| Field Day | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 17 October 2005 | |||
| Recorded | 2004–2005 | |||
| Studio | Vic's Place, London | |||
| Genre | Acoustic | |||
| Label | Blueprint (BP362CD) | |||
| Producer | Anthony Phillips | |||
| Anthony Phillips chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [1] |
Field Day is a studio double album by English multi-instrumentalist and composer Anthony Phillips, released in October 2005 by Blueprint Records.
The project was conceived in September 2001, when Phillips decided to start on a proposed "quickie" instrumental guitar album. [2] This would be his first guitar album since Private Parts & Pieces V: Twelve released in 1985, and until the early 2000s, his albums contained little fresh material. [3] By this time in his career, Phillips had considered himself "a stranger to the world of guitars", and upon entering a break in producing keyboard-based television music, thought it was the right time to practise his guitar playing. [2] Phillips took each acoustic guitar he had and practised for two or three hours each day, "in a state of great excitement but chronic rustiness". [2] After three weeks, he went through recordings of what he had played and selected the strongest sections to arrange into a complete composition for recording. By early December 2001, he had enough material to work with, and his pieces featured not only a 6-, 10-, and 12-string guitar, but the cittern, English and Greek bouzouki, charango, and mandolin. [2] [4] However, various problems arose which affected the album's progression, including Phillips becoming out of practise to perform the pieces correctly, the insufficient time to practise, and spending time on incoming library music work. [2]
In December 2003, Phillips had made two attempts to record the tracks onto tape, but each time he decided to pause and dedicate more time to practise his guitar playing. At this point, he considered releasing Field Day as part of his Private Parts & Pieces series of albums compiled of more generic music than a fully fledged release. He described the album's undertaking as "a mushrooming project that will never be finished". [4] At one point, Phillips considered the idea of releasing the music on Field Day across two separate albums to break it up, but became aware of the possibility of one containing most of the strongest material than the other, resulting in an unbalanced set. [3] Philips also wished to re-record "Nocturne", a guitar piece from Private Parts & Pieces II: Back to the Pavilion (1980) because "after thirty years [I] can't play it properly". [4] Have he had more time to work on the album, Phillips expressed an interest in having some tracks become guitar duets with another guitarist, suggesting it to Argentinian guitarist Enrique Berro Garcia, who he had worked with on his past albums. [5] Phillips decided against this as a solo guitar track after a duet may have sounded more "empty" in comparison, but had an orchestra play strings on some tracks following encouragement from Andrew Skeet. The two would make an orchestral album named Seventh Heaven, in 2012. [3]
Phillips put the album on hold until 2004, when he had enough time to resume working on it.
The sleeve cover is designed by GR/DD, based in London.
On 26 October 2018, Field Day was reissued as a 2 CD/1 DVD Deluxe Edition digipack by Esoteric Recordings which contains a remastered original mix and a new 5.1 surround sound mix (assisted by engineer James Collins). This 3-disc digipack edition includes a booklet with a new essay by Jonathan Dann and comments from Anthony Phillips. [6]
The bouzouki, also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and a long neck with a fretted fingerboard. It has steel strings and is played with a plectrum producing a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but pitched lower. There are two main types of bouzouki: the trichordo (three-course) has three pairs of strings and the tetrachordo (four-course) has four pairs of strings. The instrument was brought to Greece in the early 1900s by Greek immigrants from Anatolia, and quickly became the central instrument to the rebetiko genre and its music branches. It is now an important element of modern Laïko pop Greek music.
Anthony George Banks is an English musician, songwriter and film composer primarily known as the keyboardist and founding member of the rock band Genesis. Banks is also a prolific solo artist, releasing six solo albums that range through progressive rock, pop, and classical music.
Anthony Edwin Phillips is an English musician, songwriter, producer and singer who gained prominence as the original lead guitarist of the rock band Genesis, from 1967 to 1970. After Phillips recorded From Genesis to Revelation and Trespass with the band, he left in July 1970 and learned to play more instruments before he began a solo career.
Battlefield Band are a Scottish traditional music group. Founded in Glasgow in 1969, they have released over 30 albums and undergone many changes of lineup. As of 2010, none of the original founders remain in the band.
David Perry Lindley is an American musician who founded the band El Rayo-X, and who has worked with many other performers including Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, Curtis Mayfield and Dolly Parton. He has mastered such a wide variety of instruments that Acoustic Guitar magazine referred to Lindley not as a multi-instrumentalist, but instead as a "maxi-instrumentalist."
The Irish bouzouki is an adaptation of the Greek bouzouki. The newer Greek tetrachordo bouzouki was introduced into Irish traditional music in the mid-1960s by Johnny Moynihan of the folk group Sweeney's Men. Alec Finn, first in the Cana Band and subsequently in De Dannan, introduced the first more-traditional Greek trichordo bouzouki into Irish music.
