Sam Phillips
Joe's Pub
November 20, 2001
By David Chiu

Back in 1994, a CD was sent by the record company for me to review. It was called Martinis and Bikinis and the artist's name was Sam Phillips (not Sun Records Sam Phillips). Sometimes one is resistant to put on a record by relative unknown at the time, but after playing Martinis and Bikinis once, I started playing it ten times in the next couple of days. It was that good and it started a sort of love affair of her music. Unfortunately this writer had not had the good fortune of seeing her live since he missed out on seeing her performance at the Bottom Line seven years ago.

However, I had the good fortune of finally catching a show for a rare appearance in the city. It's been a while since the singer and songwriter played in New York City but better late than never as they always say. Phillips made up for that amount of lost time with a recent two-day performing engagement at Joe's Pub. Her world-weary, fatalistic body of songs matched with the small and intimate ambiance of the pub added to one arresting evening of entertainment.

For those unfamiliar with Sam Phillips (not to be confused with the Sun Records founder), she has recorded five studio records after a stint of being a Christian gospel singer. Some of those records include Cruel Inventions, The Indescribable Wow, and the aforementioned Martinis and Bikinis, and her songs offer insight in areas of politics, social trends, and relationships. Her husband is producer famed T-Bone Burnett, who's had a hand in shaping her songs and sound with eclectic and melodic results.

Phillips is currently riding high on the critical acclaim of her latest album Fan Dance, a modest-sounding, stripped down record compared to her previous albums. The cutting, incisive lyrics and point of view and her fragile-sounding voice remained intact, but there is also a warmth and at times a sunny disposition on Fan Dance that seemed lacking from her last studio record from 1996, the wildly experimental Omnipop. As a critic recently cited Fan Dance is like a romance record for adults.

On the second and final night of her stint at Joe's Pub, Phillips was accompanied for the most part by a four-man band that included guitarist Marc Ribot and keyboardist Patrick Warren. And just like the record, the performance sounded very spare and at times lush. Phillips singing was very distinctive in her unmistakable deadpan and yearning way. Most of the set drew from Fan Dance: "Edge of the World," "Wasting My Time," "Taking Pictures," "Incinerator," "Soul Eclipse," the very pretty "Love is Where I Go," and "Say What You Mean." (Only a few of her earlier songs were part of the set that included "Animals on Wheels" and an subdued yet equally wonderful rendition of "I Need Love." There were interesting moments along the way such as a bad mike which interrupted one song "Five Colors"; and for two songs, Phillips held a microcassette machine near the mike and played the backing guitar track as she sang along. The encore consisted of an a capella version of "Bye Bye Baby."

The whole evening conveyed a cabaret-like atmosphere though Phillips' femme fatale stage persona exuded a straightforward and cool manner-by no means a knock since how can one be animated and happy with the serious and poignant nature of her songs. Yet even under the somewhat icy demeanor, Phillips revealed a sense of humor when she answered back an audience member's request for her to play a song from an early album Cruel Inventions.

Towards the end of the show, Phillips, in describing her short set, quoted from literary wit Dorothy Parker who said "brevity is the lingerie of the soul." That quote can aptly describe the simple yet sexy performance by Phillips, hoping to leave one not having to wait another couple of years for her to return to New York.