A
lso in this case, we can simply refer to the artist’s production before and during the first half of the 70s to summarize all we need to know and hear about this eclectic and gentle researcher of his own voice.His roots could be found in his own country & western musical traditions, but that would be too restrictive. His roots extend wider than that, touching deeply Donovan and a couple of other singers-songwriters on both sides of the big pool.
Shawn Phillips knows a very varied beginning, in search of his own identity and in the sign of personal and spiritual growth, moving during different periods of time on the Canary Islands, Canada, Mexico, the Italian golden coast town of Positano, plus two years spent serving in the US Navy and working odd jobs like hot-rods racer, musician-dishwasher and whatnot.
His first two albums are nowadays a rarity (of which I possess only the very first one): I’m a loner (1965) and Shawn (1966).
They both are in line with their times and are clearly the product of a musician of undoubted skill and technique, but still undecided where all this will lead him to.
The first real maturity can be found in his following Contribution (1970). The album is a collection of what remained of a much larger and more ambitious project for an opera with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and other musician of the caliber of Paul Buckmaster, Stevie Winwood, Chris Wood, Poli Palmer e Jim Capaldi. The opera would never see the light, because A&M will not see the viability of such a large project spanning 3 LPs.
Other parts of that opera will be published much later on the album Faces (1972), together with new materials.
Contribution signs also the start of Shaw’s personal and spiritual evolution through yoga and Kundalini meditation, stepping into the perception and inner awareness, translated into the outside world.
This is not just a coloured and deceitful mantle of easy Eastern Philosophy absentmindedly thrown over the shoulders just because it is so very fashionable, but is more the result of a commitment to a new way of living the world.
Shawn’s voice, a potent though delicate instrument with a respectably wide range, bounces between low and high octaves, sometimes morphing the words into simpler sounds, becoming almost the music’s rhythmic component itself.
Few months later, another album sees the light: Second contribution (1970). Like the title suggests, Shawn introduces it as a sort of extension, of evolution perhaps, of his previous Contribution.
The whole album seems to be based upon Phillips own idea of polarity as the driving force of every event in a constant game of opposites; the brass section bounces between the R&B and free sounds, the arpeggio’s of the acoustic 12-strings guitar are thrown back by the distorted notes of the double-neck Gibson and everything resolves into a positive-negative competition, often with excellent musical results.
The sum of this process is poured into his next album, Collaboration (1971), in collaboration with the geniuses Paul Buckmaster and Peter Robinson, where Shawn tries to elevate the music to the awareness raising process he is going through.
The results are not hundred percent convincing, perhaps because the creativity cannot keep pace with his personal development, or maybe the other way round, though his voicings are still of higher level and notably expressive.
The next Faces (1972) contains some remaining parts of the 1970’s rejected opera project and new compositions and therefore is not yet immediately consumable and lacks a recognizable unity. Pity, because it contains some true little gems.
From here onward, Shawn Phillips tries very hard to communicate the natural expressive power of his inner research, but does not convince. It would be much more interesting to finally see released the tons of old tapes stowed away in his Positano residence, recorded with an infinite variety of musicians, instead of listening to his latest dream of glory without any profound change or evolution.
One more R.I.P.
Alas, poor Yorick…