There has been a lot of press surrounding the new offering from Sam Phillips, as she returns from a brief attempt at semi-retirement (this is her first album of new material since 1996's Omnipop). Most of the talk has been about the change in direction from an electronic sound and to a more organic, acoustic approach.
To be honest, the first listen through this disc was a bit disappointing. With all the talk of "new" things, the album seemed like more of the same. Despite the change in musical instrumentation (the focus is now more on Phillips on guitar), the vocals and musical style still seem pretty much the same. Some of the songs sounded all too familiar. But further listening and a close reading of the lyrics have opened my eyes (and ears) a bit.
The instrumentation is still quite sparse, and Phillips vocals and delivery, as beautiful as they are, offer nothing new. But if you read between the lines, and listen closely, there is certainly something here. Lyrically, Phillips deals much more with spiritual themes than she has in a long time. In "Edge of the World" she plays the chanteuse and laments:
There was a car in the ocean off of Suicide Bridge
The heart collector had his hands on me.
This disc is full of songs of faith, doubt, hope, and eternal musings. In "Five Colors," which features Gillian Welch on bass and backing vocals, Phillips returns to the sound last heard on The Turning and expresses her inner pain:
Opening my hands closing my wounds I made myself
Raising the dead and bury all my fears
And then returns with the refrain:
I don't mind if I am getting nowhere
(The Turning, by the way, was her last album recorded under the name of Leslie Phillips in 1987, and first album with T-Bone Burnett at the helm. The disc was re-released under her "Sam" moniker a year or so back, and could be her best album overall).
In other songs, such as "Wasting My Time," Phillips explores lost love:
My soul's a worn out road
Where you've left a trail of reminders
And on "Love is Everywhere I Go," she expresses hope:
Going down this broken road
I've found a new world
There is no end to the good
Love is everywhere I go (looking through you)
Other standout songs include "How to Dream," the bluesy "Incinerator," and "Soul Eclipse."
Perhaps one of the most interesting things about the disc is that Phillips only refers to herself as Sam Phillips on the cover of the CD. Everywhere else, from musician credits to songwriting credits to liner notes, she is listed under her married name of Sam Burnett. Not sure what this means, but this is the first time she has been listed as such.
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Other coverage for this album
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