I always feel a little dirty when I listen to hippie music, though I'm not sure what hippie music is.
I like Melanie, Brewer & Shipley, Simon & Garfunkel, The Youngbloods, Jefferson Airplane, The Turtles, Donovan, Country Joe, Arlo Guthrie and many others.
In fact most of the acts I like from the late 60s have been referred to as "hippie" acts at one time or another.
So what is "hippie"?
To me "hippie" music is that very pious, spiritual, slightly pretentious, righteous and insular music that existed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. You know, the "I am at one with the earth and sun" type music.
Look, I have no problems with the message but how it is delivered can leave me feeling uneasy and if I like the music, a little dirty.
There is no cynicism, no wide eyed innocence, no joy of carnality, no effort to engage the visceral and physical in the music.
That's not to say I hate it because even when it offends me on a number of levels I still might like the music.
Why am I like this?
My music was informed by (especially) 50s and 60s rock n roll and then 70s and 80s punk and indie.
Hippie music (as I have defined it) does not easily sit with those other styles.
Sure, I might wear a flower in my hair but that is a taunt and not a statement of spiritual peace or reference to any trip to San Francisco.
So I approach the music with some hesitation.
If you read this blog you will see I'm a convert to Phillips and he isn't hippy but he does have enough of those elements to make me feel a little dirty.
Like this from the liner notes:
"The fate of this life and or the next lives can be willed upon and decided now. We must work for and toward this point. In doing so the continuance of the advancing motion of evolution is furthered by harmonic change."
Que?
I suppose you had to be there.
Further evidence comes from the fact that he has long straight hair, a beard, wears a cape and sits down to play his guitar.
What saves Phillips is his guitar skills, smarts ( he mixes rock, folk, jazz and classical music) and a genuine attachment to his music whilst lyrically he offers no easy answers.
The first four songs forms a bit of a suite where each song folds into another without any discernable break and with a beat that is revisited across the tunes. It is a bit "of the time" but it's not tiresome.
The rest are mood filled ruminations.
Phillips guitar is never not present though his ethereal voice (a three octave vocal range) is given prominence … which is (slightly) odd as I assumed he was considered a guitarist first.
Ian Green and Paul Buckmaster do the orchestrations and they are restrained, not commercial and perhaps the antithesis to the Sgt Peppers bombast and all similar music that followed in its wake.
This is music that Donovan made famous and perhaps that's why Phillips is "rocks best kept secret".
Despite some friction between Donovan and Phillips (they were friends and Donovan "lifted" from Phillips) if I was to pigeon hole I would say Phillips is a cross between Donovan and Tim Buckley with superior guitar skills.
Check out his 12 string guitar playing here.
And I should mention this lanky Texan would have enough stories for a film bio and Matthew McConaughey would be perfect to play him and if he doesn't the very least he should do is narrate a documentary on his fellow Texan.
Take note Matthew McConaughey.
Matthew McConaughey does not subscribe to this blog.
For biographical details on Phillips check my other comments.
Tracks (best in italics)
- She Was Waiting For Her Mother At the Station in Torino and You Know I Love You Baby But It's Getting Too Heavy To Laugh (SWWFHMATSITAYKILYBBIGTH) – yes that's the title though the song is also known as "Woman". This is the first part of this loose suite and it's dramatic and heavily orchestrated by English arranger Ian Green
- Keep On – lyrics like "Mama, when you gonna coming home", "blow your mind" certainly place this at a time. This song, though, is carried by Phillips vocals which are light though committed which make this a spacey "mind" tune which is, nevertheless, quite good.
- Sleepwalker – some gentle horns and tickling organ on this brief tune.
- Song for Mr. C – and you thought Dylan's lyrics were obscure. There are so many lyrics I'd like to see him do this live without a lyric sheet!
- The Ballad of Casey Deiss – "The Ballad of …" – I was expecting something more rustic folky but this is trippy folky. A song about a man struck by lightning (and a true story!).
- Song for Sagittarians – more organ though it's in your face …(I just realised I said "the organ is not in your face"). The title dates this song but the song itself is pretty good
- Lookin' Up Lookin' Down – hmmm but strangely memorable.
- Remedial Interruption – This is meant to be an interruption to the proceedings. This is a brief lyric less tune
- Whaz' Zat – more hmmm
- Schmaltz Waltz – a heavily orchestrated interruption which predates Jeff Wayne.
- F Sharp Splendor – (Paul Buckmaster) – 36 seconds and a nicely played
- Steel Eyes – possibly the best song on the album and quite Donovan-esque. Still, Phillips sabotages the pop possibilities of the tune which in some ways make it more interesting if less accessible. Gentle and ethereal.
And …
Not my favourite of the Phillips albums I have (or have heard). His virtuosity is on display but too much attention is made to orchestrations which sometimes are at odds with his innate rusctic-ness (a new word I have invented).
Still, it's much better than many of its ilk …. I'm keeping it.
Chart Action
Nothing no where.
Sounds
http://recordlective.com/Shawn_Phillips/Second_Contribution/1d87f77b-3ff2-32a0-9759-713f843097ab/
The Ballad of Casey Deiss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMYcWLaV-xg
Steel Eyes
Mp3 attached
Others
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceTfH3GQQLg
Interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHcIUHPb8XM
Review
http://www.allmusic.com/album/second-contribution-mw0000651824
http://stuckinthepast08.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/shawn-phillips-second-contribution-1970.html
http://www.philipharland.com/VinylAddiction/2007/09/06/forgotten-albums-shawn-phillips-second-contribution-1970/
Bio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Phillips
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/shawn-phillips-mn0000016617
Website
http://www.shawnphillips.com/
http://shawnphillips.wordpress.com/
Trivia
- The album is so called because Phillips previous album (and first major label l release) was called "Contribution"
- Paul Buckmaster provided orchestral collaborations for Elton John. He was a cellist but he has also worked as an arranger on various hit songs, including David Bowie's Space Oddity (1969).
- Phillips wrote the music to Donovan's "Season of The Witch"
- He is very popular in his current homeland, South Africa, in his birthplace, the US southwest, in Canada (especially Quebec) and Italy (where he lived for about 10 years in the 70s)
The back sleeve
RIP: Pete Seeger
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