I love YouTube. Yeah, I know a lot of musicians and TV companies moan about it because they see it as impinging on their copyright (I think it’s more because they lost the jump on the Internet and couldn’t figure out how to turn their creative endeavours into a successful revenue stream) but I love YouTube purely for the fact that clips turn up that I will never get the chance to see anywhere else. Little snippets of TV, performances from musicians I am never going to see, music videos that are long forgotten and not commercial enough never to be given a proper release.
And so I present Anthony Phillips. Mr Phillips is a big influence on me and I love his approach to the 12-string guitar. HIs claim to fame is that he was the original guitarist from prog-rock band Genesis but he bailed out with chronic stagefright early in the band’s career to be replaced by Steve Hacket (another music influence). The thing about Phillips is, like Hackett, he’s been incredibly prolific in music and although you’ve probably never bought one of his records, there’s a strong chance you might have watched a nature program (like ITV’s old Survival series) that featured his library music. Anyway, here he is performing one of my faves “Lights on the Hill” from his “A Catch at the Tables”:

« »