Not That Sam Phillips

October 21st, 2004 · No Comments

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I returned to the Paradise last night (isn’t that a movie or two?) for a second show in three days, this time to see Sam Phillips. [Not much exists out there on the web on her; this site is pretty out of date. I think her fan base is just a touch too old to document her every move online] Aimee came with, as I thought she’d enjoy the music. We both did, though the performance was very short (less than an hour) and included exactly zero songs from the only album of hers I own, Martinis & Bikinis (1994).

Some artists, it seems, only ever produce one album that really stands out. In my book, it has to be an album that really rises above an artist’s other work, and even other artists’ work as well. Their other albums can be bad, mediocre, or passable, but this one album is bigger than, and almost independent of, the artist. These are often not my favorite bands I’m talking about, because I feel like bands like Wilco, REM, Blur, Radiohead and others have produced at least two or three great albums. Albums like Morphine’s Cure for Pain and Camper van Beethoven’s Key Lime Pie are examples; my guilty pleasure, Pete Yorn’s Musicforthemorningafter, is another. They’re albums that work as albums, and they also define for me the period of my life in which I listened to them for the first time.

Anyway, to get back to where I began, Sam Phillips made one of those albums, for me, and I was hoping last night she’d play at least one song from it. From what I’ve read, and from what she said, she is a different person from the one who made that album, someone whose work has changed so radically as a result of changes in her life. She spoke on stage of her painful breakup of a year and a half ago, and I feel like she no longer reaches back to that earlier era. For the most part, her songs last night were torch songs, “Torch as in ‘tortured’,” as she put it. She was great, and I enjoyed her music, but it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting.

I noticed that she had what looked like two opening acts when I checked the website, but neither name registered with me. When we got to the Paradise, the sign listed the opening artist, and then “Sam Phillips and the Section.” OK, so that’s actually her backup band. Got it. Funny, I thought; the string quartet that did that Radiohead cover album I got awhile back was called “The Section.” Still no connection made, though. Sam Phillips came onstage and introduced herself a second after we got in, and after the first song, introduced her violinist, Eric Gorfain. “Hmm. I recognize that name. I wonder where from?” Still, nothing. It was only when she introduced the string quartet as they took the stage to join Gorfain as “The Section Quartet” that I finally put it all together. They recorded Strung Out on OK Computer (which they’re performing live in New York tomorrow), and they’re on tour with Sam Phillips. Bingo.

They worked very well with her sound, as did her keyboardist, splitting time between simple piano and wheezy organ lines, and her percussionist, who specialized in the Tom Waits-esque sounds of people walking on creaky floors and the sound of things being dropped. Add to that her a cappella performance accompanied by dictaphone, and it was a great evening of interesting music.

Tags: Music