WHAT PHIL DID NEXT (2)

Four months after the solo debut 45 had flopped, it was take 2 for Phil Wilson.

mp3 : Phil Wilson – 10 Miles

This really is one of the great lost singles of the era. It pounds along at a cracking pace, putting to shame so many of the indie-by-numbers efforts that were being lauded in music papers all across the land, demanding to be heard on your radio. Phil still had some fans out there who believed in him, with Janice Long on BBC Radio 1 enthusiastically providing a live session on her early evening show. But it was all to no avail with the single selling dismally, partly as Creation had given up the ghost and offered next to no promotion for the singer.

Phil would leave Creation and head on to the Caff Corporation for which there was one final 45 before he joined the civil service.

Here’s the two tracks that were on the reverse of 10 Miles:-

mp3 : Phil Wilson – A Jingle
mp3 : Phil Wilson – Jackson

The former was is an instrumental which demonstrates he still very much had an ear for a tune and it does seem strange that Alan McGee gave up on him so quickly, but then again this was a time when The House of Love burst onto the scene and bossman was besotted by them.

The latter? It’s the very song that was a hit for Johnny Cash and June Carter. Phil, with the aid of vocalist Joanne Lilley, not forgetting the contribution on violin from Frank Sweeney, delivers something that would be perfect for any hoe-down.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this short two-day series.  Maybe one day, there’ll be a Phil Wilson ICA….

JC