58-722: Anthony Edwin Phillips (born 23 December 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, producer and singer who gained prominence as the original lead guitarist of the rock band Genesis , from 1967 to 1970. He left in July 1970 and learned to play more instruments, before he began a solo career. His departure from Genesis on the eve of the group's breakthrough to mainstream popularity has led him to be dubbed "the Pete Best of progressive rock " (though unlike Best, Phillips left voluntarily). Phillips released his first solo album, The Geese &
116-434: A departure from more pop-oriented songs, as displayed on their first album From Genesis to Revelation , towards folk-flavoured progressive rock . This ranged from light acoustic pieces with multiple twelve-string guitars such as "Dusk", to the heavier live favorite " The Knife ". The sleeve, featuring a knife slash across the front, was designed by Paul Whitehead . It was the first of three covers designed by Whitehead for
174-443: A member of Garden Wall , another disbanded school group, to play keyboards. Banks agreed, and suggested involving his Garden Wall bandmates, singer Peter Gabriel (the same one who was the drummer for Spoken Word) and drummer Chris Stewart . After the five made a demo tape, it was given to Jonathan King , who signed them to his publishing company and had them record some singles. He named the group Genesis , and suggested they record
232-423: A more proficient musician. In 1974, he became a qualified music teacher and gave lessons to students. By 1977, he was playing classical guitar and piano, and studied orchestration. After leaving Genesis, Phillips studied classical music (especially classical guitar) and made recordings in collaboration with Harry Williamson , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins , among others. His first solo album, The Geese &
290-548: A new album. Anthony joined them as their producer and engineer, and the songs were recorded on 16-track tape . Phillips remembered that recording was "slightly more sophisticated" than on From Genesis to Revelation , with the 16-track capability allowing them to multitrack solos, "which would have been unheard of on the previous album." Rutherford and Phillips thought Anthony disliked having someone "drop in" individual parts, remembering by way of example that while recording "Stagnation", Rutherford had to listen to several minutes of
348-589: A noticeable role "isn't the Genesis that everyone came to know". Following the band's growth in popularity in the 1980s, Trespass reached its peak of No. 98 in the UK for one week in 1984. Shortly after recording Trespass , Phillips quit the group. He had confided in Rutherford (his long-time friend) that he was thinking of leaving after a concert at Kingston Polytechnic on 9 July 1970, and announced to
406-412: A period of intense songwriting in between concerts which would produce the bulk of the material for Trespass . The group wanted to branch out from their earlier pop-oriented style, and write and perform songs that were unlike any other band at the time. Banks was also transitioning his main instrument from piano to Hammond organ, which was a difficult process for him. Rutherford later said that gigging
464-458: A picture of a woman and did not credit Phillips or Williamson, which led to it often being filed under "female vocalist" in record shops. In the mid-1990s, he released an album entitled The Living Room Concert , which featured solo acoustic versions of his earlier material. He also provided archival material for the first Genesis box set, Genesis Archive 1967–75 , released in 1998. Several of his albums feature artwork by Peter Cross . In 2008,
522-664: A professional band, touring the local university circuit, with new drummer John Mayhew . Mayhew, the oldest and most experienced musician, came from a different background to the rest of the band. Phillips recalled that, despite their efforts to make him feel comfortable, the drummer was unsure of his playing. Also in November, Genesis friend and ex-schoolmate Richard MacPhail arranged for them to take up residence in his family's abandoned weekend retreat house in Wotton, Surrey , called Christmas Cottage. Genesis remained there for six months,
580-608: A recording contract with Threshold went up in smoke when Banks started arguing with producer Mike Pinder , saying they needed to do another take because he had played a wrong note on his organ. In March 1970, they secured a six-week residency at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in Soho , London, during which they were spotted by Charisma Records producer John Anthony . He persuaded label boss Tony Stratton Smith to sign them. In July 1970, they retreated to Trident Studios in London to record
638-685: A result of commercial pressures, and would subsequently eschew mainstream success in favour of more specialised material. He co-wrote "Tears on the Ballroom Floor" for I Hear Talk by Bucks Fizz . Since leaving Genesis, Phillips has remained involved in a variety of musical projects, including soundtrack work in England, often for the label Atmosphere, part of the Universal Music Group . In 1988 he recorded an album with Harry Williamson called Tarka . The album's cover featured
