Papa John’s third LP w/Jagger, Richards, Wood & Taylor
After the demise of the Mamas & Papas in 1968, and the recording of their contractual obligation album People Like Us in 1971, Papa John Phillips embarked on a commercially ill-fated solo career. His debut, 1969’s John, The Wolf King of L.A., found Phillips forgoing the careful orchestrations and perfectly arranged harmonies of his former group, replacing naïve summer-of-love visions with more jaundiced visions. Critically lauded, the album stirred little commercial interest. Unable to find a starring role as a solo artist, Phillips turned to film, penning soundtracks for Brewster McCloud and Myra Breckinridge. He returned to solo sessions in the early 1970s, augmenting his Wrecking Crew regulars with members of the Crusaders, Traffic, and Mothers of Invention, turning his sound urban and funky. The results, shelved at the time, were released in 2007 as Varese’s Jack of Diamonds.
Phillips wrote music for a Broadway show, but in-fighting with the producers sunk the artistic vision and bad reviews closed the play after a short run. With his drug issues intensifying, Phillips’ musical productivity dropped, taking only the occasional project, such as the soundtrack for The Man Who Fell to Earth. While in London working on the film, Phillips made the acquaintance of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and with both Mick Taylor and Ron Wood helping out, cut six tracks for a prospective solo album. When drug use and Richards’ Canadian bust caused the London sessions to languish, Phillips returned to New York where the project resumed the following year. The music bounced from Stonesy rock and country to more highly produced pop, and with Phillips’ voice in good shape throughout, he showed more confidence in his singing than on either of his earlier solo projects.
Unfortunately, label disinterest and other Stones obligations once again sapped the project’s momentum. The results of both the London and New York sessions were left unissued at the time, and the original mid-70s master tape mixes went missing for three decades. Phillips revisited the project nearly fifteen years later, adding new overdubs, remixing the multitracks and changing the album’s running order. Issued shortly after his 2001 passing under the title Pay, Pack and Follow, the album received critical interest, but like his 1969 solo debut, found no commercial fortune. Two years later the original mid-70s mixes were found, and together with three session tracks and a pair of outtakes from The Man Who Fell to Earth are issued here for the first time. Producer Jeffrey Greenberg’s original mixes are more of their time than Phillips’ later re-workings, and the London tracks, in particular, fit well with the sound of the Stones’ work of the era.
The album opens with the slick production of “Wilderness of Love,†framing Phillips’ thin voice in liquid guitar, female backing vocals and a catchy, upbeat melody. There’s a similar slickness to “2001,†though its backing is more like the Stones’ Some Girls, with gentle country-blue guitars in the corners. The chipper backing vocals contrast to Phillips’ indifferent contemplation of a future in which everything may be different and humanity may have survived; it’s as if Prince’s century-ending party was stocked with ‘ludes. Phillips’ reserve is more wistful on the country-folk memory of home, “Oh Virginia,†but he sings from the gut with Jagger on backing vocals for the yowling blues-rock expose of his wild-child Mackenzie, “She’s Just 14.†Phillips imagines (or perhaps just enunciates) the inner thoughts of a strip bar patron in the showtune blues “Pussycat†and fantasizes being rescued from the dissipation of his Bel Air rock star mansion on “Sunset Boulevard.†He profiles a financier friend on “Mr. Blue,†and provides an early consideration of South African apartheid in “Zulu Warrior.†Both feature strong percussion from Traffic’s Reebop Kwaku Baah, the latter lanced with superb rhythm and solo guitar. The original album closes with a pair of songs that speak intimately about the discontent in his relationship and the craving to find something new.
Tracks 11-13 are session outtakes almost too vibrant to fit the original album. “Time Machine†starts as a country-tinged ballad before picking up a Who-like rhythm, and “Feather Your Nest†is a hook-filled Stones-styled jam with a bubblegum melody. Tracks 14 and 15 provide remnants from Phillips’ soundtrack to The Man Who Fell to Earth. “Liar, Liar†is a reggae tune on which Phillips subtle vocal is surrounded by horns, organ and drums, and “Hello Mary Lou†is a rootsy piano-and-guitar led instrumental. Phillips’ dalliance with the Stones was a two-way collaboration, with the guitars of Richards and Taylor providing grit to Phillips’ pop-oriented dreams, and the confidence of Richards and Jagger inciting lead vocals that really lead. This is another truly pleasant surprise from Phillips’ post-Mama & Papas musical life. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com] 