Search - Sam Phillips :: A Boot & A Shoe

Open the world

omnipop | Albany NY USA | 06/21/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This record is yet another brilliant piece of work from Sam. It does require a few listens to really kick in, but once it does, it just won't let go.The virgin era albums were more full blown, Technicolor productions. This and "Fan Dance" are more black and white in approach,( there are some who don't like black and white, so sorry) but to say that they are unadorned is simply not true. Half of this album has beautiful string arrangements; there's some pretty great drumming going on, heck the first song has a doubletracked vocal on it. For those who feel it's one long song, listen again.I always thought that the best things about Sam are her songs and her voice. The melodies are memorable, tuneful. Nobody writes more economically than Sam; why write three verses when two will do? I didn't notice any " cosmic whining" in the lyrics. You can read into it any way you like; I think Sam likes to leave things open to interpretation, leave some mystery there. As for her singing, she is a great vocalist, making the most of what she has.
Some have complained about the length. Well, Revolver and Pet Sounds are short albums too. This record doesn't need to be any longer than it is. It feels complete to me.In some ways, this and "Fan Dance" are the best work Sam has done. The Virgin era owed a lot sonically to the Beatles. I think these records are unique.No one is quite working in the same territory. I think that is why Sam has fallen in between the cracks, there is no easy categorization to her approach, and there never was.There are many rich rewards to be found here. This is a great album. Open the world and listen."

Eat the Apple

Lee Armstrong | Winterville, NC United States | 10/09/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"On the inner cover is a picture of a hand offering a green apple. Whether the apple symbolizes temptation or affinity with the Beatles' era music, this is such a delicious CD that we do well to eat the apple. From the opening of "How to Quit" Sam's guitar and Carla Azar's drums pound out a simple rhythms that shimmer & glow. My favorite track is "All Night" with its eastern European rhythms that take two drummers and Sam's hushed vocal allure, "Sleepless questions & some sly suggestions that I could fly if I could only fall; I've been wanting to touch you since we met." "Open the World" seems like an off-kilter romance with music that keeps trying to fit together mirroring the awkwardness of emotion reflected in the lyric, "You caught me wanting & the shame in my eyes was so inductive that it magnetized us pulling down my need." "Red Silk Five" is deceptively simple, but entirely addictive. Phillips' songs are short, the longest clocking in an eyelash over 4 minutes, with two songs under 2 minutes, yet the time is fully embodied and hardly seems short. "Draw Man" has a lighthearted soft melodic shuffle with a terrific lyric, "It's too much trouble to impress you; My lies are never big enough; I use the truth to cover up where you're looking." Another wonderfully addictive song sounds like it could be the cabaret soundtrack for Sartre's "No Exit" about a love triangle where each loves the next. "If I Could Write" has the most instrumentation with Patrick Warren's string arrangement on this lighthearted melody that crosscuts with a complex lyric, "Desire's the element that I can't fight, dream is the arm of God." "Hole in My Pocket" conveys such yearning with Sam's understated vocals. The CD concludes with a somewhat pessimistic message that help is coming "One Day Late." Phillips' melodies, lyrics, vocals and T-Bone Burnett's superb production make "A Boot & A Shoe" one of the year's best accomplishments. Bravo!"

Sam finds melancolic bliss with her "Boot & A Shoe"

mzombie | 04/29/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sam Phillips, as stated many times before, could be one of the most underrated singer-songwriters ever to make record of their craft. After her Virgin years of courting mainstream success (the closest catch being the excellent "Martinis & Bikinis" record and her almost-hit "I Need Love") left a bitter taste in her mouth, Phillips took another segue in her already puzzling career - she and producer/husband T-Bone Burnett stripped the gloss, unplugged and made her masterpiece, 2001's "Fan Dance". It's intimate production value and sweeping torch songs brought Sam to the forefront, leaving nothing but the necessities: that sensuous voice, those perfect pop melodies and her trademark - the intelligent, often cynical dark humor of her lyrics. But whereas "Fan Dance" was bristling and anxious in this naked skin, projecting a noir-ish paranoia to it, "A Boot And A Shoe" practically revels in the simplicity...paranoia gives way to melancoly, melancoly gives way to hope. And, judging by the lyrics in this fraternal twin of "Fan Dance", melancoly and hope is all our Sam has in the wake of her recent self-professed "failure at love" with Mr. Burnett. Songs waft and wane from hopelessness to reckless abandon like a woman looking at the world anew. As stated in the swoon-worthy "Reflecting Light": "Now that I've worn out the world, I'm on my knees in fascination." Which is not to say this album is a major departure for Phillips... all the necessities are here: peppy pop confections to stay in your head for days ("All Night", "Infiltration"), devastatingly beautiful ballads ("I Dreamed I Stopped Dreaming"), a heaping helpful of mystery and intrigue ("Red Silk 5", "Drawman") and of course that biting lyrical cynicism.. "Help is coming one day late", coos Phillips on "One Day Late", but she paints her cynicism in pastels as opposed to the basic colors of "Fan Dance", letting the melancoly pull you in to an almost rapturous effect...until you begin to notice that like Phillips, you need to get through the sadness and cynicism to feel the hope. "There always has been good like stars you don't see in the day sky" she continues on "One Day Late," only affirming this journey.

It's important to note that "A Boot & A Shoe" is a much more percussive record than "Fan Dance" - often the drums are mixed to provide a "boom and bash" umph that was somewhat missing in the previous record. A few of the songs are augmented by the silky strings of the Section Quartet, another seemingly calculated distance from the dark tone Van Dyke Parks's orchestration in "Fan Dance" songs such as "Wasting My Time". But that's the point to "A Boot & A Shoe": where "Fan Dance" was soft, this one is hard, where it was dark, this one is light - and, more importantly, where "Fan Dance" was atmospheric and spiritual, this album has it's feet firmly planted in reality, with the occasional jump to another plane...in essence it is the perfect bookend and a brilliant record, even if it lacks a bit of the character and artifice that made "Fan Dance" her masterwork."