'Martinis and Bikinis' isn't some long lost late '60s classic. It only sounds that way.
Aside from her biting lyrics and girlish rasp, Sam Phillips' pop music is a kissing cousin of the mid-'60s psychedelia crystallized on the Beatles' 'Revolver' and period-songs such as 'Incense and Peppermints.' The guitar effects, reverb and sweet harmonies may all be retro in theory, but in execution they're delightful, if occasionally a bit studied.
Smartly produced again by her husband, T-Bone Burnett, Phillips - a former Christian - sums up her roots in the past and relevance to the present with a frighteningly meaningful cover of John Lennon's 'Gimme Some Truth.'