Male bands such as Squeeze, Crowded House and XTC have worn out the adjective "Beatlesque" with their appealing but lightweight imitations of the "Revolver"-era Fab Four. With her new album, "Martinis and Bikinis," however, Sam Phillips has revitalized the "Beatlesque" category with some substantial songwriting and a woman's voice, which turns the whole sound upside down. The Beatles hardly exhausted the possibilities of their late-'60s sound, and Phillips has the hooks and aphorisms to give that sound a second lease on life.
Phillips has rewritten two old Beatles songs into "Strawberry Road" and "Same Rain"; she has even recorded a John Lennon composition, "Gimme Some Truth." Phillips's husband, T-Bone Burnett, co-wrote two of the songs and produced all 13, and he adds the Lennonesque touches of guitars recorded backwards and sweet harmony vocals pitted against distorted guitars.
None of this would matter if the songs weren't so good. Van Dyke Parks has written a "Tomorrow Never Knows"-like string chart for "I Can't Please You," but that merely sets up Phillips's confrontation of an emotionally cold lover; she starts off attacking him angrily but shifts gears brilliantly and admits to some sympathy for his crippled feelings. "Same Changes" (co-produced by XTC's Colin Moulding) begins with a guitar riff lifted from the Beatles' "If I Needed Someone," but emerges as a strikingly original commentary on the distracting confusion of modern culture.