Private Parts & Pieces V - VIII
(News date: 25-7-16, updated 23-9-16)
Esoteric Recordings are proud
to announce the release of a 5 CD Definitive Edition clamshell boxed
set of the second four seminal Private Parts & Pieces
albums.Private Parts & Pieces V - VIII
gathers together Twelve, Ivory Moon, Slow
Waves Soft Stars and New England along with
Private Parts & Extra Pieces II, an additional 19-track CD of
previously unreleased material.
The set includes a lavish booklet with an essay by Jonathan Dann and
fully restores the artwork of the original releases.
Private Parts & Pieces V - VIII isthe latest in Esoteric Recordings
award-winning
series of official Anthony Phillips reissues. The
complete track listing for the set can be seen
here.
The
set is
out now
and is available to order
from
Cherry Red
and
Amazon.
Esoteric Recordings reissue series wins Grand Design Award
(News date: 2-9-16, updated 18-9-16)
We're delighted to
announce that the Esoteric Recordings re-issue series of Ant's back catalogue
won the Storm Thorgerson Grand Design Award at this years
Progressive Music Awards. Ant attended the ceremony which was
held in London on 1st September to collect the Award in person.
A huge thank you to everyone who took the time to vote - your
support is very much appreciated.
Updates:
Ant's acceptance speech for the Design Award can now be read
here.
An interview with
Ant conducted at the Awards ceremony by Eamon O'Neill has been published and can be read
here. Our thanks to Eamon for passing on the details of
the interview.
In addition, a
couple of articles about Ant winning the award have been published
online in Italy which can be seen
here
and
here. Both articles are in Italian.
Lettie Maclean: Sunshine On Your
Shoulder (News date: 8-8-16, updated
15-8-16)
Following the release of Halcyon Days (Days to Remember),
another of the songs that Ant and singer-songwriter
Lettie Maclean originally co-wrote
and recorded for library music projects commissioned by UPPM
has been re-imagined by Ant and co-producer James Collins
for release as a single.
Sunshine on Your Shoulder
is released as a digital single on 12th August and is available to
order now from
iTunes and
Amazon. Samples of the track are available
to hear on both sites.
Online shop re-stocked (News date: 25-7-16)
We've now re-stocked our online shop and are pleased
to be able to offer a further selection of the titles from Ant's back
catalogue that are currently out-of-print. All CDs are new and sealed
and in most cases we only have a limited number of copies available.
Esoteric reissues nominated in Progressive Music Awards
(News date: 15-6-16, updated 25-7-16)
We're pleased to announce that
the Esoteric re-issues of Ant's back catalogue have been nominated in
this years Progressive Music Awards for the Storm Thorgerson
Grand Design Award, which honours the best in lavish box sets. Other
nominees in the same category include King Crimson, Rick Wakeman, Peter
Gabriel, Tony Banks and Steve Hackett.
The winner of
the Storm Thorgerson Grand Design Award is determined by a public
vote. Voting requires registration which can be done
here.
Esoteric Recordings are proud to announce
the release of a newly re-mixed and expanded edition of 1984,
the classic instrumental album by Anthony
Phillips.Released in 1981, the album was
born at the same time as Anthony was composing and recording the
soundtrack to the British TV documentary series Rule
Britannia.
1984 was a radical departure from the more pastoral feel of
Anthony's previous solo work, and saw him experiment with
synthesisers to an extent he'd previously never done before,
resulting in a keyboard dominated album.
At the time of release, the album divided opinions among some fans
but the passage of time has seen the album re-evaluated and it is
now held in high esteem by fans, critics and musicians (including
Steven Wilson), all of whom concur that 1984 now stands as
a ground-breaking and influential work.
This new 3 disc digipack deluxe edition of the album features a new
stereo mix and a 5.1 Surround sound mix
(on an NSTC / Region Free DVD) along with a CD of alternate mixes
and out-takes. It includes a lavishly illustrated booklet that fully
restores the original album artwork and features a new essay by Jon
Dann (with a brief foreword text by Steven Wilson) and also includes
a poster.
