Sam Phillips - Don't Do Anything
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CD Details
Artist: Sam PhillipsBrand: PHILLIPS,SAM
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2008-06-02
Music Label: Nonesuch
Soundtracks:
- No Explanations
- Can't Come Down
- Another Song
- Don't Do Anything
- Little Plastic Life
- My Career in Chemistry
- Flowers Up
- Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us
- Shake it Down
- Under the Night
- Signal
- Watching Out of This World
Music reviews of Don't Do Anything
Music Review: Another Great CD from Sam
Rating: 5 Stars
It starts with her voice, "I thought if he understood, he wouldn't treat me this way. No explanations". There's a little electric guitar accenting the voice. And then comes the beat. A big tribal beat that is right up front in the mix and keeps growing and growing as the song continues on. It's not a fast song and when it is just Sam, it feels like a Boot and a Shoe song. But that big drum sound and the fuzzy guitar give it a new feel. "No Explanations" is the opening track to "Don't Do Anything" and a sign that Sam is not standing still in her musical style.
Sam has stated in an interview somewhere that she sees this CD as a cross between ABAAS ("A Boot and a Shoe") and "Martinis and Bikinis". It is easy to see. The big drums on some of the songs and the heavy use of a electric guitar along with several songs that have very catchy choruses really bring back the feel of her mid 90's sound. But the rest of the CD is Sam with her acoustic guitar or piano surrounded by deft drumming from Jay and always gorgeous violin from Eric which is very much the qualities we loved in ABAAS. In fact, this CD is pretty much a trio with Sam on piano and acoustic and electric guitars, Jay Bellerose on percussion and Eric Gorfain (The Section Quartet) on violin (banjo and other instruments of destruction). Patrick Warren helps out here and there and the entire Section Quartet gets in on a few songs also.
"Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us" and "Signal" are two of the older songs on the CD. "Sister Rosetta" was one of the standout songs from the Plant/Krauss CD and tour and it is even better here. The sound is very close to ABAAS with a lovely string arrangement from Eric.
"Another Song" and "Don't Do Anything" are back to back on the CD. I love this pairing of songs. They almost segue with no time gap between the two. "Another Song" is a beautiful piano based song that reminds you of ABAAS with Sam singing, "Did you ever love me?" while sweet voices sing "La La La" in the background. "Don't Do Anything" is a fuzzy electric guitar based song with Sam singing "I Love you more when you don't do anything?". Is she being sarcastic? Ironic? It seems that her tongue is firmly placed in her cheek. It is so different from "Another Song" and yet they fit together so well. The old (ABAAS) sound and the new style; blending beautifully.
Where "A Boot and a Shoe" was considered by some to be the breakup CD, "Don't Do Anything" finds Sam moving on after divorce. There appear to be references to this past relationship throughout the CD and there are still some emotions that need to be displayed. But there is no doubt that she is moving on. And that is what makes this CD so exciting. For Sam is driven by her passion to make music: To create art. It is her calling and songs like "Can't Come Down" and "Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us" seem to drive home this point. Lyrics from a Sam Phillips CD are never straightforward though. They are more like abstract paintings; giving you small glimpses of reality surrounded by dream like images. Then there is "Watching Out of This World" which seems to be using the TV show "Out of This World" as a metaphor. It is the closer and I love it there. So many CDs just sort of end. When you hear "Watching Out of this World" you know the CD is coming to an end and that thought along with the song's feel make you feel a bit melancholy. And then you smile because with a running time of about 37 minutes, you have plenty of time to listen to "Don't Do Anything" all over again.
Description of Don't Do Anything
In a career of more than two decades, Sam Phillips has built an intensely loyal fan base that has tracked the evolution of her music from Beatles-esque alternative pop to seductively stripped-down torch songs - with an intriguing side trip into the world of The Gilmore Girls,where she served as composer. And she continue to enthrall music critics and her fellow musicians. In fact, one of the most highly
praised tracks on the new Robert Plant / Allison Krauss collaboration, Raising Sand, Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us, was written by
Phillips and appears on Don't Do Anything in its original form. That song illustrates the power of Phillips spare yet haunting approach.
An evocation of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the legendary performer who bridged gospel and rock & roll, the track sports gypsy rhythms and
has a beautifully broken-in feel, as if someone had spun it countless times on vinyl before tranferring the song to CD. With lyrics that
alternate between confessional and dream-like, Phillips unfolds a multi-layered story about love and loss in which Tharpe serves as a
kind of musical and spiritual guardian angel. With deft, powerful strokes, The Los Angeles Times has said, in a review of Phillips 2004
A Boot and a Shoe, the singer-songwriter chisels emotions, impressions, yearnings and regrets.
This is the first album that Phillips, who plays both electric and acoustic guitars as well as piano, has produced on her own. Don't Do
Anything has a more pronounced rock feel than her two previous Nonesuch discs, especially on tracks like My Career in Chemistry,
Under the Night and the title song. She has assembled an enviable coterie of smart Los Angeles musicians, including the Section Quartet, a string ensemble renowned for its interpretations of the work of rock artists like Radiohead and David Bowie. She's also joing by drummer
Jay Bellerose (Aimee Mann, Joe Henry, Rickie Lee Jones); bassist Paul Bryan (Martha Wainwright. Norah Jones); and keyboardist
Patrick Warren (Michael Penn, Bruce Springsteen). Minimalism is used for maximum effect: on Another Song, which sounds as if it were
tuned in via some vintage radio, Phillips simply accompanies herself on piano; on Can t Come Down, it s just Phillips on guitars and
Bellerose on drums; Shake It Down relies on a big bass drum and clanking percussion, with a banjo slipping in and out to underscore
the rhythm. On Signal and Flowers Up, the string players provide understated, movie-score-style atmosphere.
As a vocalist, Phillips remains coolly matter-of-fact even with the most confessional of lyrics. She s often drawn inspiration from Los Angeles,
its topography and history, especially on her 2001 Nonesuch debut, Fan Dance. This time she delves into the story of Depression-era
preacher Aimee Semple McPherson, whose evangelist empire was brought down by a mysterious disappearance and romantic scandal.
She s also been creating visual collages from vintage magazine advertisements, accessible on her website that have become the springboard for songs like Flowers Up. They're the perfect complement to Phillips iconoclastic musical aesthetic: while everyone else is posting videos on youtube, she offers these striking, enigmatic artworks, confident that viewers, like her listeners, can discern the artistry and emotion within these pasted-together images. She treats her audience like the grownups they are, making adult contemporary music - both uncompromising and alluring - for contemporary adults.
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