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After his brief tenure in the original Genesis line-up, Anthony Phillips embarked on a solo career that saw him trying on different genre hats. By the 90s he’d carved out a career as a composer of library and production music – tracks that are available to be licensed for use in commercials, corporate videos and the like.
That’s very much the style and sound of 1994’s Sail The World, written and recorded for television coverage of the Whitbread Round The World Yacht Race. While Phillips is known as an accomplished guitarist, the sound is dominated by synthesisers and the music seems to strive to be unobtrusive, intended to play in the background of shots of yachts gliding smoothly over the waves in the sunshine, allowing plenty of space for commentary to sit on top of it.
This two-CD reissue bolsters the original 1994 release with three bonus tracks, and includes a second disc containing four alternate mixes and 11 previously unreleased cuts from recording sessions.
Percussionist Joji Hirota appears on four tracks including Salsa I and Salsa II which, as their name implies, tap into a Brazilian carnival atmosphere. Those are two of the livelier numbers, although the sound and production are once again dominated by synths, and it feels a little stilted compared to the energy of a batucada ensemble in full flow.
The release includes a 24-page booklet with extensive notes on the making of the album and a track-by-track analysis that covers all the previously unheard material, with plenty of insight from Phillips into his approach as a composer.
Everything has been remastered by Simon Heyworth at Super Audio Mastering, and it all sounds bright and clear. It’s just that the music itself isn’t particularly commanding of the listener’s attention. Sail The World doesn’t stand up on its own in quite the same way as the soundtrack work of Tangerine Dream or Mogwai. It’s polite and unobtrusive almost to a fault.
Sail The World – Remastered And Expanded Edition is on sale now.