Anthony Phillips chatted to David Randall about his career in March 2015. First broadcast on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio where he is a Featured Artist.

Sonicbond Publishing [Publication date 25.04.25]

When this new “On track…” tome landed at GRTR! Towers I tried to remember why I got heavily into Anthony Phillips’ music in the late 1980′s when I started to collect the vinyl, much of which was only available via import. I was never a big Genesis fan but I did find something intriguing in their original guitarist’s output.

Phillips has always remained something of an enigma, bailing out of Genesis on the cusp of wider success, suffering from stage fright, and then pursuing a more academic journey (brushing up his guitar and keyboard skills) before the release in 1977 of his debut solo album.

His solo work is prodigious and there’s a lot more stuff after Draper’s cut-off point, suggesting there may be a volume 2.

Whilst the author captures the appeal of Ant’s music (fragile, eccentric, witty, pastoral and so on) he also documents the various reissues. Aside from that hard to find vinyl, fans would be dismayed that there have been several attempts at repackaging his albums.

It has been left to Esoteric to come up with the “definitive” editions of the main studio albums (expanding them to 3 or 4 CD sets in 2015/16) whilst also reissuing the concurrent “Private Parts And Pieces” series along with the two volume “Archive Collection” (see links below for our earlier reviews).

Genesis fans, especially those who like the pre-Hackett version, will find much of interest and various connections in Phillips’ solo work. The debut, for example, ‘The Geese And The Ghost’ included assistance from longer-term writing partner Mike Rutherford (who also shared his love of 12-string guitar) and Phil Collins.

Draper chronicles the ups and downs of Phillips solo journey, as he made a handful of arguably more commercial releases (signed briefly to Arista and then RCA) and ultimately picked up by Virgin who, yes, did more reissuing. During this period Phillips also contributed to Rutherford’s first solo album (1980) and Camel’s album ‘The Single Factor’ in 1982.

Phillips remains active and in the years following 1990 continued to release albums of library music (TV and film soundtracks), whilst including a continuation of “Private Parts…” and various collaborations.

Strangely, perhaps, there is no cross-referencing to Sonicbond’s “Genesis in the 1970′s” book which also details Ant’s solo work and includes interview material with the man himself.

This aspect is a “missing link” in Draper’s account which is otherwise a very welcome summary for the curious and the committed alike. It had this fan digging out the vinyl, which is exactly as it should be. Roll on that second volume. ****

Review by David Randall

More to explore:

Album review (Invisible Men, 2017)
Album review (Slow Dance, 2017)
Album review (Private Parts & Pieces I-IV, 2016)
Album review (The Geese And The Ghost, 2015)
Album review (Harvest Of The Heart An Anthology, 2014)

Book review (Genesis in the 1970s, 2021)

Featured Artist (Get Ready to ROCK! Radio)

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 16 November 2025.

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Power Plays w/c 1 December 2025

We feature all the artists selected in this sequence in 2025.

Featured Albums w/c 1 December 2025

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

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