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#1732780245943696-399: A studio album, which became From Genesis to Revelation . Phillips was particularly angry when King added string arrangements to their songs without their knowledge, since the limitations of the recording technology meant that everything else on the album had to be reduced to mono as a consequence. Phillips said he had little role in Genesis's songwriting during this period, and that most of
754-433: A surreal descending note which Banks produced by turning the organ off and then turning it back on. Rutherford later recalled there were around ten acoustic guitars on part of "Stagnation", but they cancelled each other out in the final mix. Gabriel described the track as a "journey song" with its lack of a more typical verse/chorus structure and the variety of mood changes it presents. Sections were removed or altered, but
812-788: A teenager, Phillips briefly lived in the United States. In April 1965, Phillips attended Charterhouse , an independent school in Godalming , Surrey. In the following month, he formed a band with fellow pupils Rivers Jobe , Richard Macphail , Mike Rutherford , and Rob Tyrell, naming themselves Anon . They based their sets on songs by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones , and recorded one demo, Phillips's song "Pennsylvania Flickhouse". The group disbanded in December 1966. Phillips
870-573: Is the second studio album by the English rock band Genesis . It was released on 23 October 1970 by Charisma Records , and is their last album with original guitarist Anthony Phillips and their only album with drummer John Mayhew . Genesis turned professional in autumn 1969, and began to rehearse intensely and play live shows. After several months of touring they secured a recording contract with Charisma Records, and entered Trident Studios in London in July 1970 to record Trespass . The music marked
928-485: The Kent State shootings from the previous spring. Phillips later recalled that the songs "Everywhere is Here", "Grandma", "Little Leaf", "Going out to Get You", "Shepherd", "Moss", "Let Us Now Make Love" and "Pacidy" were not developed further in the studio. Banks said that "Going out to Get You" was too long to fit on the album as well as "The Knife", and the latter song had to have a portion of it cut out to fit on
986-517: The Ghost , in 1977. He continues to release solo material, including further solo albums, television and film music, collaborations with several artists, and compilation albums of his recordings. Phillips was born on 23 December 1951 in Chiswick , England. He attended a preparatory school , during which he formed a group and took part in a performance of " My Old Man's a Dustman " in the school hut as
1044-507: The Ghost , was issued in 1977. Following the commercial failure of The Geese & the Ghost , Phillips was pushed in a pop direction by his record labels. They released his second album, Wise After the Event , in 1978. This was followed the next year by Sides . Both of these albums were produced by Rupert Hine and were intended to reach a mainstream audience, though neither album was successful in that regard. In its initial release in
1102-467: The LP. The album cover was painted by Paul Whitehead and features an engraving by Hungarian illustrator Willy Pogany . Whitehead also did the covers for the band's next two albums. Wanting his work to represent the band's music, Whitehead sat in on several Genesis rehearsals to get inspiration. The cover showed two people looking out of a window at mountains, which represented the pastoral themes of some of
1160-468: The Pound , the 12-string guitar style developed during Phillips's era was still important to Genesis's work and he felt Phillips deserved more credit for "architecting the sound of Genesis". After leaving Genesis, Phillips lacked a solid direction. He recalled listening to Jean Sibelius around the time of his departure and recognised his musical ability was "terribly limited", which encouraged him to become
1218-510: The UK, Sides was accompanied by a more experimental album entitled Private Parts & Pieces ; in the US and Canada the two albums were issued separately. Private Parts & Pieces II: Back to the Pavilion followed the next year, and several further sequels were issued in the 1980s and 1990s. According to Phillips, the series "arose partly out of poverty. I was just getting by, library music
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#17327802459431276-745: The album, and the versions changed rapidly." Rutherford recalled that since the songs had already been composed, arranged, and refined during live performances, there was no need to work out such things in the studio the way they did for later albums. The 1969 album In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson was a heavy influence on Genesis, with a copy being played endlessly during their extended stay at Christmas Cottage. The band also drew from Gabriel's soul influences, along with classical, pop and folk music, and made regular use of Phillips and Rutherford's twelve-string guitar playing. To break
1334-462: The album. Rutherford said that Trespass was the only Genesis album where each track was contributed to by each band member equally; every other album contained songs that were written by one or two individuals, with only minor contributions from the remaining members. Phillips likewise remarked that during the months at Christmas Cottage, Genesis's habit of writing songs in their pre-Genesis writing partnerships (Phillips-Rutherford and Banks-Gabriel)
