This page includes news items previously published on
the home page.
The updates
page contains a log of recent amendments and additions to the
site.
Details of older site updates and news items can now
be found in the Site Archives section.
Dale Newman: Somewhere Down The Road EP (News date: 24-7-23)
Dale Newman -
vocalist on Ant's album Sides and latterly his "Guitar Tsar"
(maintaining Ant's collection of stringed instruments) - has just
released Somewhere Down The Road, an EP of six new songs
which is now available exclusively on Bandcamp.
His first
release in five years, the songs on Somewhere Down the Road
are drawn from the large amount of material Dale has written since
his last solo album (2018's Dale Newman) and see him
continue todevelop his artistic vision.
On 22nd February 1970 Genesis recorded their first BBC radio session
for the programme Night Ride, a performance that included
three songs (Shepherd, Pacidy and Let Us Now
Make Love) that were never recorded for commercial release.
Those three tracks have subsequently been given an official release,
most recently on the BBC Broadcasts set.
Now for the first time the full story of how the band got the
opportunity to record the session and how the recording of it
survived is told in our new exclusive feature. Former BBC producer Alec Reid talks
about how he came to meet Genesis, his involvement with some of their demo
recordings prior to the Night Ride session and how he gave them the
opportunity to record their music for a broadcast
which would allow them to be heard
by a large audience for the first time.
Gereon
Schoplick, a member of the German "Ant Band" project has recently
released his first CD of solo guitar music. Horizons
includes some pieces of Latin and North American guitar music
alongside some original compositions as well as a version of Steve
Hackett's Horizons, from which the album takes its title.
Gereon has
also recorded four of Ant's guitar pieces for the album - Lute's
Chorus, Postude: End of the Season, Field of
Eternity and an excerpt of Study No. 1 in E Major.
The latter piece, which has not been released to date on any of
Ant's albums, was one of the works included in the now out-of-print
Six Pieces for Guitar collection published in 1980.
Gereon previously recorded a version of the piece for the Ant Band
release A Light on the Hill and has included a new
recording of it on this album.
The Cricketer interview(News date: 20-1-23, updated 20-2-23)
First published in 1921, The Cricketer
is the worlds oldest and best-selling magazine providing coverage of
the game at all levels.
The February issue of the magazine includes
Ant as the subject of the regular interview feature 'Why I love
cricket' in which he talks about the sport and how he has enjoyed it
as both a player with the Send Occasionals (a team he formed with
some friends in the 1970s) and as a spectator. Whilst the
focus of the interview is primarily about cricket, it also covers
Ant's music and his career and makes for an interesting and
wide-ranging read.
The February issue of The Cricketer
is available to
buy online.
The Ant Band: She'll Be Waiting video clip
(News date: 23-12-22)
A Light on the Hill, a tribute to Ant's music and also a
gift from the German Genesis Fan Club for his 70th birthday was
released in December 2021. The
album features fourteen Anthony Phillips
classics re-worked by fourteen musicians from all over Germany in a
virtual alliance called The Ant Band, plus a special guest
appearance from Steve Hackett, who contributed a guitar solo on the
version of F Sharp which formed the basis of The Musical Box.
The proceeds from the sale of the album are being donated to the Corona Kuensterhilfe,
a German charity that supports artists during the COVID crisis.
To mark Ant's birthday this year a video clip of She'll Be Waiting
from the album, which features the
musicians who played on the track has now been released and can be
viewed below. A Light on the Hill can be ordered from
Bandcamp.
The Ant Band: Bonus Bits & Blunders CD(News date: 30-5-22,
updated 1-9-22)
Following the release of A Light on the Hill,
the tribute album to Ant recorded by musicians from all over Germany
in a virtual alliance called The Ant Band, comes a second CD
entitled Bonus Bits & Blunders. As the title
suggests, Bonus Bits & Blunders is a collection of guide
tracks and abandoned ideas from the original album which are
complemented by three rare live recordings from the 2014 Anthony
Phillips Event organised by the German Genesis Fanclub.
Further details about the project can be found on the German Genesis
Fan Club site including a
track-by-track overview.
As with A Light on the Hill, the proceeds from
the sale of the album are being donated once more to the Corona Kuensterhilfe,
a German charity that supports artists during the COVID crisis.
Bonus Bits & Blunders was released on 3rd June in a limited edition of
200 numbered copies, which is now sold out. The digital
release of the album can be ordered from
Bandcamp.
