Search - Anthony Phillips :: Private Parts & Pieces 9: Dragonfly Dr

One of Ant's Better Works

John Beam | Phillipsburg, NJ USA | 01/07/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"One of the more recent installments of Anthony Phillip's 'Private Parts and Pieces' series, and one of the better as well,'Dragonfly Dreams' succedes in demonstrating both Ant's considerable talent as a guitarist as well as composer. The compositions are consistent throughout, capturing what is essential about Phillip's music, sentimental but possesing an underlying strength, taking the listener away on a peaceful little journey (one often feels like Ant's music opens up a little portal to some quietly peaceful forest where one might encounter the odd pixie...or at least a magical chipmunk:), and just washing away any stress that one builds up through the day.
Ant's guitar playing is, of course, central throughout, and as is typical of his work, the playing is carefully executed and the compositions are well considered and developed. The 'Private Parts and Pieces' series itself has it's ups and downs (the solo instrumentals 'Twelve' and 'Ivory Moon' are a bit on the unexciting side - Ant's best works are more varied instrumentally), but this is probably one of the three or four best discs out of the bunch. Definately recommended for fans of Ant's. and generally a recording that would appeal to many fans of progressive rock or new age."

Pleasant Surprise

L. Cornell | Layton UT, USA | 08/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Anthony Phillips has produced an enormous amount of output over his musical career. The releases can vary greatly in quality. It was with some mild reservation I purchased this CD wondering whether this would be "1984" (really bad) or "Geese & the Ghost" (really great) in quality.



"Dragonfly Dreams" is now one my favorites, not just from Ant's, but from my whole CD collection. I've heard almost all of Ant's CDs and this one is probably in the top five.



This CD of guitar and electronic music strikes me on several levels. It is consistently good.



I'll start with the guitar tracks. Compositionally, the guitar pieces are often brilliant. Give a listen to "Old Faithful" - wow! Enrique Berro Garcia is an amazingly good contributor. All of the guitar tracks (at least half the disc) are great. The sonic quality of not only the guitar tracks, but also the rest of the material, is the best I've found on any Ant CD, thanks to Chris Thorpe, who mastered this recording. Most have classical styling, but then you have a piece like "Quango" that has a 'Django Reinhardt' feel to it. Some of them have some synth string accompaniment.



There is only one vocal track, "She'll Be Waiting." It's a stunningly beautiful song sung perfectly by Terry Medhurst, and is superior compared with many of Ant's earlier vocal compositions.



I am not the biggest fan of electronic music, but "Lostwithiel" is my favorite track on the CD. "Under the Ice" is the companion track and the two should be listened-to together. I'll now have to rethink my preference for electronic music. The last track, "Lost and Found," is sort of a reprise of Lostwithiel, and is a stunningly beautiful end.



The only track I found slightly annoying is a track called "Night Song" which has synth voice and Roland JD800, and which doesn't seem to ever end. But this was the only one unlistenable track out of 18.



All in all, a great CD of pleasant relaxing music with Spanish/Classical styling and superb production. If you like any of Mr. Phillips' instrumental work, I highly recommend this one."