ANTHONY PHILLIPS & ANDREW SKEET
Swift extended reissue for Classic FM-approved orchestral sketches.
Recent years have seen growing interest in the work of the man who left Genesis after Trespass. Mike Rutherford described his departure as a bigger wrench than that of Gabriel or Hackett, and while most fans would beg to differ, it underlines Phillips’ importance to the band’s nascent sound. His solo albums since then have struggled to match the whimsical promise of 1977’s The Geese And The Ghost, but he’s moved deeper into classical and soundtrack areas, settling into a niche in which he appears comfortable. Seventh Heaven is a collection of orchestral and symphonic pieces, numerous but short, which just six years after its initial release gets the full top-hat-and-tails remastered/repackaged treatment. Originally a double album, it now arrives as a four-disc clamshell box with bonus unreleased tracks plus a DVD Surround Sound mix.
Talking of Rutherford, perhaps the hot ticket here is the inclusion of Take This Heart, a 1973 recording of a hymn he and Phillips wrote.
It’s old school, in the sense that they went back to their alma mater Charterhouse and enlisted that establishment’s Choral Society. And it really is a hymn, and thus possibly the least rock’n’roll thing you’ve ever heard. In context, however, it fits. Andrew Skeet’s illustrious career has taken in arranging for George Michael and Suede and he’s been musical director for The Divine Comedy since 2004. He guides Phillips’ compositions as they glide between benign beauty and the kind of thing you’d hear as the theme music to a 70s TV historical drama about an Irish family’s love of their faithful horse. Ultimately, it feels like one small if effective element of what made Genesis great. It was the fusion of such dignified directions with the hurry and scurry of rock and jazz which sparked their innovations. This all feels slightly precious, as if you’re required to be on your best behaviour, in church, with your grandparents watching. It’s pretty, but hard to eulogise as much more.