THE GEESE AND THE GHOST

I recently purchased the cd of this, as I bought the original on vinyl when it came out, and, not possessing a record player any more, have been unable to listen to it for a long time now. On hearing it again, it confirms my opinion that this is probably Phillip's strongest effort. For those who like gentle, pastoral, contemplative music, full of acoustic guitars and soft melodies, this is for you. For those who like biting guitars, loud vocals and complicated compositions, this won't interest you. Without a doubt, this is the closest Phillips got to sounding like his Genesis pals, for the majority of this was composed with his old songwritng partner, Mike Rutherford, who also plays guitars here, and a surprising plethora of other instruments too. With Phil Collins singing two songs here, we do have a certain Genesis feel on the album. But this is sparser than his old band's albums. (Interesting fact here, Steve Hackett's debut masterpiece, "Voyage Of The Acolyte", also has Rutherford and Collins guesting on it. Makes you wonder if Tony Banks suffered from bad B.O. He never seems to appear with any of his colleagues on anything, does he?) Anyway, highlights here include "Which Way The Wind Blows", sung by Collins, which would sit nicely on the "Trespass" album, "Henry: Portraits From Tudor Times", which is an eight piece suite, quite short, but excellent, totally instrumental, with nice guitar and woodwind. "The Geese And The Ghost Parts 1 & 2" is also a highlight, the sporadic, short appearance of drums on this opus being all the more remarkable as it would appear that Phillips (and also Rutherford!) played these! (Wonder what Collins thought of that?) However, 99% of the album is drumless, so it didn't require a great technician to supply the odd thump, or crash of cymbal. "Sleepfall: The Geese Fly West" is a lovely piano piece, reminding us all that Phillips is also an expert on keyboards too. (Interesting speculation here. Suppose, instead of Phillips leaving the band in '70, Banks had left instead. Would Phillips have turned to the keyboard, allowing Hackett to still join? Fascinating conjecture, don't you think?) On the cd, there is a bonus track, "Master Of Time (Demo)". Unfortunately, this doesn't show off Phillips' voice in any great light, but the guitar work is very atmospheric here, especially at the end. (Last interesting fact! Did you know that, in the early days of Genesis, it was a toss up who was going to be the singer in the band. It was between Gabriel and Phillips. [I kid you not!] Methinks the right man won!) This is an excellent addition to any collection, and if you are into relaxing, intelligent music, skillfully played, you should have this.