Los Angeles singer-songwriter Sam Phillips was a successful gospel composer and performer until the late 1980s, when she rebelled against the fundamentalist dogma of her Christian church and began making secular pop albums for Virgin Records. The move to commercial pop hasn't dulled the spiritual edge of her songwriting, however. If anything, it has made Phillips even more perceptive and inspiring.
Her latest album, "Martinis and Bikinis," is one of those rare pop records that asks important moral questions and confronts complex social issues without stooping to caricatures and cliches. The 13 songs collected here reveal Phillips as a songwriter of uncommon talent and insight - an artist capable of transforming deeply personal, from-the-heart songs into powerful, universal statements about morality, ethics, personal freedom, charity, faith, hope and love.
On a personal level, the songs are simple, honest expressions of an evolving faith. Phillips now has a deep and unabiding mistrust for man-made institutions, be they religious, political or commercial. Tunes such as "Love and Kisses," "Baby I Can't Please You," "Same Changes" and "I Need Love" seethe with sarcastic contempt for the greedy, the judgmental and the intolerant.
"You try to tell the world how it should spin," she informs an old fundamentalist friend in "Baby I Can't Please You." "But you live in terror with the hollow men/Who stun you with their lies/With fever in their eyes as they drown you."
The way Phillips sees it, true spirituality is hard to come by within the confines of a church. Her faith is more human now, is rooted in a belief that the real God and real truth are often easier to find by doing a little soul searching on your own.
Phillips revels in the redemptive possibilities of such an inward search ("Signposts"), draws energy from the longing it engenders ("Strawberry Road").
She finds solace in the power of love ("I Need Love," "Fighting with Fire"), rejoices in the triumphs of the invididual spirit ("Same Rain"). In the end, she hits the road again, looking for answers in a stunning, album-capping take on John Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth."
Musically, "Martinis and Bikinis" is just as honest and beguiling, offering a rich, melodic and irresistable mixture of Beatlesque pop and rock. In fact, there isn't a bad cut on the entire album. The songs have catchy pop hooks and a verse-chorus-verse structure that make them easy to digest - and instantly memorable.
Phillips' voice - a rather rough, monotone mix of nasal country and little-girl pop - might irritate some. But it has a unique character in keeping with the material.
The instrumentation also has a refreshingly spartan, rock elegance, with bits of harpischord, mandolin and strings added for flavor. What's more, there's a psychedelic edge to the album that adds an interesting dimension to Phillips' spiritual songwriting.
Phillips' husband, noted rock musician and producer T Bone Burnett, produced the record and cast the musicians. The lineup includes R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, former Heartbreaker keyboardist Benmont Tench, bassists Jerry Schef, Colin Moulding and Marvin Etzioni, drummer Micky Curry and guitarist Marc Ribot.
This is rock at its adult best - witty, intelligent, full of melody and rhythmic energy. "Martinis and Bikinis" gets my vote as one of the best rock albums of 1994.