In the mid-1960s, two notable bands emerged from the rarified cloisters of Charterhouse Public School in rural Surrey: The Anon, with guitarists Anthony Phillips and Mike Rutherford and The Garden Wall, a unit driven by the duo of Peter Gabriel and Tony Banks. Following the 1966 end-of-term school concert, these two bands merged, leading to the first lineup of Genesis. Phillips remained with Genesis until July 1970, when stage fright and ill health forced him to quit. He embarked on a long course of musical self-improvement that would produce an impressive technique on both guitar and keyboards, leading to a flourishing solo career, commencing with his first solo album, The Geese& The Ghost, in 1977.In this book, Alan Draper looks at Anthony Phillips' solo output, from his 1977 debut album through to his most successful long-form work, Slow Dance, in 1990 and the various Private Parts And Pieces collections. Also included are the two Archive Collection albums, released after this date, as they contain previously unheard material from the pre-1990 period. In the 21st century, Phillips' albums have become widely available via beautifully packaged box sets, providing the perfect opportunity to explore his impressive body of work once again.
Alan Draper is a writer and musician living in Fareham, Hampshire, with his wife, Radiance. Starting his musical career as guitarist with The Alsatians in 1978, he wrote both sides of their 1980 single: 'Teen Romance'/'Our Man In Marrakesh'. His song 'Complications' featured on the album Rocking With The Renees by The Gymslips, a top twenty hit on the independent chart in 1983. His first solo album Earth Magic appeared in 1989, followed by Ascension Day in 1999, both displaying folk, classical and progressive rock influences. He is also the author of Stackridge: On Track and The Divine Comedy: On Track.
Born on 23 December 1951, Anthony Phillips spent his earliest years growing up in the London Borough of Putney until he was packed off to prep school at eight years old. To be suddenly marooned at St Edmunds School, located at Hindhead, in the depths of rural Surrey and far from his parents seemed, to the quiet youngster, a draconian experience to endure. Ant has compared it to being stuck in a horror movie or a POW camp! However, with impressive resolve, he soon buckled down and dug deep to survive this daunting childhood experience. Music only became a passion to him with the advent of The Beatles, at which point he took to the guitar with gusto, inspired by The Shadows’ guitarist Hank Marvin. Thankfully, Ant’s parents were fully supportive of his musical ambitions, ensuring that he was soon equipped with a Fender Stratocaster electric guitar and a Vox AC30 amplifier, gear of this quality being a rare thing for a soon-to-be-teen back in those days! He also undertook a series of lessons on guitar basics from another of his early musical heroes, classical guitarist Dave Channon. With his new school buddy, Rivers Job (whose surname was pronounced asJobe), who was already the proud owner of a Fender Precision bass guitar, Ant formed his first band, which came together in 1964 and rejoiced under the name of The Spiders. Copying Beatles tunes provided a good musical grounding for the young band.
Later that year, Rivers Job was relocated to Charterhouse Public School near Godalming, a town situated 11 miles northeast of Hindhead on the A3. At 13 years old, Ant followed suit, being inducted into Charterhouse in April 1965 to be once again reunited with his bass-playing pal. The pair of them soon became part of a new band, The Anon, along with Rob Tyrell on drums and Richard Macphail on vocals. This new outfit were also soon joined by Charterhouse rebel Mike Rutherford, initially playing rhythm guitar on a Rickenbacker six-string borrowed from school friend John Alexander. The first significant gig for The Anon took place on Thursday 16 December 1965 at the Charterhouse ‘School Entertainment’ multi-media event, held in the school hall. With seven bands on the bill, The Anon only had a three-song set, showing a heavy reliance on The Rolling Stones’Out Of Our Heads album. Shortly before the curtain was due to go up, a potential disaster was narrowly averted when it transpired that Mike Rutherford had no guitar lead and a mad scramble ensued to furnish him with one before the curtain rose. Happily, The Anon duly dispatched an enthusiastic set, consisting of ‘We’ve Got A Good Thing Going’, Chuck Berry’s ‘Talkin’ ‘Bout You’ and the well-covered deep soul classic ‘That’s How Strong My Love Is’, all previously covered by The Rolling Stones. Meanwhile, Ant was having a bash at writing his own songs, and in the spring of 1966, The Anon decided to record a demo of Ant’s new song, ‘Pennsylvania Flickhouse’. This demo would see the light of day 56 years later when Esoteric Records issued the Anthony Phillips compilationThe Archive Collection Volume I& Volume II in 2022 (see later chapter). For the demo session, the band cajoled Ant’s mum into transporting their gear in her Mercedes while the band travelled by bus to record at Tony Pike Sound Studios in Dryburgh Road, Putney.
The Charterhouse end-of-term concert in July 1966 proved to be a watershed moment for Ant when The Anon performed with fellow Charterhouse band, The Garden Wall. This latter aggregation included older pupils Peter Gabriel on vocals and Tony Banks on piano, along with trumpeter Johnny Trapman and drummer Chris Stewart. To bolster up their sound, The Garden Wall, who were performing first, invited Ant on guitar and Rivers Job on bass to join them for the