1392-620: The band build up a live following. The album charted at No. 1 in Belgium , which led to the band's first overseas concerts there in January 1972. The album had a mixed reception by the music press at the time of its release. Jerry Gilbert, writing in Sounds , gave a positive review and singled out "Visions of Angels" and "White Mountain". A review in Melody Maker said the album
1450-403: The band. Shortly after recording, Phillips decided to leave the group, which almost caused Genesis to split. After discussing the situation, they agreed to continue, and replaced Mayhew with drummer and singer Phil Collins before they resumed touring. Trespass was not a major success upon release; it failed to chart in the UK and the US and it received some mixed reviews from critics, but it
1508-815: The first Anthony Phillips biography, The Exile , by journalist Mario Giammetti, was published in Italy (Edizioni Segno). Harvest of the Heart: An Anthology , a 5-CD box set chronicling Phillips's solo career and collaborations, was released in 2014. Genesis (band) Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.237 via cp1104 cp1104, Varnish XID 203901990 Upstream caches: cp1104 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 07:50:45 GMT Trespass (album) Trespass
1566-552: The first girl he had a crush on. It gradually evolved into the Genesis song "In Hiding", which appears on From Genesis to Revelation . He was not entirely a self-taught guitar player; he received some tuition in rudimentary chords from classical guitarist David Channon, who became a big source of inspiration for Phillips, and used sheet music to songs by the Beatles that his mother would send him. Phillips then picked up more chord knowledge, and learned to copy "reasonably well". As
1624-401: The group a more unique and innovative sound. The album opens with "Looking for Someone", beginning with Gabriel's vocal accompanied only by an organ, later described as being "idiosyncratic enough to set them apart from the herd within seconds". Gabriel came up with the song as a soul piece, and it was then extended and developed by the group into a more folk direction. The coda at the end of
1682-424: The group seriously considered disbanding altogether in the wake of Phillips's departure. Nursery Cryme , the next Genesis album, opens with " The Musical Box " which is based on a piece written by Phillips and Rutherford originally titled "F#" (pronounced "F Sharp"). Steve Hackett , who became Genesis's guitarist half a year after Phillips left, commented that at the time of their fifth album, Selling England by
1740-413: The introduction remained unchanged. The vocal effect on the section referencing "bitter minnows amongst the weeds and slimy water" was created by having Gabriel sing into a narrow tube with the intent of making it sound like he was underwater. "Dusk" originated with a piece written by Phillips and Rutherford, with Phillips writing most of the lyrics. The music to the verse/chorus section of " The Knife "
1798-518: The last gig in Hayward's Heath to Gabriel's house in Chobham , they decided they would carry on. In the liner notes to the Genesis box set Genesis Archive 1967–75 , Banks claims "Let Us Now Make Love", one of Phillips's songs, was not recorded for the album because the group thought it had the potential of a single, but following the guitarist's sudden departure following the album's completion, it
Anthony Phillips - Misplaced Pages Continue
1856-411: The most rabid Genesis fans." AllMusic 's later retrospective review was only slightly more forgiving, summarising that the album "is more interesting for what it points toward than what it actually does ". They also commented that the guitars are so low in the mix that they are almost inaudible, leaving Banks's keyboard instruments far more prominent. They considered this troublesome because Banks having
1914-474: The organ and Rutherford having grown into a major songwriter, he ultimately recognized that the band no longer needed him. While Phillips later described the Trespass recording sessions as "pleasant" and not considerably difficult, Rutherford recalled that Phillips looked unwell during the recording sessions, and he worried that Phillips's departure might mean the end of Genesis. After the group drove back from
1972-448: The other songs. Genesis subsequently reworked and expanded it with a new middle section which was written by the group as a whole. Phillips commented that while he was "rather heartbroken" when the song was rejected for From Genesis to Revelation , in retrospect it was a blessing, since if they had included it on that album, it never would have been developed into its best possible form. He also said that Gabriel realized sometime between
2030-636: The recording for From Genesis to Revelation and Genesis going on tour for the first time that Phillips had written the lyrics as a love song to Jill Moore, Gabriel's girlfriend (and later wife), and it is likely that Genesis changed the lyrics before recording Trespass . The whole group worked on the music for "Stagnation", and Gabriel added lyrics to it. It was one of several Genesis songs to reuse sections of their never-recorded epic "The Movement". "Stagnation" and "Dusk" showed Phillips and Rutherford's combined twelve-string sound, along with Banks taking leads on piano, organ and Mellotron . The organ lead uses
