Alan Phillips - Like In A Movie/ Baby Do

Welsh singer-songwriter and Mott The Hoople hopeful's debut 45

Label: RCA

Year of Release: 1973

Here's a single I've been after for years, partly because I've come across recommendations on collector's sites before, and partly because it tickles every damn nerve-ending in my record collector's body. High-profile glam connections? Check. Big Jim Sullivan sessioning on it? Yes. Artist managed by Robert Stigwood? Of course. Huge music business hopeful whose career largely passed unnoticed? Why, Alan Phillips could barely look more like "Left and to the Back" fodder if he literally knocked on my door and sold me his story face-to-face.

Sadly, about the only information I've managed to dig up on Phillips was written by Anthony Brockway of the Babylon Wales blog, and obviously I'd feel very uncomfortable about replicating his research and passing it off as my own here - so please do read his webpage if possible and listen to this radio interview which will bring you up to date with his current career. 

Those of you who are seeking a very brief summary of his career will probably be happy enough to know that Phillips auditioned for Mott The Hoople and came within a gnat's wing of getting the job, but instead ended up managed by Robert Stigwood who recognised his skills as a promising songwriter. Twelve of his tracks in demo form subsequently made their way out of the realms of music publishing and into the world of record labels, and EMI, Decca and RCA all expressed an interest in signing him for an LP, which subsequently emerged on RCA entitled "20th Century Musical Man".

That somewhat daring album title alone hints towards the expectations being pushed on the artist. It's highly probable that RCA thought they had another Bowie on their hands, or at the very least an Elton John figure who could emerge from the music biz backrooms to dazzle the world. In the event, interest was low and the album sold very poorly, and RCA noted the losses made and failed to pick up the option on any follow-up releases.

The lead single "Like In A Movie" was recorded at Apple Studios and is, it has to be said, not the stuff stratospheric careers are launched from. While it's a good track, it's also a subtle, gentle and whimsical melody about a UFO sighting, forsaking the studio effects, drama and explosive imagery such a song would normally contain. Instead, it's a strangely cosy affair, sounding like a soft, half-awake meditation on a dream - any airplay this got would have struggled to gain attention amidst the other raucous sounds of 1973. George Harrison quietly watched the proceedings from a booth in the studio at the time, and complimented Alan Phillips on his efforts - but clearly on this occasion his instincts were off-beam. 

The flipside, on the other hand, is slightly more on the glam rock side of things and shows there was more to Phillips' work than folky meditation. 

If the previews below aren't working properly, please go right to the source.