1984

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  • Artist: Anthony Phillips
  • Rating: StarStarHalf Star
  • Release Date: 1981
  • Total Time: 41:22
  • Genre: Rock

Review

The problem with George Orwell's 1984 is that too many people want to stick their own oar into it. When David Bowie mooted transforming the novel into a musical in 1974, Orwell's widow Sonia Orwell famously asked, "Why would anyone want to set that to music?" -- and Bowie ultimately agreed with her, rewiring his initial concept as the Diamond Dogs album, and emerging all the stronger for it. Since then, other artists have been less sensitive. Rick Wakeman and the Eurythmics both famously made pig's breakfasts of the original concept, and one approaches Anthony Phillips' stab at the tale with understandable trepidation -- an emotion that only renders the overall experience all the more thrilling. Musically, it is true, 1984 is very much a child of its sonic era, as the then-latest in keyboard technology trills and flourishes around Phillips' characteristic eye for experiment and esoterics. But a predominantly instrumental concept leaves little room for the embarrassing lyrical passages that other Orwellian overtures are prey to -- indeed, without the giveaway title, little here even acknowledges any debt whatsoever to the erstwhile Eric Blair, allowing 1984 to stand instead as simply another excellent Anthony Phillips album, no more or less conceptual than any of its predecessors. ~ Dave Thompson, Rovi

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Wikipedia on Answers.com:

1984 (Anthony Phillips album)

Top
1984
Studio album by Anthony Phillips
Released June 1981
Recorded August 1980 to January 1981
Genre Progressive rock
Length 41.26
Label Blueprint/Voiceprint, Passport (US), RCA
Producer Anthony Phillips
Anthony Phillips chronology
Private Parts and Pieces II: Back to the Pavilion
(1980)
1984
(1981)
Private Parts and Pieces III: Antiques
(1982)

1984 is an album by Anthony Phillips released in 1981. It is an instrumental electronic album with some vocal effects and a variety of percussion.

The album cover features a picture of a small cage, which is presumably a reference to the cage affixed to Winston's face in Nineteen Eighty-Four. This was the first Anthony Phillips album for which Peter Cross did not create the cover artwork. The liner notes include the line "Peter Cross is on holiday with Ralph Bernascone", which is part of a running joke in which "Ralph Bernascone" is mentioned in the liner notes of several of Anthony Phillips' albums.

A remastered 2CD version of the album was released in Japan by Arcangelo Records in July 2007 as a limited edition mini-vinyl sleeve. A standard jewel case version was released in the UK by Voiceprint Records in June 2008.

The bonus CD for the reissue includes new mixes from the original 8-track masters which allow parts of the album to be heard for the first time in their original basic form. Also released for the first time is some of Ant's original music for the ATV Series Rule Britannia which was recorded at the same time as the album, the previously unheard keyboard piece "Ascension" (which was re-discovered on the original multi-track tapes during the research for this re-issue and has been mixed for the first time) and the 16-minute demo version of "Poly Piece" - a track originally written for inclusion on Sides and then considered by Ant as a possible track for 1984 in the formative stages of the album.

Track listing

All tracks written by Anthony Phillips.

  1. "Prelude '84" – 4:19
  2. "1984 Part 1" – 19:06
  3. "1984 Part 2" – 15:28
  4. "Anthem 1984" – 2:27

2008 reissue bonus CD

  1. "Prelude '84" (early stage mix) – 4:26
  2. "Ascension" – 5:16
  3. "1984 Part 1" (early stage mix) – 12:49
    Rule Britannia Suite
  4. i) Sally Theme – 1:13
  5. ii) Science & Technology – 1:17
  6. iii) Respect – 0:57
  7. iv) Church – 0:49
  8. v) Military – 1:37
  9. vi) Power In The Land – 1:43
  10. "1984 Part 2" (early stage mix) – 4:25
  11. "Anthem 1984" (early stage mix) – 2:08
  12. "Poly Piece" (demo) – 16:39

Personnel

  • Anthony Phillips: keyboards, drumbox (Roland CR-78), occasional guitar, basic percussion
  • Richard Scott: basic percussion, effects, vocal ideas
  • Morris Pert: percussion
  • 8-track recorded at Send Barns
  • Produced and Engineered by Anthony Phillips, assisted by Richard Scott
  • Mixed at Atmosphere Studios (Lexington Street)
  • Engineered by Chris David
  • Vocoder manipulated by Chris and Anita David
  • 2007/2008 Remaster by Simon Heyworth

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