Sam Phillips – The Indescribable Wow – 1988

This is Leslie Phillips first album using the moniker Sam Phillips. It is also her first release in the secular music stream. Much has been written of her departure from the Christian music market but I will quote her instead of offering my opinion. In an interview with Enio Chiola in 2011 this is what she stated “I found out through that whole process that I wanted to learn how to write songs and make music better than I had before, and I realized that a lot of the fundamentalist people didn’t care about that, or were judgmental about that. It seemed that they had a very utilitarian view of art. That art was only to serve one purpose, which was to get across their point of view, and I didn’t agree.” I think I can safely say there were “artistic differences” between her and Myrrh records. For her first pop album T-Bone Burnett came on board to produce and the result is probably the best cross over album of any artist. It is no surprise to my regular readers that I am a huge T-Bone fan and this album is one of those reasons. After this album came out T-Bone and Leslie/Sam confirmed they were in a relationship and they did marry a year later.

Tracklist
1 – I Don’t Want To Fall In Love – 2:50
2 – I Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye To You – 3:18
3 – Flame – 2:33
4 – Remorse – 3:43
5 – What Do I Do – 3:52
6 – I Can’t Stop Crying – 3:17
7 – Holding On To The Earth – 3:00
8 – She Can’t Tell Time – 3:35
9 – What You Don’t Want To Hear – 2:59
10 – Out Of Time – 4:26

Credits
Arranged By – T Bone Burnett (tracks: 5), Van Dyke Parks, Van Dyke Parks (tracks: 5)
Bass – Jerry Scheff
Cello, Double Bass [String Bass] – Buell Niedlinger
Coordinator [Production Co-ordinator] – Tim Davis
Drum Machine – Ralph Forbes
Drums – Mickey Curry, Steve Jordan
Engineer [Assistant] – Brian Soucy, Clif Norrel, Dave Knight
Harpsichord, Harmonium, Bass – David Miner
Mastered By – Howie Weinberg
Mixed By – Kevin Killen
Organ – Mike Utley
Percussion, Drums – Alex Acuña
Producer, Guitar, Mandocello, Marxophone – T-Bone Burnett
Recorded By – Rik Pekkonen
Recorded By [Additional Recording] – Tchad Blake
Recorded By [Assistant] – Mike Ross
Trumpet – Darrel Leonard
Written-By – Sam Phillips (tracks: 1 to 10), T Bone Burnett (tracks: 7, 8)

Companies, etc.
Copyright © – Virgin Records America, Inc.
Copyright © – Virgin Records America, Inc.
Distributed By – WEA
Recorded At – Ocean Way Recording
Recorded At – The Sound Factory
Mastered At – Masterdisk

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Author: Ray Mansfield

One of the founding cowboys of Real 80s CCM. Been listening to this stuff since 1978.

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