Discord & Rhyme: An Album Podcast

Discord and Rhyme is a podcast where we discuss the albums we love, song by song.

077: Sam Phillips - Martinis and Bikinis (1994)

August 10, 2021  /  Amanda Rodgers

“If I’m trying to tell people what to believe or what’s right, that wears people out much more than opening the song up and allowing them to be struck by some image.”

—Sam Phillips

You might know Sam Phillips from those lovely "la la la"s on the Gilmore Girls soundtrack, or as Katya, the silent assassin in Die Hard: With a Vengeance. But she's also a fiercely talented songwriter with an encyclopedic knowledge of music and a literary lyrical sense. She first cut her teeth in the contemporary Christian music world (as Leslie Phillips, “the Christian Cyndi Lauper”) before leaving Myrrh Records and forging a creative and personal bond with producer T Bone Burnett. But though her 1994 album Martinis & Bikinis is a secular album on the surface, it’s brimming with a spirituality that makes its point without resorting to dogma, as well as melodies and arrangements that reference the Beatles without slipping into pastiche. So join Rich, Amanda, and John for a Discord & Rhyme that’s one part Beatles study and one part Bible study, with a little bit of XTC and The Brave Little Toaster thrown in for good measure.

Miscellany

  • The literary and arts quarterly Image Journal published a fascinating interview with Sam Phillips about her upbringing, her faith, and especially her literary influences, including but not limited to G.K. Chesterton, Henry Miller, Jean Giono, Alice Waters, and C.S. Lewis.

  • In addition to her work on Gilmore Girls, Phillips has continued her creative partnership with creator Amy Sherman-Palladino to score the series Bunheads and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

  • The clips in this episode for the alternate versions of “Black Sky” and “I Need Love” are direct transfers from Rich’s vinyl copy, so they have some light pops and crackling, in that LP way.

  • This is the third T Bone Burnett-produced album this podcast has discussed, the first two being  Tomorrow Is My Turn by Rhiannon Giddens and Raising Sand by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant.

  • Rich mentioned the Wallflowers song "One Headlight" completely by coincidence, not realizing that the song is also a T Bone Burnett production and features distorted backing vocals by none other than Sam Phillips.

  • John did some digging after recording the episode, and there are apparently 14 Bible verses about handclaps. So we guess the Beatles didn’t invent them after all.

 Other links 

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call 

  • Rich Bunnell (host)

  • Amanda Rodgers (moderator)

  • John McFerrin (Bible John) 

Martinis & Bikinis tracklist 

  1. Love and Kisses

  2. Signposts

  3. Same Rain

  4. Baby, I Can’t Please You

  5. Circle of Fire

  6. Strawberry Road

  7. When I Fall

  8. Same Changes

  9. Black Sky

  10. Fighting with Fire

  11. I Need Love

  12. Wheel of the Broken Voice

  13. Gimme Some Truth 

Other clips used 

Sam Phillips:

  • I Don't Know How to Say Goodbye to You

  • Waltz #1 (from Gilmore Girls)

  • Dancing with Danger (as Leslie Phillips)

  • Libera Me (as Leslie Phillips)

  • Tripping Over Gravity

  • Black Sky (remix)

  • I Need Love (with the Section Quartet)

  • Zero Zero Zero!

  • Edge of the World

  • Things I Shouldn't Have Told You

  • Holding On to the Earth 

Others:

  • Bruce Willis - Respect Yourself

  • Huey Lewis and the News - Hip to Be Square

  • Elvis Presley - That's All Right

  • Genesis - Down in the Motherlode

  • Alison Krauss and Robert Plant - Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us

  • The Beatles - For No One

  • Paul and Linda McCartney - Dear Boy

  • The Beatles - She's a Woman

  • Billy Joel - We Didn't Start the Fire

  • The Beatles - Rain

  • The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows

  • Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Stop Draggin' My Heart Around

  • XTC - Big Day

  • David Newman and Van Dyke Parks - City of Light (from The Brave Little Toaster)

  • The Beatles - Within You Without You

  • Counting Crows - Mr. Jones

  • Tom Waits - Rain Dogs

  • The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever

  • The Beatles - Eleanor Rigby

  • The Beatles - She's Leaving Home

  • Alanis Morissette - Hand in My Pocket

  • The Beatles - Day Tripper

  • The Yardbirds - Heart Full of Soul

  • The Byrds - I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better

  • John Lennon - Well Well Well

  • Tom Waits - In the Colosseum

  • Kate Bush - The Big Sky

  • Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley

  • Metallica - Fight Fire with Fire

  • The Beatles - If I Needed Someone

  • The Byrds - The Bells of Rhymney

  • Pete Seeger - The Bells of Rhymney (live)

  • Ringo Starr - A Dose of Rock 'n' Roll

  • John Lennon - Gimme Some Truth

  • The Moody Blues - Wherever You Are

  • Alison Krauss - Sitting in the Window of My Room

  • John Lennon - Remember

Martinis & Bikinis personnel 

(Note: No instruments are officially listed in the credits, so this information is second-hand and likely incomplete.)

Primary band:

  • Sam Phillips – vocals

  • T Bone Burnett – guitar, producer

  • Colin Moulding – bass, producer

  • Jerry Scheff – bass

  • David Mansfield – guitar

  • Mickey Curry – drums

Guests:

  • Peter Buck – guitar

  • Marc Ribot – guitar

  • Benmont Tench – organ

  • Larry Taylor – bass

  • Marvin Etzioni – bass

  • Dan Heffington – drums

  • Stephen Hodges – percussion

  • Michael Blair – drums

  • Van Dyke Parks – string arrangements

The Sid Page Strings (on “Baby I Can’t Please You”):

  • Robert Becker – viola

  • Sid Page – violin

  • Joel Derouin – violin

  • Larry Corbett – cello

Additional production:

  • Tchad Blake – mixing

  • John Paterno – mixing assistant

  • Neal Avron – engineer

  • Joe Schiff – engineer

  • Dave Brock – assistant engineer

  • Jim Champagne – assistant engineer

  • Doug Diamond – assistant engineer

  • David Eike – assistant engineer

  • Noel Hazen – assistant engineer

  • Tom Nellen – assistant engineer

  • Bob Salcedo – assistant engineer

  • Howard Willing – assistant engineer

  • Bob Ludwig – mastering

Credits 

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of: 

  • Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf

  • Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste

  • The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...

  • Faith No More - Midlife Crisis

  • Herbie Hancock - Hornets

  • Kraftwerk - Autobahn

  • Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen

  • Sam Phillips - Same Rain (this episode only)

You can buy or stream Martinis & Bikinis and other albums by Sam Phillips at the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon, and you can buy her most recent releases directly from her Bandcamp at samphillips1.bandcamp.com. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and keep as cool as you can.

tags / Rich Bunnell

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