The deluxe edition of the album
was released on 24th June 2016.
The track listing and a view of the contents of the deluxe edition can be seen
here and it
is
available to order now
from
Cherry Red and Amazon.
Lettie Maclean: Halycon Days (Days To
Remember) official video clip (News date:
27-5-16)
The digital single release of
Halycon Days (Days To Remember) is out now and is available to
order from
iTunes and
Amazon. To tie in with the release of the single, here's
the official video for the song which has been made by Norwegian film-maker
Rune Ness.
Lettie Maclean: Halycon Days (Days
To Remember)(News date: 19-5-16, updated
27-5-16)
Over the last few years, Ant has
collaborated with singer-songwriter
Lettie Maclean on
a number of co-written songs for library music projects commissioned
by UPPM. The resulting tracks have been used in their library
format on television programmes around the world, but to date have
yet to be commercially released.
Now one of the
songs that Ant and Lettie co-wrote and recorded for the UPPM
projects has been re-imagined by Ant and co-producer James Collins
for release as a single. Halcyon Days (Days to Remember)
is released as a digital single on 27th May and is available to
order now from
iTunes and
Amazon. Samples of the track are available on both sites.
Anna Madsen: Effloresence (News date: 19-5-16, updated 23-5-16)
US
singer/song-writer
Anna Madsen currently calls New Hampshire home.
Taking inspiration from classic romanticism, fairy tales, and her
personal experiences, Anna uses story telling through music as a way
to create worlds that listeners can enter and completely absorb.
Musically, Anna has been described as "Lana Del Rey meets Kate
Bush meets Enya," but ultimately her music is completely her own and
expands beyond one genre. Her influences include contemporary
classical composers, church hymns from her childhood, world music,
and modern Alternative Rock and Folk / Americana.
Anna has recently completed work on her debut album
Efflorescence, which is
out now.
Ant has recorded the guitar parts for three tracks on the album
(Irena's Lullabye, Black Dress and Pioneer Hymn),
which also features
contributions from GTR member Jonathan Mover.
Efflorescence is available now on
iTunes (US) and on Amazon
in the UK, with samples of the album available to hear on both
sites. The tracks on the album that Ant appears on are also
available to purchase individually.
Thanks to Brian Coombes (who produced the
album) for additional information.
Harmony for Elephants Kickstarter Project sucessfully funded (News date: 20-4-16)
The Harmony for Elephants
Kickstarter book and music project, which was jointly created by photographer Lesley Wood and
biologist Dr Kate Evans to publish a fine art book about elephants with an
accompanying CD has now ended. The good news is that the project has
been succesfully funded with a total of £23,816 being pledged by 164
backers so production of the book and the CD will now go ahead.
The CD which will accompany the book
will include music composed and recorded specially for the project. As well as Ant,
other musicians contributing to the project include Steve Hackett, Nick
Magnus, John Hackett and Nad Sylvan. In addition, Ant will be
collaborating with Steve on a joint track for the CD.
Newstalk radio interview
(News date: 13-4-16)
Ant was interviewed for a Prog Rock
Special edition of the Tom Dunne Show on Ireland's NewsTalk Radio, which was
broadcast on 12th
April. His interview is now available to listen to as a podcast on the
NewsTalk site - the podcast can be found on the programme page
here.
Sides deluxe 4
disc set (News date: 3-2-16, updated 11-4-16)
Following on from the deluxe re-release of Wise After The
Event, the next title in the re-release of
Ant's back catalogue by Esoteric Recordings is a 4 disc clamshell boxed set edition of the classic 1979
album Sides.
Produced by Rupert Hine, Sides
saw Ant supported once more by an able cast of musicians that included
Michael Giles &
Mel Collins (King Crimson), John G. Perry (Caravan, Quantum Jump) and
featured the vocals of Dan Owen and Dale Newman.
Featuring such wonderful compositions as "Um and Aargh", "I
Want Your Love", "Bleak House" and "Nightmare",
Sides is a genuine classic of the
Progressive era.
