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SHAWN PHILLIPS Press Room
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Though it might seem to some that the 70s were a bit of a
musical wasteland, save for punk, new wave, and a little jazz, there was
a ton of great music being created just outside the mainstream ear of
commercial radio. One such light in this musical dark age was Texas
singer/songwriter Shawn Phillips. In the early 60s, Phillips recorded
two albums of folk music for Capitol Records. However, he spent the
nearly 10 years thereafter in other pursuits. He is said to have taught
Joni Mitchell how to play the guitar. He co-wrote Donovan’s Sunshine
Superman album and even appeared in a movie, Run With The Wind. He was
the original lead singer for the Broadway musical, Jesus Christ
Superstar, and spent some time sharing living quarters with Tim Hardin.
In 1970, he resurfaced on A&M records with the first of nine albums for
them over the next 10 years. Though Phillips went on to record several
more albums for RCA, Chameleon and Imagine Records, it is the A&M years
which are considered his finest work. |
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Contribution is, for all intents and purposes, the first
for Shawn Phillips in the guise that the general public knew him: the
long-haired, folk-rock visionary. All the elements of his A&M years were
already in place: beautifully atmospheric soundscapes (“L Ballade”) in
which Phillips could stretch his voice to the fullest, as well as some
wry social commentary (“Not a Question”) and rock ‘n’ roll pyrotechnics
(“Screamer for Phlyses.”) Also evident was Phillips’ tendency to write
some of the most densely packed lyrics in pop. Needless to say, it only
served to feed the all too image-hungry heads of young record buyers of
the time. Although no additional musicians’ credits have been included
on the original LP or the CD re-release, it is easily assumed that
Phillips is joined by longtime collaborators Peter Robinson on keyboards
and cellist Paul Buckmaster. The best tracks are still those that center
on Phillips’ gorgeous voice and 12-string acoustic guitar work,
multi-tracked to produce a many layered, kaleidoscope effect, as in the
complex and beautiful “Withered Roses” and “Lovely Lady.” |
Shawn Phillips |
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Shawn Phillips |
Phillips’ next album was called Second Contribution (see
below) and his following effort, Collaboration, was originally released
in 1971. A very convincing Spanish flamenco guitar opens the album and
segues immediately into “Us We Are,” a classic piece of Phillips angst
and melodrama, tempered with a new addition: a horn section. Thereafter,
Phillips made good use of brass and strings, which at best was
reminiscent of Blood Sweat and Tears, and never fell much below
Chicago’s better workouts. Later on, there is some phase-shifted space
folk on the subtle and psychedelic “Moonshine,” the darkly acoustic
“What’s Happenin’ Jim!,” and the 12-string funk syncopated “Armed,”
which features what is possibly the longest held note sung in rock. Also
featured is a little cosmic irreverence on “Spaceman” and Yes-inspired
space-rock on “Times of a Madman, Trials of a Thief.” There’s even a
feedback-saturated boogie instrumental, appropriately titled “The Only
Logical Conclusion, or Get Up Off Your Ass and Dance.” The album ends
with another slow-burning epic, “Springwind,” featuring some
particularly lovely piano playing by Peter Robinson. |
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An anthology of outtakes called Faces was
released in 1972 as a break before the next studio album. Bright White
came out in 1973 and contained some of Phillips’ most memorable songs,
though it was a little uneven on production. Phillips was clearly
experimenting, and at times this worked very nicely, as in the album’s
rocking and uplifting opening title track. That track was the obvious
bid for a single, as it featured some of the then hot shots of the L.A.
studio scene, like Craig Doerge, Lee Sklar, Russ Kunkel and Danny
Kortchmar, while the rest of the album found Phillips working with his
usual musical collaborators. Elsewhere, you have an electric guitar
driven love song, “Salty Tears”; a Cat Stevens-style ballad, “Victoria
Emmanuel”; and “Technotronic Lad,” which gave Phillips a chance to do
some vocal acrobatics against a Moog-painted backdrop. |
Shawn Phillips |
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Shawn Phillips |
All other roads lead up to this album, where
Phillips takes the best of what he had done so far and weaves it into a
single cohesive whole. Drawing the finest musicians he had previously
worked with around him, Phillips is backed by Robinson, Buckmaster and
Ann Odell’s expressive mellotron playing, as well as the precise attack
of Barry de Souza’s drums and the jazz fusion bass of John Gustafson.
The result is like having the Mahavishnu Orchestra supplemented by
equally expressive and inspiring vocals and lyrics. The recording opens
with the funk fusion of “January First,” followed by the majestic
“Starbright” and “Breakthrough,” a stark, nerves-bared tribute to the
son he never knew and the road not taken. “Ninety Two Years” is a hard-rockin’
call to arms against runaway technology, and “Mr. President” is a
hilarious look at post-Nixon politics. “Song For Ireland” is perhaps
Phillips’ most focused political condemnation, while still remaining
compassionate. The album closes with “Talking in the Garden,” which
segues into the full-on electric, funk rave of the title track. The
album is held together by some finely placed, between-song instrumental
tracks as “Plainscape” and “Cape Barras.” |
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Perhaps in response to A&M allowing
Phillips a certain amount of artistic freedom on his last album, Do You
Wonder seems by comparison a much more conscious stab at a commercial
record. The record cover contained the famous (and controversial) image
of a nude pubescent bather, and the musicians from the previous album
have all been jettisoned (except for Robinson) in favor of some slick
L.A. players. The title track smacks of early disco influences with some
definitely questionable lyrics (“Woman, you’re so enticing/ You’re the
cake and not the icing/ Can’t you see?”). Still, there are enough songs
to make this worthwhile, including the Little Feat-ish “City to City”
and the smoldering guitar gospel/rock of “Believe in Life.”
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Shawn Phillips |
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Shawn Phillips |
Second Contribution was the most commercially successful
Shawn Phillips release for A&MRecords, which is probably why it and
1995′s retrospective Shawn Phillips: The A&M Years are the only two
recordings his old label have chosen to keep in print. While not the
singularly best Phillips record, it does contain some of his most
memorable moments including the amazingly long-titled “She Was Waitin’
for Her Mother at the Station in Torino and You Know I Love You Baby but
It’s Getting Too Heavy to Laugh.” This album also marks the first outing
of Phillips’ later habit of letting one song flow into the next to form
a larger story. Highlights include “Songs For Sagittarians,” the
string-bathed “Schmaltz Waltz/F Sharp Splendor,” and the sweet and
tender “Steel Eyes.” Second Contribution also contains what may be
Phillips’ most famous song “The Ballad of Casey Deiss.” Once a late
night FM radio favorite, it tells the true story of the mythological
death of one of Phillips’ close friends |
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