GLENN PHILLIPS BAND
Dark Lights
[Snow Star]

Okay. A lot of people complain they don't understand my enthusiasm over the Glenn Phillips Band and its music. After all, it is just music; instrumental, no lyrics, no vocals. And therein lies the reason for my continued praise of this guitarist and his choice of musicians. This is mood music - but not exactly the kind you'd catch Mantovani and his Mystic Moods Orchestra doing a cover of. It has beaches. It has mountains. It's mysterious. It's obvious. It's hot. It's cruel. It roars! It whimpers. It's real life, even though it's make-believe.

Dark Lights marks Phillips' third effort since leaving the legendary band that has in some way stigmatized him and every other musician involved in it (i.e., the Hampton Grease Band). With Dark Lights, Phillips finally offers his listeners a chance to hear exactly what his band is all about.

The first record, Lost At Sea, was raw and energetic, yet the home recorded quality, coupled with the fact there was no existing band at the time, produced a different sound than when the material was presented live. By the time of the second album, Swim in the Wind, the nucleus of the band was set with guitarist Phillips, bass player Bill Rea and drummer Doug Landsberg. Of course, with the large sum of advance money Virgin Records offered Phillips to record Swim In The Wind, he overdubbed every available instrument except the kitchen sink, making the record sound nothing like the band does live.

Finally, Phillips and Co. have settled down, more or less. (Keyboard player Dana Nelson, who appears on the record, has been replaced by Jay Shirley). Dark Lights was recorded live in the studio with only minor rhythm guitar overdubs to present the band as it sounds onstage, and it works. These ten instrumental compositions combine the intensity of Phillips' guitar playing with the complexity of the other three musicians' webwork of sounds, making for a clean record that ranges in its elements from guitar-hero pyrotechnics to a heavily rock-emphasized side of jazz-rock fusion.

Dark Lights may not have vocals, but it proves Phillips does have something to say in a more universal language. And yes, I'm sure they'll love it in Haiti. The address for Snow Star Records, if you can't find these LP's in your local record shop, is 1467 Canoochee Drive, Atlanta 30319.

-Tony Paris

(with apologies to National Lampoon Radio Dinner)