The Ant Band: A Light On The Hill(News date: 30-12-21,
updated 4-1-22)
Out now is A Light on the Hill,
a new album which is a tribute to Ant's music and also a gift from
the German Genesis Fan Club for his 70th birthday on 23rd December
2021.The proceeds from
the sale of the album are being donated to the Corona Kuensterhilfe,
a German charity that supports artists during the COVID crisis.
A Light on the Hill features fourteen Anthony Phillips
classics re-worked by fourteen musicians from all over Germany in a
virtual alliance called The Ant Band, plus a special guest
appearance from Steve Hackett, who contributed a guitar solo on the
version of F Sharp, which formed the basis of The Musical Box.
A Light on the Hill can be ordered now from
Bandcamp
(which ships from Germany).
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.
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.
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.
David Longdon(News date:
27-11-21)
It is with great sadness that we learned 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.
The Living Room Concert
reviews (News date: 29-6-20, updated 24-7-20)
A review of the forthcoming remastered and expanded edition of The
Living Room Concert has been published on Velvet Thunder and can be
seen
here. Our thanks to Lorne Murphy for sending us the details of the
review.
A further review of the re-issue has now been published by the German
Genesis Fan Club and can be read
here (in English) and
here (in German). Another review has been published on Echoes & Dust
and can be read
here.
Rupert Hine 1947 - 2020 (News date: 11-6-20)
The multi-talented Rupert Hine who produced Ant's albums Wise After The
Event and Sides sadly passed away last week. A noted songwriter and
musician in his own right, in a career that stretched for over 50 years
Rupert produced over 160 albums working with a wide variety of artists
including Rush, Camel, Howard Jones, Tina Turner and Stevie Nicks. He
also wrote and recorded a number of solo albums as well as being a member of
Quantum Jump.
Ant's personal tribute to Rupert can be read
here. Our thoughts are with Rupert's family and friends at this
time.
Tabletop Genesis podcast on
Wise After The Event(News date: 9-4-20)
The latest podcast in the
Tabletop Genesis
series features an interesting track-by-track discussion of Ant's album
Wise After The Event . The podcast can heard by clicking on the play button
below.
Record Collector Genesis feature
(News date: 1-3-21, updated 30-3-21)
The March 2021 issue of the UK magzine Record
Collector (Number 516) includes a 14 page feature
about the early years of Genesis. Ant together with Tony
Banks, Steve Hackett and Richard Macphail have given new interviews
for the article by writer Nick Hasted, which also includes some
interesting early photos and a discography of the band's releases
from 1968 - 72.
Recent reviews and interviews (News date:
12-3-20)
Some more reviews of Strings of Light have recently been published
online and can now be read at
Lmnop.com and
Anne Carlini.com
Goldmine magazine conducted an interview with Ant back in November which has
now been published online and can be read
here. We also have a couple of new interviews here courtesy of the
long-running Genesis web-fanzine
The Waiting Room
which were published in Issue #105: a
chat with Ant from August 2018 and an exclusive interview with
Ant's collaborator Andrew Skeet.
New Genesis biography published
(News date: 26-2-20)
Genesis 1967 - 1975: The Peter Gabriel
Years by Mario Giammetti is due for publication in May as the
first title to be published by Kingmaker Publishing.
The book contains numerous exclusive
interviews with the band members and all the important personalities
who were part of the story of Genesis between 1967 and 1975.
It also includes a number of previously unpublished photos together
with interviews carried out with the individual members of Genesis
during listen throughs of each of the band's first five albums.
Mario Giammetti is an Italian music
journalist known as both the editor of the Italian Genesis magazine Dusk
as well as the author of a number of books about the band and the
individual members including The Exile, an Italian language
biography of Ant which was published in 2008. Genesis 1967
- 1975: The Peter Gabriel Years is his first book to be
published in English.
Genesis 1967 - 1975: The Peter Gabriel
Years was published on 8th May 2020 and can be
ordered now from
Burning Shed.
An Evening of Anthony Phillips & Mike Rutherford solo albums
review (News date: 27-1-20)
Ant with the members of the
Rocking Horse Music Club
Back in November 2019 the US group
Rocking Horse Music Club performed two shows at Trading Boundaries
in East Sussex, which included the first ever live performances of
music from Ant's albums. The selection of Ant's music was
complimented by performances of selected songs from Mike
Rutherford's first solo album Smallcreep's Day, which
featured the original vocalist on the album Noel McCalla.
The German Genesis Fan Club have now
published a review of the two concerts, which is available to read
in both
English and
German. The review also includes a nice selection of
photos from the concerts.
