"Creating an Atmosphere" - Anthony Phillips' latest library albums reviewed by Alan Hewitt.

The composition and creation of library music has become an increasingly important part of Anthony's career over the last few years and he has produced many albums for various TV library companies, the most important of these being for Atmosphere. Library music is specifically composed for use in TV programmes, documentaries; advertisements etc. It is designed to evoke moods; describe situations (comic, dramatic; horrific etc) and usually is not available to the general public but instead is produced on these albums to comprise a "library" of music available to TV producers etc for their programmes. Anthony has been able to bring some of this music to the fans via the "Missing Links" series of albums but there is still much more that has not yet been made available including much that is on the albums which form the basis of this feature.

Soundscapes 2 is the latest full scale album of Anthony's compositions for Atmosphere, completed earlier this year. The music on the album is grouped into themed categories such as "Ethereal Themes" and "Science And Technology" and within each of those categories, Anthony has drawn suitably evocative music. Bear in mind that much of this music is designed to accompany moving images and may only be used for fleeting moments within a programme. Many of the pieces here are ideal for documentaries on a wide range of subjects. We are already familiar with the work which Anthony and his collaborator Joji Hirota have created for varying "Survival" wildlife documentaries over the years. Here are examples of the multitude of other works which you may hear on TV at some point without even realising it is Anthony's work!

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Two intriguing compilations; Acoustic Guitar Solos and Piano Solos have also been put together recently for the FTV Media company. Basically, these albums are samplers which draw from material which fans will be VERY familiar with. Completely re-titled, the majority of these compositions originated in the Private Parts & Pieces album series but here they are drawn together as prospective demos of the kind of music which may prove useful for television companies and as we all know Anthony's archive is replete with such excellent music!

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