SAM PHILLIPS
A Boot and a Shoe
(Nonesuch Records)
****

On her 2001 release Fan Dance, Sam Phillips traded in her reputation for beautifully strange, lush psychedelia for a sparse, acoustic approach. Here, she refines that stylistic direction with such perfection that it's hard to lament the absence of her longstanding surreal pop charms.

The disc is a case study in the potential of album production, exposing how soulless most recorded music truly is. Producer T-Bone Burnett mics the subtly eclectic, organic instrumentation and Phillips' vulnerable, emotive voice to beam them directly into your brain. The guitar and vocals roll relentlessly over a lumbering, percussive rumble, sometimes with a raw, rusty Tom Waits-ish vibe. Burnett and Phillips vividly create an inescapable, intimate space somewhere between a beatnik café, a European cabaret, and Tin Pan Alley. Her signature wry lyrics and addictive melodies are here in full force, but less quirky and more aligned with Gershwin or Cole Porter than late Beatles or Zombies. Still, Phillips' knack for trippy tunes lurks in songs like “Red Silk 5” and “I Dreamed I Stopped Dreaming.” While not pioneering any musical territory, Phillips manages to channel the 20th century musical experience into a timeless, flawless collection.

(Originally published in The Cleveland Free Times, April 28, 2004)