Shawn Phillips
Album: Furthermore
Label: Talking Elephant
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.shawnphillips.com

Good to see Talking Elephant working their way through reissuing Shawn's albums, and the latest to receive this treatment is this 1974 offering (originally on A&M). It's a predictably eclectic, albeit principally Jekyll-and-Hyde collection from the maverick Texan singer-songwriter, which unashamedly presents the twin poles of his musical creativity, these being placed at the basic extremes of uptempo - a frenetic, funk-based jazz-rock funk (January First) or very-70s attitude (Mr. President) - and down-tempo - a beautiful, reflective, thoughtful (and perhaps ever-so-slightly spaced-out) acoustic-based balladry (Starbright, Breakthrough, See You).

For me, the latter category provides all of the disc's highlights, and I find these songs have worn extremely well - unlike one or two of the funkier selections, which I never rated much at the time (I must admit, most likely due to the fact that I just don't get on with that idiom generally). Having said that, there's no criticising Shawn's conviction or his own sympathy with the jazz-funk sub-genre, and I find I can nowadays listen to tracks like Ninety Two Years rather than skipping them, not only managing to catch and appreciate the words (even though some have become or rendered a touch dated by dint of more recent political developments and attitude changes) but also to clock that they're authentically and faultlessly rendered and nonetheless provide convincing examples of that style.

Interestingly, when the two styles collude in sequence, as Planscape follows See You, the effect is surprisingly stimulating, a little like a tryout for one of those sprawling Grateful Dead jams, so all is not lost - and much is gained - from this opportunity to reassess Shawn's achievement here. And finally, the presence of guest musicians Caleb Quaye, Paul Buckmaster, Peter Robinson, and Ann Odell adds extra richness of texture without being obtrusive, and Paul's orchestral arrangements further enhance the mildly epic Troof and the "revolutionary" experimental, distorted programmatic soundscape of Cape Barras.

In total, Furthermore comes across at this temporal remove as one of Shawn's most consciously rounded album releases despite its obvious extremes of expression. I also like the fact that the insert retains the text of Shawn's father's poem (Freeway's Child) which inspired the album.

David Kidman