My Top 2000 Songs #1059: We're All As We Lie

Genesis co-founder and guitarist Anthony Phillips didn't stick around very long, leaving after 1970's Trespass due to crippling stage fright. But he's had a long solo career since then. Most of his albums have been largely instrumental, but his first couple solo records featured some lovely songs that followed in the tradition of early Genesis. 1977 debut The Geese & The Ghost is particularly great, aided by guest vocals from Phil Collins (who didn't join Genesis until after Phillips departed), but the 1978 follow-up Wise After The Event is no less epic.

The latter's opening track, "We're All As We Lie," is something I've always found truly magical. The gentle folk guitar sound is oddly captivating, and Phillips' vocals, while not exactly of the Gabriel/Collins caliber, have a distinctive charm to them. It may just be a personal thing--I picked this album up at a weird moment in my life, and I remember spending hours curled up with it in my college dorm room--but it's one of those things that still occasionally serves as a soundtrack to my dreams.