WISE AFTER THE EVENT

Anthony Phillips second album "Wise After The Event" shows him doing a song-based album, a departure from his excellent debut. His management encouraged him to take this route in order to establish himself as a solo performer in his own right. It's interesting that Steve Hackett also moved from that GENESIS album based style on his second release. In both cases I think they pale when compared to their debuts, but that's coming from the mind of a Progressive music fan of course. I do like this album and I don't mind Ant's vocals, but part way through the second half of this record when we get some orchestration i'm done. Cool to see that Michael Giles and Mel Collins both formerly of KING CRIMSON play on here. John G Perry (CARAVAN) plays bass and Rupert Hine has his greasy hands all over this album in producing and playing on it.

"We're All As We Lie" is acoustic guitar a beat and vocals. I like this one because it reminds me of early PINK FLOYD. "Birdsong And Reprise" is more acoustic guitar and reserved vocals. Synths 2 1/2 minutes in then it turns fuller briefly as contrasts continue.

"Moonshooter" is acoustic guitar and reserved vocals. It's fuller before 1 1/2 minutes with drums and piano. "Wise After The Event" might be the best track on here. Atmosphere to start then strummed guitar before a minute the drums followed by vocals. Piano is next after 2 minutes. Nice bass here too. I'm reminded of GENESIS at times.

"Pulling Faces" has some rare energy then it settles some when the vocals arrive. It picks back up as the tempo continues to shift. "Regrets" is my least favourite with the orchestration. "Green House" is again vocals, acoustic guitar and a beat but it turns fuller quickly.

"Paperchase" is mellow as reserved vocals join in. It kicks in after a minute then settles as contrasts continue. "Now What (Are They Doing To My Little Friends?)" has some mellotron on it and themes are repeated.The best song of the second half right here. "Squirrel" reminds me that this morning as I was just getting back from walking the dog my cat was chasing a squirrel off of our front lawn.This is mellow with vocals and piano throughout.

For me this is 3.5 stars on the nose. I debated in bumping it up to 4 stars but I just can't do it right now, especially when I rated "The Geese And The Ghost" with 4 stars and this is a definite step down from that album. Still this is the kind of music that's perfect for a lazy Summer's afternoon.