Search - Anthony Phillips :: 1984

The Best Synth Album Of All-Time

Alan Caylow | USA | 09/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Anthony Phillips was the original guitarist for Genesis (he played on their first two albums, "From Genesis To Revelation" and "Trespass"). Since leaving the band in 1970, he has embarked on a long, productive solo career, making many brilliant solo albums of all different styles of music: rock, pop, classical, new age, guitar and synth. He is also a master instrumentalist, and one of the finest guitarists and keyboard-players around. Oddly, Phillips' solo career has always seemed to fly just under most people's radar. He has never racked up massive sales, and yet, he HAS racked up more solo album releases than any other former Genesis member---about 25 so far! Picking one album of Anthony's as my personal favorite is *extremely* difficult, as he has so many magnificent albums. But I'm going to pick this one---"1984" (actually released in 1981). With only the most sparing bits of guitar appearing here & there, "1984" is a synthesiser album. And it is also my personal pick for Best Synth Album Of All-Time. (Strange, you say...shouldn't I be giving this honor to Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks? Well, Tony IS the Keyboard King of course, but, truth be told, he's never really recorded a *strictly* synthesiser album in his long musical career, even though the keyboard is always the dominant instrument of Tony's.) "1984" is basically a 35-minute synthesiser suite in two parts, bookended with both a prologue and epilogue piece at both ends. And it is phenomenal. To make a long review short, it is very arguably THE most adventurous album Phillips has ever recorded, as he takes the listener on an amazing journey of sounds, moods, and atmospheres. The music is at turns light & poppy (in particular Prelude '84), but also very dramatic, haunting, and captivating. From beginning to end it is absolutely breathtaking stuff. It's a perfect album to play late at night with the lights out, too. Just put it on and let Anthony sweep you away! There are synth albums, and then there are GREAT synth albums. Anthony Phillips' "1984" is undoubtedly one of the great ones. Yes, it is pretty surprising to be picking "1984" as my personal favorite Anthony Phillips album, when Anthony is most well-known for being a guitarist (and oh, what a guitarist he is). But "1984" is truly something special."