Anthony Phillips – Radio Clyde 1978 – Remastered & Expanded Edition (Cherry Red Records, 2025)
Originally recorded in July 1978, Radio Clyde 1978 captures Anthony Phillips live in session during a promotional tour for his second solo album, Wise After the Event. This newly remastered and expanded edition includes two previously unreleased bonus tracks recorded the same month at Pennine Radio in Bradford.
A founding member of Genesis, Phillips had launched his solo career in 1977 with The Geese and the Ghost, a progressive rock masterpiece deeply influenced by early Genesis. By mid-1978, following a European promotional tour, he appeared at Radio Clyde in Glasgow for a rare live-in-studio performance. The session featured selections from his first two albums, as well as early material from what would become his Private Parts & Pieces series.
Broadcast on August 29, 1978, The Anthony Phillips Session presented an hour of acoustic guitar-based compositions, complemented by the artist’s spoken introductions, some humorous, others reflective. The set included notable pieces such as the superb instrumental “Reaper,” “Conversation Piece,” “Silver Song,” and “Which Way the Wind Blows,” along with works that wouldn’t see official release until years later.
Radio Clyde 1978 – Remastered & Expanded Edition features intimate, elegant and captivating guitar and vocal songs as well as solo guitar instrumentals. As you can imagine, the lack of electric instruments makes this recording lean towards pastoral, progressive folk. However, the complexity, creativity and various moods and changes of some pieces, specially the 11-minute long “Flamingo” sounds like something that progressive rock-era Genesis would certainly play.
Unavailable for many years since its initial 2003 CD release, this 2025 edition restores the original stereo recording, previously only heard in mono, and corrects the pitch distortion present in the broadcast version. The release also features a booklet with a newly commissioned essay, providing further historical context.
The two newly added tracks from the Pennine Radio session, “Reaper” and “Which Way the Wind Blows,” offer additional insight into Phillips’ intimate live style during this period. Together, they round out a rare document of the artist’s early solo evolution, emphasizing his intricate 12-string guitar work and understated vocals.
Track Listing
- Reaper
- Moonshooter
- Flamingo
- Conversation Piece
- Silver Song
- Master of Time
- Which Way The Wind Blows
- Now What (Are They Doing To My Little Friends)?
- Field of Eternity
- Postlude: End of the Season
Bonus tracks - Reaper (session for Pennine Radio 1978)
- Which Way The Wind Blows
(session for Pennine Radio 1978)