FIRST IMPRESSIONS--  Recorded Under The Personal Supervision of Denis Preston
Copyright 1966 A Landowne Recording
12 Early Performances Recorded in England

LINER NOTES

SHAWN -- Shawn Phillips' first collection of recordings appeared during the summer of 1965. Of this, his Columbia album, it would be easy simply to say "mixture as before", and rest our case.But this would be manifestly unfair to an artist of such unique talent, to the record buyer yet to sample Shawn's electrifying performances, and to the British "folk-pop" scene--in whose inner circle of adherents and participants this 22-year-old Texan is already regarded as an avant courier of premier magnitude.

This Texas troubadour--born in Fort Worth, and a much travelled wanderer in home continent before coming to this country in the spring of '65--is not the first American folkist to spend an indefinite period of sojourn in England, and, by so doing, provide a valued mainline stimulus. A full fifteen years ago Alan Lomax, doyen of transatlantic folklorists--and, incidentally, another Texan--spent a considerable time in this country collecting, writing, broadcasting and encouraging young and often untried talent in the folk field.But he was almost a generation too soon, and in spite of his personal inspiration and the imperishable groundwork he laid his was a voice crying virtually in a wilderness.

Shortly after came Jack Elliot, the Ramblin' One, complete with Stetson hat, Spanish guitar and a satchelful of Woody Guthrie songs.Elliot was a Guthrie devotee, and, in turn, an acknowledged influence on the much-heralded Bob Dylan of our present time.But, like Lomax, Elliott was "before his time", so far as Great Britain was concerned, presaging the current boom in American country music by a decade.

Shawn Phillips, fortunately, does not suffer the fate of his distinguished predecessors in being a "prophet" in the wrong country at the wrong time.His is strictly a contemporary figure, and he differs from his contemporaries only in the sheer magnetism and quality of his work.His playing of the 12-string guitar is touched with real virtuosity, whilst his harmonic invention on this instrument reveals an awareness and sensitivity rare indeed in this school. His singing is, by turn, breathy, brazen and unashamedly sentimental, but always meaningful and with a telling-power unusual among artists in this medium.

Finally we come to repertoire, and here--as remarked earlier--it is a question of "mixture as before"."Before" being Shawn's first album, "I'm A Loner" (Columbia).

And "mixture as before" being a song pattern of extraordinary catholicity, ranging from sentimental show-stoppers like Maria from "West Side Story" to themes of social immediacy like his own "March on Washington".

Among other Shawn Phillips compositions which grace this album special mention should be made of "Storm"--a strictly contemporary love song, "Miniver Cheevy"--suggestively satirical, and "London Town"--a warmly sincere tribute with evocative overtones.

"Another Country" is by Rod McKuen, one of the most sensitive songwriters in what might be called the popular folk mode.Old Blue", from the Alan Lomax song bag, is a prototype of the
Country-and-Western narrative ballad, and a "must" for all dog-lovers, C-&-W fans, and devotees of versatility of Shawn Phillips.

For all who recall Josh White's fine television series of programmes in the autumn of 1961 the title Black Girl must evoke memories of a truly heartwarming song heartwarmingly performed.

Quite recently the famous "Animals" gave this lovely Negro blues-ballad a more currently acceptable treatment. Both versions were highly individual.Now we have a new interpretation by a relative newcomer to the ranks of "folk-pop"--an interpretation which shares with its eleven stablemates in this album the indelible signature of the creator . . . SHAWN.

                                                                                                                                                                              Liner note by:David Berkwood

FIRST IMPRESSIONS --- In the beginning is the Voice ... the power and the passion of Shawn Phillips ... and the guitar stylist ... warm accoustic simplicity with roots in Texas ... and the mature sensitivity of the born folksinger, sidelined in Beatlemaniac England ... and the experience of years entertaining ... in California with Tim Hardin and in Greenwich Village with John Sebastian and at the Cafe Au Go Go with Lenny Bruce and in Canada with Ravi Shankar ... the fire of the songwriter in his early twenties ... the charissma of the man who controls his future ... In a lesser artist, these First Impressions would be laurels to rest on.