the indescribable wow

Christian singer Leslie Phillips changed her name to Sam Phillips and changed labels to make the transition to secular artist with this sophisticated and thoughtful pop initiation. 'The Indescribable Wow' was produced by her future husband T-Bone Burnett who had also taken the reins on the crossover pop of her last album for Myrrh Records 'The Turning'.   The sessions took place at Ocean Way Recorders in Los Angeles, California and Sunset Sound Factory in Hollywood with Sam Phillips on vocals and guitars; T-Bone Burnett on guitar, mandocello, and marxophone; Jerry Scheff on bass; Mike Utley on organ; Darrell Leonard on trumpet; Buell Neidlinger on cello and string bass; David Miner on harpsichord, harmonium, and bass; Steve Jordan and Mickey Curry on drums; and Alex Acuña on percussion and drums.  The album also features orchestrations by Van Dyke Parks.  

Burnett helped her to secure a new contract with Virgin Records and Leslie adopted her nickname 'Sam' to complete the transition away from her image as the 'Christian Cindy Lauper':  "I was an idiot. I was egotistical. I thought, 'Oh, I can save the world. Sure, no problem. I’m up for it. And I can not only make music, but afterwards I can talk to people who need professional counseling and help them.' I was put in a position where I was supposed to live my life as an example for other people. There was so much pressure to be—not exactly perfect, but a very weird version of perfect. So, when freedom came, when the mystics came blowing through my world, it was such a relief...I don’t feel I have to adhere to a certain regimen or routine or dogma. There’s a beautiful thing about getting to that stage. Most of the people I meet after shows who really want to talk have been through the same kind of thing. They started out with fundamentalism and have been on a journey for something more, for a spirituality that’s bigger, that’s attempting to be as big as God is or should be...It’s like Peter’s revelation, when the sheet comes down from heaven and there are all these things on it that were forbidden in the Old Testament. And the revelation that God gave him was this: 'See all these things? Go ahead and eat them. It’s okay, it’s a new time.'  I feel that about Christianity. That’s a metaphor for me. I take that as: 'You know what? If Yoga helps you, if you can embrace Zen and that helps, if that lets you understand God and life and love more clearly, if that helps you on your way, then it’s okay.' God is bigger than all of this, than doctrine, than dogma. Those things are going to fall away. God’s going to outlast all of the institutions and all of the trappings...Things were happening simultaneously in my life. I was reading more, meeting people who had faith but who were not involved with the church. And the church was getting very political on the abortion issue. And then my record company was demanding dishonesty from me, saying weird things like, 'This song just sounds a little too sexy. We don’t know why, but you’ve got to change it. And no, we don’t know how you’re supposed to change it.' At that point it just got ridiculous. I said, 'This is ludicrous. I’m not going to continue with this label.' At first they were upset and said, 'You have to. You’re under contract.' I was selling well enough for them that they didn’t want to let me go. But I said, 'There’s a moral clause in my contract. And you know what? I’ve slept with someone that I’m not married to. And I’m not ashamed to tell anybody about that. And I will.' They said, 'Okay, you’re free to go. You’re out of your contract.' That’s how easy it was to get out of it. That’s how silly it was. But it was a good parting of the ways. The label, and the church I was attending at the time, were worried that here was this young girl running around talking about Christianity who might not always toe the line, who was getting out of the barn and away from their control. They found it threatening. They were trying to rein me in, having me do secretarial work at the church to help put me under their control. I have crazy stories about some of the fringe characters that I met in the parachurch organizations—from former groupies to former drug dealers, and one guy who had done hard time in prison now had a prison ministry. There were so many amazing, colorful characters who I have great affection for—a lot of really good human beings who were deeply flawed, who were trying to have some kind of spirituality, trying to help people, trying to change the world in their own way. It was a complicated decision to leave, and a very complicated time for me."

Phillips and Burnett would get married the next year.  








http://samphillips.com/









"Flame" 



"Remorse" 






"Holding On to the Earth" was co-written with T-Bone Burnett.  The single went to number twenty-two on the modern rock tracks chart.




"What You Don't Want to Hear" 





'The Indescribable Wow'
full album:



All songs by Sam Phillips, except "Holding On to the Earth" and "She Can't Tell Time" by Sam Phillips and T-Bone Burnett.

"I Don't Want to Fall In Love" – 2:54
"I Don't Know How to Say Goodbye to You" – 3:19
"Flame" – 2:35
"Remorse" – 3:43
"What Do I Do" – 3:58
"I Can't Stop Crying" – 3:21
"Holding On to the Earth" – 3:02
"She Can't Tell Time"– 3:58
"What You Don't Want to Hear" – 3:05
"Out of Time" – 4:24