Anthony Phillips
Dragonfly Dreams: Private Parts & Pieces IX

THE REVIEW

Joyful and somewhat dreamy guitar in this beautiful album by Anthony Phillips from 1996, the ninth in the 'Private Parts & Pieces' series. We find ourselves in the realm of early Andreas Vollenweider, without a harp, but with 'Behind The Garden'-like atmospheres.

An album to fall asleep under the warm autumn sun of this time of year. Anthony also gifts us a wonderful sung piece "She'll Be Waiting" and a very short soprano suite "Night Song". The classical guitar is mostly played by Enrique Berro Garcia, an Argentinian who, after selling a lot in his homeland with a pop band, dedicated himself to somewhat more serious music.

This is the third collaboration between the two artists, with previous ones occurring in 1982 ("Antiques") and 1987 ("Slow Waves", "Soft Stars"). There is no trace of Phillips' past with Genesis, nothing that could even remotely recall his origins, though it had been almost 30 years since the separation by 1996.

This is an impromptu, honest album, almost a soundtrack. It is neither new age nor ambient, though it has the compositional calmness that characterizes these genres, but it never falls into the clichés that often envelop this type of work. The richness of harmonics in the guitar playing and the right amount of electronics are to be appreciated.

It is indeed the perfect blend of these two elements that make this work delicate, extremely elegant, and never obvious.