2088-472: The shortage of time to develop new material. To further complicate matters he had developed stage fright which got progressively worse as time went on, and battled with it for three months thinking it was a passing phase. After falling ill with bronchial pneumonia, Phillips was advised by his doctor to quit the band. In June 1970, Phillips had recovered enough to reunite with his bandmates and record their second album, Trespass . Despite his various problems at
2146-461: The singer, but forgot the words during it and was kicked out. This led to his decision to learn the guitar. He learned enough to perform lead guitar to a rendition of " Foot Tapper " by the Shadows in the school lounge. The Shadows were a major influence for Phillips in terms of acoustic guitar. At thirteen Phillips acquired a Stratocaster and wrote his first song, "Patricia", an instrumental about
2204-534: The song was written by the group as a whole. Paul Stump wrote in 1997 that there is "the barefaced presence of a riff" from " I Am the Walrus " by the Beatles in the song. "White Mountain" originated with a twelve-string guitar theme composed by Rutherford and Phillips, for which Phillips has cited Mary Hopkin 's rendition of " Those Were the Days " as a likely influence. Banks wrote the lyrics. "Visions of Angels"
2262-407: The songs on From Genesis to Revelation were written by Gabriel and Banks. In September 1969, the 17-year-old Phillips chose not to pursue a university degree and instead reunite with Gabriel, Banks and Rutherford after they had decided to become a full-time band. However, early in 1970 the constant touring had become wearing on Phillips partly due to the lack of scope for solos in the band's set and
2320-435: The songs. Whitehead had finished the cover and then the band added "The Knife" to the running order. Feeling that the cover no longer fitted the mood of the album, they asked Whitehead to re-design it; when he was reluctant to do so, the band members inspired him to slash the canvas with an actual knife. Tony Banks has said Trespass is his favorite of the three covers Whitehead did for Genesis, feeling it eloquently captured
2378-436: The straightforward pop on their first album From Genesis to Revelation . Gabriel recalled that the group wanted to explore and mix musical styles. The group bought new equipment, including a bass guitar and a Hammond organ , and recorded songs at Regent Studios for a demo, including "White Mountain" and "Family" (which became "Dusk"). Silver then left to study in the US. In November, Genesis played their first live shows as
Anthony Phillips - Misplaced Pages Continue
2436-552: The time, Phillips enjoyed the recording sessions. By this time Genesis songs were more often written by the group as a whole, and Phillips was pleased when a song he had originally written by himself, "Visions of Angels", was expanded with a group-composed middle section that he felt made the song much more powerful. After recording finished in July the band resumed touring, though early into the tour Phillips announced his decision to leave. His final gig took place at Haywards Heath on 18 July. Tour manager Richard Macphail later said that
2494-491: The track before putting down a guitar part, by which time he had become too nervous and played it incorrectly. The group had written an abundance of material, but with very little studio time in the budget there was no real opportunity to consider which songs should go on the album, and they had to simply record the songs which they had played the most in rehearsals and concerts. They worked well with Anthony, and later recalled that his contributions were important and helped shape
2552-466: The twelve-string guitar out of its traditional role as a background instrument and allow the listener to hear its individual notes, the band ran the twelve-string guitars through an old tape recorder instead of the conventional method of putting the microphone on the sound hole, against engineer Robin Cable's objections. Gabriel was particularly fond of the combined twelve-string guitars and thought they gave
2610-667: The two different sides of Genesis. Whitehead's original illustrations for the three albums were stolen from the Charisma archives when it was sold to Virgin Records in 1983. Whitehead claimed that Charisma staff got wind of the imminent sale and proceeded to loot its office. Trespass was first released in the UK on the Charisma label in October 1970. In the US, it was first issued on ABC 's jazz label, Impulse! . "The Knife"
2668-607: The whole band that he was leaving at the end of a show in Hayward's Heath on 18 July. According to Genesis road manager and friend Richard Macphail, the reason for Phillips's departure was the onset of acute stage fright that became so severe that Phillips began to suffer an "out of body experience on stage." Phillips confirmed, "My leaving was nothing to do with the music; it was just due to stage fright and my health, really." He initially feared that Genesis would not be able to continue without him, but with Banks gaining confidence with
