Sam Phillips

Item: Omnipop (It's Only A Flesh Wound Lambchop)
Author: Todd Brown

Omnipop (It's Only A Flesh Wound Lambchop)

(1996)

Reviewed by Todd Brown

Discogs Apple Music TIDAL Amazon Music Spotify YouTube Music

Label Virgin RecordsThe LighthouseDecember 1996

alternative rock art rock pop rock

The story of Sam is fairly well known, so I'll be brief with the biography. There once was a Christian pop diva named Leslie Phillips who sold quite a lot of records but was nonetheless unhappy with the strictures her label placed upon both her image and the issues she was allowed to address in her music. So, she married producer T-Bone Burnett, got out of her contract, changed her name to Sam, signed a new contract with a major secular label, and put out a fistful of darn good, though slightly bitter, albums. This is the Sam of whom I speak.

Perhaps trying to shake the "wife of T-Bone" label, which has followed her throughout her mainstream career, Omnipop presents Sam at her most aggressive and experimental to date. Tones are harsher and more grating than on any other release, the Beatles-esque writing has disappeared nearly entirely, and though he is still the producer, T-Bone's influence is far less obvious. That's not to say that Sam has become unrecognisable; this is still very definitely her-the voice is the same, the clever turns of phrase are still there, as is the social and political commentary. But while releases such as Martinis & Bikinis and Cruel Inventions were laced with enough catchy hooks to give her a fighting chance of a radio hit or ten, the chances of hearing any of these songs on the radio is remarkably slim. And I don't think she really cares. This one's about good songs, and popular opinion be hanged.

Lyrically, Sam has certainly not lost her caustic tongue. Perhaps less than impressed by her brief foray into film (as Jeremy Irons' girlfriend in Die Hard: With a Vengeance) Omnipop turns its gaze upon our consumer-driven pop culture and doesn't have a lot of nice things to say about what it sees. "Entertainmen" speaks of the depersonalising effects of fame, "Plastic is Forever" of our substitution of the precious with the inane, "Power World" of our skewed systems of values. As it says, "Our ideas of perfect are so imperfect." Mixed in with the social commentary, however, is also "Your Hands," quite likely the clearest statement of faith to be found on any of her projects since the change from Leslie to Sam.

Omnipop is a thick release, packed densely with the things that make music worth our attention. It may not be as easy a listen as prior works at first, but it strikes me as the kind that will stretch and grow through repeated listening.