Private Parts and Pieces

Private Parts and Pieces is the third solo album from guitarist Anthony Phillips. Unlike his previous releases, this one was assembled as a collection of instrumental music, rather than as an explicit attempt at a commercial album. It was first released in the U.S. in November 1978. The April 1979, UK release was a limited edition sold with the first 5,000 copies of Sides. Although the album itself came at an awkward time for Phillips, whose contract with Arista had run its course, the non-commercial Private Parts and Pieces format proved successful or useful enough to him to become a series of albums in its own right.

While Phillips had previously credited a good deal of his non-guitar work under pseudonyms, on this album the credits were straightforward. Peter Cross did the artwork for the album.

Two of the pieces on the original LP ("Beauty and the Beast" and "Autumnal") were recorded in 1972; the remainder of the tracks were recorded in 1976. The original album notes state that "Field of Eternity" contains "a snippet of an old, unrecorded Genesis song." Upon the release of Genesis Archive 1967–75, it became clear that this "unrecorded" song was "Pacidy."

The 1990 CD reissue of Private Parts and Pieces included two new, solo recordings of material that date from Phillips' time in Genesis. These songs were a new recording of “Stranger” and a demo version of “Silver Song”.

In 2010, as part of Voiceprint’s re-issue campaign of Phillips' back catalogue, the album was re-issued as a double CD where the second CD was the second in the PP&P series: Private Parts and Pieces II: Back to the Pavilion. This release is newly re-mastered by Simon Heyworth, retains the two bonus tracks from the previous CD release, and adds a new bonus track, “Movement IV from Guitar Quintet”, which was recorded in 1976 and had never been released.

On September 11, 2015, Esoteric Recordings (a Cherry Red Records label) released a 5-disc box set containing the first four volumes in the Private Parts and Pieces series and a 5th disc of previously unreleased material.

Track listing

All songs written by Anthony Phillips except where indicated.

1. "Beauty and the Beast" – 4:08
2. "Field of Eternity" (Phillips, Mike Rutherford) – 5:10
3. "Tibetan Yak-Music" – 6:09
4. "Lullaby — Old Father Time" – 1:15
5. "Harmonium in the Dust (or Harmonious Stradosphore)" – 2:29
6. "Tregenna Afternoons" – 7:49
7. "Stranger" (Phillips, Rutherford) – 6:08 (CD reissue bonus track)
8. "Reaper" – 7:38
9. "Autumnal" – 5:57
10. "Flamingo" – 11:06
11. "Seven Long Years" – 2:58
12. "Silver Song" (demo) (Phillips, Rutherford) – 3:19 (CD reissue bonus track)
13. "Movement IV from Guitar Quintet" – 7:08 (2010 CD reissue bonus track)

Personnel

• Anthony Phillips: 12 String Guitar, Classical Guitar, Piano, Electric Guitar, Pin Piano, Harmonium, Vocals
• Harry Williamson: "Graphics" on "Tibetan Yak Music"
• Produced by Anthony Phillips
• Except "Tibetan Yak Music" - produced by Harry Williamson

Miscellanea

Though Private Parts and Pieces is officially considered Anthony Phillips' fourth album, it was actually released in North America a few months before Sides was released anywhere. In addition, the cover of Sides makes references to the covers of previous works, with Private Parts and Pieces clearly being the third (after The Geese And The Ghost and Wise After The Event).