2726-399: Was "something more dangerous" compared to their delicate acoustic numbers. He added: "It was the first peak of a darker energy that we discovered". It lasted up to 19 minutes in concert, but was reduced to nine for the album. Gabriel wrote the lyrics as a parody of a protest song . The song's spoken word interlude, in which a group of soldiers fire on a crowd of protesters, was inspired by
2784-507: Was "tasteful, subtle and refined", and named it "Album of the Month", despite it being the same month as prestigious albums such as Led Zeppelin III , Atom Heart Mother , and Tumbleweed Connection . Rolling Stone printed an extremely brief but unambiguously negative review of the 1974 reissue, saying "It's spotty, poorly defined, at times innately boring, and should be avoided by all but
2842-467: Was "tough, but a good way of getting the music into shape". Two songs that made it to the next album, "Looking for Someone" and "Stagnation", were recorded for a BBC session in February 1970. That same month, growing interest from audiences drew the attention of talent scouts and led to Threshold Records inviting Genesis to record "Looking For Someone" at De Lane Lea Studios . However, their chance for
2900-554: Was also a member of another band during 1966, Spoken Word, which included David Thomas (vocals), Ronnie Gunn (piano), Jeremy Ensor (bass, later of the Principal Edwards Magic Theatre ), David Chadwick (guitar), and Peter Gabriel (drums). They recorded an acetate , a cover of "Evening". In January 1967, after Anon had split up, Phillips and Rutherford became a songwriting unit and started recording several demos. They invited Charterhouse pupil Tony Banks ,
2958-440: Was broken and they all began collaborating on writing each work. Banks felt that the old songwriting process was still present to an extent, with most of the songs originating from one of the two pairs before being brought to the group for further development. Banks later said that "we had played live quite a bit and every song on the album had been performed on stage. We had a selection of at least twice as many songs as appeared on
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#17327802459433016-523: Was commercially successful in Belgium, which helped sustain the band's career. A reissue briefly charted the UK top 100 in 1984. In August 1969, Genesis decided to become a professional band. The founders – guitarist Anthony Phillips , bassist Mike Rutherford , vocalist and flautist Peter Gabriel , and keyboardist Tony Banks – had been joined by drummer John Silver . They split from producer Jonathan King and decided to write more complex material than
3074-417: Was just getting going. I had to issue a collection of twelve-string or solo-piano stuff to boost my income." Phillips began writing material with Andrew Latimer of Camel in 1981, and was a featured performer on that band's album, The Single Factor (released in 1982). Phillips released a mainstream pop album entitled Invisible Men in 1983. He later claimed that this project went "horribly wrong" as
3132-454: Was never recorded in the studio. A live version was released on the box set, performed in February 1970. At the same time, the group decided to replace Mayhew with a more suitable drummer. He was older than the rest of the band and considered an outsider, and lacked confidence. Though Mayhew often wrote poetry and even had some published in a literary magazine when he was 12, he never participated in Genesis's songwriting. An urgent replacement
3190-462: Was recorded for the previous album From Genesis to Revelation , but left off because the band did not think it was good enough in its present form. It originated from a piano piece by Phillips at a time when his piano technique was limited, but could produce a "plodding" style similar to songs by the Beach Boys and the Beatles. It has a more straightforward verse/chorus structure than some of
3248-599: Was released as single (split into two parts) in June 1971, but did not chart. The album was reissued by the main ABC Records label in 1974; then, after MCA Records bought out ABC, it was reissued on the MCA label. It was issued on CD in 1994 as a definitive edition remaster. A SACD /DVD double disc set (including new 5.1 and Stereo mixes) was released in 2008. Trespass sold 6,000 copies on its original release and helped
3306-486: Was required to fulfil live dates to promote Trespass . Phil Collins auditioned and joined in August, and the album was released in October. The group could not find a suitable replacement for Phillips, so they resumed gigging as a four-piece. In late 1970, they appeared on the television show Disco 2 to promote the album with Phillips' replacement, Mick Barnard . The group mimed with Gabriel singing live, who recalled
3364-484: Was written by Gabriel and Banks, the lyrics were written by Gabriel and Phillips, and the remaining sections were written by all four founding members of Genesis. It was originally titled "The Nice" as a tribute to the Nice , and the organ part on the track was styled to resemble the playing of Nice keyboardist Keith Emerson . As fans of that group, Genesis were inspired to put together a heavier rock song which Gabriel said
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