Pop & Hiss
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May 7, 2010
Music
One of the most famous tales in all of rock involves Memphis disc jockey Dewey Phillips’ role in the launching of Elvis Presley, but this richly entertaining album is the first chance most of us have had to actually hear Phillips’ manic radio style.
Sept. 8, 1995
SAM PHILLIPS “Omnipop (It’s Only a Flesh Wound Lambchop)” Virgin * * 1/2 Though she’s hardly a household name, Sam Phillips--not to be confused with the guy who discovered Elvis--has demonstrated a knack for writing gracefully infectious melodies that rival those of any pop songwriter of her generation.
Aug. 18, 1996
**** SAM PHILLIPS “Cruel Inventions” Virgin In a key song on her new album called “Standing Still,” Phillips, suddenly self-conscious late into a dance marathon (i.e.
July 21, 1991
Theme stories on the “emerging new breed of female singer/songwriters” inevitably bring up the influences on today’s Suzanne Vegas and Tracy Chapmans: Such headstrong, socially conscious, folk-influenced women antecedents as Joni Mitchell, Janis Ian and Joan Armatrading.
Aug. 28, 1988
SAM PHILLIPS “Martinis & Bikinis” Virgin * * * 1/2 Phillips and producer-husband T Bone Burnett have been accused of trying to channel John Lennon, and they’re unapologetic enough in that quasi-psychedelic power-pop regard to wrap this one up with a surly, muted version of Lennon’s spiteful “Gimme Some Truth.”
April 3, 1994
Food
OK, it’s Super Bowl Sunday.
Jan. 28, 1993
Movies
‘I hear the silents are coming back.
May 28, 1995
Tonight’s installment in the Emmy-winning “American Masters” series on PBS is a frequently compelling look at the history of Sam Phillips’ Sun Records, the Memphis label that helped define rock ‘n’ roll in the ‘50s through the music of such seminal figures as Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Nov. 28, 2001
On her recent and overlooked album “The Indescribable Wow,” Sam Phillips sings bright, richly textured, vaguely Baroque pop songs that wouldn’t sound out of place on the radio between, say, the Beatles and Belinda Carlisle.
Dec. 19, 1988