Search - Phil Phillips :: Sea of Love

"Complete" Phil Phillips At Last

Richard Hurley | Providence, RI United States | 01/15/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's been forty-eight years and worth the wait.

Phil Phillips put out seven singles on Mercury Records in the late 50s (and early 60s?), beginning with the great "Sea of Love," first recorded for the independent label, Khourys, in 1958.

I never gave up hope that an LP would appear, but it didn't happened.

More troubling, though, was that Phil Phillips seemed to disappear without a trace immediately after "Sea of Love" left the charts.

Over the years I found the Mercury 45s, and two more recorded for independent labels (are there more?), but I never read a word about the artist whose voice I thought was so special. In 1986, Goldmine magazine finally did a piece on him and I was relieved to know he was alive and well.

A few weeks ago, while checking under Phil Phillips the way I'd always done, I found a CD aptly titled "Sea of Love," and when I checked the track listing I could see it was all the Mercury recordings I knew along with one alternate cut, two takes of an unissued standard, and another track completely unknown to me (the four songs I have done for independents weren't there).

This was a dream come true. All good things come.

Issued by Bayou Records (presumably in Louisiana, but, aside from the song titles printed over a photo of Phil Phillips, there is no other information), the sound quality is excellent and for the first time one can hear the recordings one after another without having to return to the record player every two and a half minutes (probably why I always wanted an album).

I know nothing about Bayou Records. A CD style booklet about Phil Phillips would have been nice, but they've done a wonderful service and I'd like to commend them.

I remember liking all of the records I found by Phil Phillips (whose real name, by the way, is John Phillip Baptiste). I can perhaps see why none of them took off the way "Sea of Love" did, but the voice and delivery are always there, and the arrangements are beautiful. The Goldmine piece mentioned that Brook Benton and the Jordinaires do backup on some of the cuts.

If you remember "Sea of Love" and liked it, you will not be disappointed with this disc.

It fills out a story that was always too short.

"

Long Over Due

Ralph Chavarria | 07/22/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What we missed out in the 50's is made up in this great c.d. from Phil Phillips. Every song on this cd is a winner and the sound is of course "Bear Family" quality. What a great voice and great songs, too bad they waited 50 years to put them out. I recommend this cd for all the truly oldie but goodie fans and true collectors. Thanks Phil and thanks Bear Family records for this outstanding collection. The booklet contains a great story of Phil Phillips and his music and a great discography of the included songs. Again this is worth the price of the c.d."