This deluxe edition features a new stereo mix of the album, a newly
re-mastered version of the original album stereo mix and a CD of demos,
out-takes and extras. The set also includes a DVD (NTSC - Region Free) with
a new 5.1 Surround Sound Mix and a 96 khz / 24-bit stereo mix of the album.
It also comes with a poster and a lavishly illustrated booklet
with a new essay by Jon Dann featuring interviews with Anthony Phillips,
Dale Newman and
the album's producer Rupert Hine.
Sides
is released on 15th April 2016 and is the latest in Esoteric Recordings on-going series of
official Anthony Phillips reissues.
The track listing for the set can be seen
here and it is available to
order now from
Cherry
Red and
Amazon.
Wise After The Event deluxe
edition
reviews & press (News date: 9-3-16, updated
11-4-16)
Prog magazine
have also published a review of the Deluxe Edition online which can be
seen
here. Registration is required to read the full review
and will give you access to other articles on their site. The
review is also published in the current edition of the
magazine.
The set has also received a
four star review in the current issue (April 2016) of Mojo magazine, which is out now.
A short interview with Ant in Italian about
the re-issue of the album plus plans for future releases with 5.1
surround sound mixes can be read
here.
A further recent Italian interview with Ant can also be read
here and an interview in English on the Blackmoon site from Norway
can be read
here.
Online shop now open
(News date: 28-3-16, updated 1-4-16)
We've recently located a limited number
of brand new copies of a couple of the hard-to-find titles from Ant's back
catalogue, and are pleased to be able to offer these for sale in our
online shop.
Update: We have now
sold out of the CDs but if we are able to locate further copies then we
hope to be able to offer them for sale again.
Harmony for Elephants Kickstarter Project(News date: 4-3-16, updated 8-3-16)
Ant is one of a number of
musicians who are contributing a specially written and recorded track to
Harmony for Elephants,
a book and music project which aims to publish a fine art book about
elephants and elephant conservation with an accompanying CD.
Harmony for Elephants
is a joint project between photographer Lesley Wood and Dr Kate Evans, biologist,
elephant researcher and founder and director of the charity Elephants for
Africa. The book will be available both as an A4 sized standard
edition and also as a A3 sized boxed limited edition (250 copies only) which
will come with a specially produced signed and numbered limited edition fine
art companion print. The limited edition books will be signed by Lesley and
Kate and some of them will be signed by the musicians involved (including
Ant), making them extremely sought after by collectors.
Both editions of the book will have an accompanying
CD album of music composed specially for the project. As well as Ant,
other musicians contributing to the project include Steve Hackett, Nick
Magnus, John Hackett and Nad Sylvan.
More details about the project
including the various rewards for pledgers can be found on the
Harmony for Elephants Kickstarter page.
In addition, a Sound Byte summary video clip for the project
has now been released, which can be viewed below.
Wise After The Event deluxe 4
disc set (News date: 18-12-15, updated 6-2-16)
The re-release of
Ant's back catalogue by Esoteric Recordings continues with
a deluxe 4 disc clamshell boxed set edition of the classic 1978
album Wise After the Event.
Produced by Rupert Hine, Wise
After The Event was Anthony's second solo album and is a
superb blend of instrumental music and songs. The record saw
Anthony supported by an able cast of musicians that included
Michael Giles &
Mel Collins (King Crimson) and John G. Perry (Caravan, Quantum Jump).
Featuring such wonderful compositions as "We're All As We Lie", "Now
What (Are They Doing to My Little Friends)", "Moonshooter", "Paperchase" and the
album's title track, Wise After the Event is a genuine classic of the
Progressive era.
This deluxe edition features a new stereo mix of the album, a newly
re-mastered version of the original album stereo mix and a CD of demos,
out-takes and extras. The set also includes a DVD (NTSC - Region Free) with a
new 5.1 Surround Sound Mix and a 96 khz / 24-bit stereo mix of the album as
well as a lavishly illustrated booklet
with a new essay by Jon Dann featuring interviews with Anthony Phillips,
John G. Perry and
the album's producer Rupert Hine.
