Anthony Phillips - Invisible Men (15 tracks) +Album Reviews

Journey into Pop

L. Cornell | Layton UT, USA | 12/25/1999

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Ant has attempted to enter mainstream pop with this release, with tightly written, commercially palatable tunes. This attempt often fails to succeed in various points throughout the disk, as the compositional strengths of Ant do not seem to fit the pop mold. Other times it connects, such as "Going for Broke", which sounds almost like Mike + the Mechanics, and "Love in a Hot Air Balloon." Here though, the lyrics walk a fine line between quaint and silly while the tune is quite catchy. Some of the tracks seem strained in trying to be "poppish" and are downright unlistenable, but as you are about to give up, you find some true gems, like "My Time has Come" and "Ballad of Penlee."Thus this CD is quite hard to rate, and others are like not as harsh. I'd give it 2 1/2 but I put two since I can't give 1/2's. "Wise After the Event" it ain't in terms of originality and creativity."

Excellent Anthony!

Russ Bellinger | Bradenton, Florida USA | 08/29/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD is absolutely phenominal. I don't know what those other
guys were hearing, but I have been a musician since the age of
9 years old (I am now 46) and this CD sounds fantastic to me!
I bought the LP back around 84 and listened to it hundreds of
times. Still sounds just as great as any of Anthony's pieces.
Wish that he could have been more successful with this and
maybe some of his fans in the USA could have seen him tour.
I f you like Genesis ,Trespass through Duke, you will most likely
be able to appreciate the enourmous amount of creativity going
on here. Traces is a favorite! Anthony is severely underrated!"

DEFINITIVE MASTER STROKE

wwdove@pacbell.net | Los Angeles, California | 02/03/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is it. This is Phillips' definitive work. Here, he competes with fellow/ex-bandmates Mike, Tony, Phil and Peter and shows his replacement STEVE HACKETT that he is in their league when it comes to writing strong yet interesting music. The heavy handed GOING FOR BROKE has the flair that one gets accustomed to when one is a GENESIS fan. He just rips it up on this track. The ghostly and melodic FALLING FOR LOVE AGAIN is as good as anything you'll hear in this genre. LOVE IN A HOT AIR BALLOON and GURU are sublime as is the humorous GOLDEN BODIES. A wide range of emotion and thought is explored and the result is the absolute defining Phillips album. Look out Phil, Mike, Tony, Peter and Steve."

If nothing else, has Ant's best vocals

DM | 02/29/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This attempt by Ant Phillips to go "pop" has its ups and downs. Some of the songs are weak while others are actually quite well-written. The music is quite good on most but is brought down by the very obvious drum machines. The most notable feature of this album, though, is that Ant's usually rather weak voice comes across sounding quite strong for once. I don't know why he didn't sound more like this before, and I especially wonder why he generally hasn't sounded as good (or even sung much) since.

A few songs are sung by the "other" Invisible Men member, Richard Scott (who otherwise apparently has nothing to do but program the obnoxious drum machines). Scott is a strong enough singer, but I find his tracks oddly unconvincing for reasons I can't pinpoint. His best moment, by a very long shot, is the bonus track "The Ballad Of Penlee."

Worth checking out if you're an Ant fan who's not averse to pop, or an Ant fan who'd like to hear him sing his best.

(Note: Many copies of this CD have an odd gap in the sound on the song "Falling For Love" -- apparently a mastering mistake. Maybe this has been fixed at some point, perhaps on the limited edition. Or, just to be safe, you can try digging up the original Virgin issue with the less-colorful cover.)

"

Good considering time era

Michael G. Danna | Bellingham, WA | 09/09/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"When I bought this LP back in the 80s I have to say I was in agreement with the negative reviewers from the past. I listened to this a few times and just had to throw on the shelf. In the late 90s I listened to this again and I have to say the song writing and musicianship here is better than most of the shlock that came out in that era. Listening to it in that perspective rather than topping "Wise and After the Event" made me appreciate it much better. Check out his latest release "Field Day". More acoustic guitar but definetely my favorite so far."

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