Private Parts and Pieces VI: Ivory Moon is the eleventh studio album by English multi-instrumentalist and composer Anthony Phillips. It was released in January 1986 by Passport Records in the United States and Canada as the sixth instalment in his Private Parts & Pieces album series featuring tracks that were not included on his full studio releases. Ivory Moon features solely piano pieces written between 1971 and 1985, and recorded in August 1985. It is Phillips's first album that does not feature his guitar work.
1984 is the sixth studio album by English musician and composer Anthony Phillips, released in June 1981 on RCA Records. The album marks a change in musical style for Phillips as it is synthesiser-oriented compared to most of his previous albums which focused on more folk and acoustic music. After the music had been recorded, Phillips named the album after George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949).
The Geese & the Ghost is the first studio album by English musician and songwriter Anthony Phillips, released in March 1977 on Hit & Run Music in the United Kingdom and Passport Records in the United States. It was originally intended to be an album by Phillips and his former Genesis bandmate Mike Rutherford, but Rutherford's difficulty in devoting time to the project ended the idea. The album reached number 191 on the Billboard 200.
Sides is the fourth studio album by English musician and composer Anthony Phillips. It was released in April 1979 by Arista Records in the United Kingdom and in June 1979 on Passport Records in the United States. After completing Private Parts & Pieces (1978), an album of home recordings that Phillips had recorded years before but remained unreleased, Phillips returned to making a commercial record. The UK release saw the first 5,000 copies of Sides packaged with a Collectors Album edition of Private Parts & Pieces.
Private Parts & Pieces is the third studio album by English musician and composer Anthony Phillips. It was released in November 1978 by Passport Records in the United States, and in April 1979 by Arista Records in the United Kingdom. Unlike his previous two releases, the album is a collection of demos, out-takes, and previously unreleased material rather than an explicit attempt at a commercial album.
Private Parts & Pieces II: Back to the Pavilion is the fifth studio album by English musician and composer Anthony Phillips, released in April 1980 on Passport Records in the United States and Canada. It is the second instalment in his Private Parts & Pieces album series of previously recorded pieces that had been parts of or intended for other projects. Back to the Pavilion includes tracks recorded for Wise After the Event (1978), music during his time as a member of Genesis, and those commissioned as part of an aborted project to set Macbeth to music. It features musical contributions from Andy McCulloch and his former Genesis bandmate Mike Rutherford.
Private Parts and Pieces IV: A Catch at the Tables is the ninth studio album by English multi-instrumentalist and composer Anthony Phillips. It was released in April 1984 by Passport Records as the fourth instalment to his generic album series, Private Parts & Pieces. A release in the United Kingdom followed in 1990 by Virgin Records.
Invisible Men is the eighth studio album by English multi-instrumentalist and composer Anthony Phillips. It was released in October 1983 by Passport Records in the United States and in April 1984 by Street Tunes in the United Kingdom. After he released his Private Parts & Pieces III: Antiques, the third instalment in his generic album series, Phillips started work on his next full studio album. Phillips was pressured by his US label Passport Records to deliver more radio friendly songs, and produced Invisible Men as a collaborative effort with musician and songwriter Richard Scott.
Miguel del Águila is an Uruguayan-born American composer of contemporary classical music.
The Dream is the second and final album by American country music duo John & Audrey Wiggins. It was released in 1997 via Mercury Records. The album includes the single "Somewhere in Love", which peaked at number 49 on Hot Country Songs.
Private Parts & Pieces III: Antiques is the seventh studio album by English multi-instrumentalist and composer Anthony Phillips. It was released in March 1982 by Passport Records in the United States and in October 1982 by RCA International in the United Kingdom as the third instalment to his Private Parts & Pieces album series. After releasing his full studio album 1984 (1981), Phillips entered a collaboration with Argentine musician Enrique Berro Garcia who he first met in 1978.
Slow Dance is a studio album by English musician and songwriter Anthony Phillips, released in September 1990 on Virgin Records. It is a 50-minute instrumental suite divided into two parts. The music was composed by Phillips and performed by himself with additional musicians.
Private Parts & Pieces VII: Slow Waves, Soft Stars is the twelfth studio album by English multi-instrumentalist and composer Anthony Phillips. It was released in August 1987 in the United States by Audion Recording as the seventh instalment in his Private Parts & Pieces album series. The album sees Phillips explore ambient and new-age music with synthesisers and guitars.
Private Parts & Pieces VIII: New England is a studio album by English multi-instrumentalist and composer Anthony Phillips. It was released in August 1992 on Venture Records as the eighth edition of his Private Parts & Pieces album series.