Wise After the Event
is out now and is another release in the Esoteric Recordings on-going series of
official Anthony Phillips reissues.
The track listing for the set can be seen
here and the set is available to
order now from
Cherry
Red and
Amazon.
Private Parts & Pieces I - IV
reviews & press (News date: 9-11-15, updated
19-11-15)
A new review of the recently released box
set Private Parts & Pieces I - IV by author and editor of The
Waiting Room Alan Hewitt has now been added to the site and can be
read here.
Two short interviews with Ant in Italian about
the box set can be read
here and
here.
Prog magazine
have published two reviews of the set online - the
first is by Rachel Mann and the
second by Hugh Fielder. Registration is required to read the full reviews
and will give you access to other articles on their site. The
first review was also published in the October 2015 edition of the
magazine.
The set has also received a
four star review in the current issue (December 2015) of Record
Collector magazine, which is out now. The review can read
online
here.
Ellesmere: Les
Chateaux De La Loire (News date: 8-10-15)
Out now is Les Chateaux De La Loire,
an album release by Ellesmere which is the brainchild of Roberto
Vitelli, bass and guitar player from the Italian prog group
Taproban. The focus is on an acoustic yet symphonic approach
and the album presents a 40 minute suite, which as the title
suggests has each section dedicated to one of the ancient French
castles that reside along the Loire river.
Ant makes a
guest appearance on the album in a spoken word role as The Narrator
on the album, which also features contributions from John Hackett.
Les Chateaux De La Loire is available on CD (which comes in
a mini vinyl gatefold sleeve) and as a vinyl LP, both of which
feature original artwork by Luciano Regoli.
More information
about the album can be found on the
Ellesmere site, where copies of
the album can also be ordered.
Private Parts & Pieces I - IV five disc
deluxe set (News date: 23-6-15, updated 18-9-15)
The re-release of
Ant's back catalogue by Esoteric Recordings continues with Private Parts & Pieces I
- IV, a five CD deluxe clamshell box set containing the first
four albums in the Private Parts & Pieces series (Private
Parts & Pieces, Back To The Pavilion,
Antiques
and A Catch At The Tables) together with
Private Parts
& Extra Pieces, an additional 18-track CD of previously
unreleased material recorded between 1975 and 1983.
Beginning in 1978, the first four
volumes featured an extensive range of music recorded by Ant for
various projects (going back as far as 1972) and have come to be
regarded by fans as essential collections of his wide and diverse
compositional work. The set includes a lavish booklet with an
essay and fully restores the artwork of the original vinyl releases.
The complete track listing for the set can be seen here.
Private Parts & Pieces I -
IV is out now and is available to order from Cherry
Red and
Amazon.
John Hackett: Another
Life(News date: 3-8-15, updated
1-10-15)
25th September saw the release of John Hackett's new album Another Life,
which is released on the Esoteric Antenna label. The
follow-up to John's 2005 album Checking Out of London,
Another
Life has been produced and mixed by Nick Magnus (who also plays
on the album) and it features John's brother Steve on lead
guitar and harmonica. Ant makes a guest appearance on the track
Satellite on the album
where he plays guitars and harpsichord.
As well as his regular
collaborations with his brother Steve, John was one of the featured
players on The Geese & The Ghost and also played on the
song Souvenir, which was recorded during the sessions for Sides.
Another Life is available to order now from
Cherry
Red.
Andrew Skeet: Finding Time (News
date: 21-8-15)
Composer and arranger Andrew Skeet
who has collaborated on several projects with Ant (including Seventh
Heaven) has recently released his first solo album Finding
Time on the Sony Classical label.
Andrew is one of London's busiest
orchestrators, arrangers and conductors. Having studied at the
Royal College of Music, he has subsequently written more than 60
scores for television and worked with many pop artists including
Suede, Imogen Heap and George Michael. He joined Neil Hannon's
The Divine Comedy in 2004 and has recorded and toured three albums
with them.
Andrew has also orchestrated and
conducted many high profile features films and dramas and is
currently working on Guy Ritchie's new film The Man From Uncle.
