Songs of Gentleness 1972-1976 (4LP Boxset) [Vinyl] (ONLINE ORDER ONLY)

Songs of Gentleness 1969-1976 is a 4LP box set that casts John Phillips of Rhodesia as the last great outsider folk discovery of the 20th century. The set resurrects Phillips' beguiling debut John for the very first time since its inaugural South African release in 1969 and unveils three new albums of previously unreleased works from the 1970s. Songs of Gentleness 1969-1976 presents every surviving recording by this hitherto mysterious Southern African musician.

Born in 1945, John Phillips was the first child of an English couple living in India. The Phillips family went on to settle in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1957. A sensitive and bookish teenager coming of age in the 1960s, Phillips embraced the bohemian world of literature and song and studiously evolved into a proficient guitarist and skilled songwriter. After a brief period working as a journalist in Zambia, he relocated to South Africa to pursue music and recorded John for the independent RPM label in Johannesburg. With no international distribution, the album couldn't reach its niche audience at the time but is a worthy companion to contemporaneous cult folk classics from the Anglosphere like Nick Drake's Five Leaves Left and Linda Perhacs' Parallelograms.

While confronting depression, substance abuse and gender dysphoria in the 1970s, Phillips remained a passionate and prolific songwriter and studio sessions from 1972 and 1976 document the breadth of his talent and the depth of his soul. Songs of Gentleness 1969-1976 details his remarkable story with guidance from his brother Gordon Phillips and input from late musical collaborator John Oakley-Smith (creator of the 1976 album Matinees on Saturdays) in a booklet featuring archival photographs and drawings. John Phillips retreated into a life of isolation over the course of the 1980s and died of cancer in England in 1995. These gentle songs are his enduring gift to the world.