on every album by a particular band or artist. Ant has
given an interview for the book where he talks about his
collaboration with Andy Latimer (including the intriguing prospect
of them co-writing the soundtrack for the 1984 film The
Terminator, which sadly never happened) as well as his appearance on the band's 1982 album
The Single Factor.
With a forward by Marillion guitarist Steve
Rothery, the book takes a chronological journey through each of
Camel's album releases and includes biographical information about
every member of the band as well as live albums and the various DVDs
and Blu-Rays the band have released over the years.
On Track...Camel is out now and is
available from
Amazon.
1984 at 40 (News date:
2-7-21)
Ant's sixth solo album 1984 was
released 40 years ago and to mark this anniversary we have a new
feature article about the writing and recording of the album, Ant's
work on the TV series Rule Britannia, the reception to 1984 from
both the press and the fans and the more recent re-issues of the
album, including the re-mixing of it in 5.1 Surround Sound.
1984 was a radical departure from the more pastoral feel of much of
Ant's solo work, which saw him experiment with synthesisers to a
much greater extent than he had done so previously, resulting in a
keyboard dominated album. At the time of release the album
divided opinions among fans with some feeling that Ant had
abandoned his acoustic roots whilst others loved it.
Print reviews of the collection have also been published in Prog (Issue
115), Good Times (Germany) and Classic Rock (Italy).
Missing Links I - IV 5 CD Remastered box set
(News date: 11-9-20, updated 27-11-20)
Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce
the release of Missing Links I - IV, a newly re-mastered 5 CD clamshell box set comprising the four original
Missing Links
albums.
The Missing Links series
was begun as a way to fill in some of the gaps in Ant's commercially
released musical output and allow fans the opportunity to hear some
of his Library and Television music. The series began in 1989
with the release of the first volume Finger Painting
(initially made available as a limited edition cassette release)
which featured selections from various projects that Ant had written
and recorded over the previous ten years. A second volume - The
Sky Road - followed in 1994, featuring a further selection of
Library and Television pieces alongside previously unreleased album
pieces and archive tracks.
The third volume - Time &
Tide - was released in 1997 and brought together for the first
time on a commercial release the best of Ant's collaborative work
with Joji Hirota, much of which has been featured on award-winning
programmes in the long-running Survival series. 2009
saw the release of the fourth volume - Pathways and Promenades
- which brought together many of the individual tracks by Ant that
had previously only been released on various artist compilations
alongside some unreleased tracks from his library output.
Anthony has worked with his archivist Jon
Dann to prepare this new boxed set edition of this wonderful music,
compiling a new additional 27 track CD 'Extra Missing Links' of
previously unreleased and rare archive material exclusive to this
set.
Missing Links I - IV is out now and available to order from
Cherry Red and
Amazon.
Lettie: Let Let Go digital single released
(News date: 4-12-20)
In 2016 two songs (Halcyon Days (Days To
Remember) and Sunshine On Your Shoulder) which were
co-written and recorded by Ant in collaboration with
singer-songwriter
Lettie were released as digital singles. Originally
written and recorded for a library music project and used on various
television programmes around the world, the songs were commercially
released for the first time in a newly-imagined form by Ant and
co-producer James Collins.
Two further co-written and recorded songs by
Ant and Lettie (Let Let Go and Over And Over Again)
have now been released as a new digital single release and are
available via the usual outlets such as Spotify and iTunes.
The single is now also available from
Amazon.
The Living Room Concert - Remastered and Expanded Digipak
Edition (News date: 27-4-20, updated 24-7-20)
Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce
the release of a new re-mastered and expanded edition of The
Living Room Concert.
Originally released in May 1995, the album
featured highlights of a live solo performance by Anthony which was
recorded on March 21st 1993 as part of the Living Room Concert
Series for the US Radio programme Echoes, a daily programme of
contemporary instrumental music. The show was broadcast on 120
public radio stations in America on 25th June 1993.
For the performance Anthony selected a
number of acoustic guitar and piano pieces,
drawing mainly on tracks originally released on the albums The
Geese and The Ghost,Private Parts and Pieces and
A Catch at The Tables, along with two pieces from New
England, the eighth volume in the Private Parts & Pieces series
and a solo 12-string version of Conversation Piece, the first
movement of a Guitar Quintet that he had composed in 1976, which had
subsequently been scored with parts for strings and wind
instruments.
Unavailable on CD for many years, The
Living Room Concert has been re-mastered and expanded to
include three previously unreleased tracks recorded for the original
broadcast: Jaunty Roads, Let Us Now Make Love and Lucy: An Illusion.
This Esoteric Recordings edition restores
the original artwork and includes new liner notes by Anthony
Phillips archivist Jon Dann.
The Living Room Concert is out now and is available to order from
Cherry Red and
Amazon.
