PRIVATE PARTS & PIECES

And with this album an artist finds his niche. Earlier works by Anthony were excellent explorations of acoustic soundscaping, clever and intricate songwriting, and more simplistic and to the point pop songwriting. Phillips did excell in all three albums before this, but he just couldn't seem to find a mass audience. I believe that after the commercial failure of Sides, he simply gave up trying to be a big pop star. Except for a transparent 80's pop album with Invisible Men, Anthony stuck to his own insular, individualistic instrumental work. And that started with this album, a collection of demos, leftovers, experiments, and work recorded simply for his own entertainment. It was a bold album to release: an artist who had cult success, at best, releasing a collection of stuff he had only intended for his own listening experience. It's kind of like the Scoop series by Pete Townshend, but by a much less established artist. However, the Private Parts and Pieces is a lot like Scoop in that it doesn't represent bad work at all: in fact, both series often represent the best work of both artists. By releasing work that Anthony had done for himself, he inadavertanly releases an album that shows off the true ranges of his talent.

On most of this album, Anthony plays the instruments. He varies between guitar and piano, mostly. He plays a wide variety of styles: there are short Chopin sound-alikes and wild flaminco guitar epics. Throughout the album, one really starts to understand where Phillip's muse really lies. It's hard to describe the music on an album like this. It's pretty, memorable, and occasionally even beautiful.