Customer Reviews

Zero Zero Zero: Best of

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This "Best of" collection doesn't do it's job.
Fans will bemoan essential missing tracks, which, if you are bluntly honest about these sort of things, is unavoidable.
Those wishing to sample this unique artist will be poorly served, as this is nowhere near as ear-grabbing as "Martinis & Bikinis". That record, or the "Indescribable Wow" may be a better jumping-on point.
Nice to hear a few tunes I was not familiar with, but I think the album I'll return to most, of hers. will be "Martinis"

I can appreciate that listeners familiar with Sam may be split on their opinion about this collection. There aren't really too many collections that do justice to any artist, unless they did their best work on singles. Sam's albums are great because the songs on the given album relate to each other and have a flow to them, whereas collections tend to be haphazard. I applaud Sam & T-Bone for at least trying to create a flow. As for the new tunes, they are slight by Sam standards, but 'Disappearing Act' could have been great if fleshed out. The remake of 'Holding on to the earth' is creepy, and though I do prefer the WOW version, it's kinda cool.The re-mix on 'Flame' is lovely, you can hear how great Sam's vocal is on that. I docked a star for the edit of 'Strawberry Road', arguably Sam's best song. I wonder if this was intentional, or if Virgin screwed up.( which I wouldn't put them past!)

I am really looking foward to Sam's new album , which will be out next year. Let's hope that Nonesuch will do right by her.

The only other Sam Phillips album I've heard previous was "A Boot & A Shoe". I bought "Zero Zero Zero" to get an idea of whether I'd like to buy more of the earlier Sam. It has happened so often that I've heard one album by an artist, only to buy more and find that I'd somehow picked the one anomolous album. (For instance Jules Shear--"Between Us" is altogether different from anything else he's done--I loved it, and read reviews from fans of his other work who hated it--something for everyone, I guess).

On the strength of "Zero Zero Zero", I will buy more Sam Phillips albums. I liked it well enough to want to hear more, even though it wasn't a cohesive album, like "A Boot and A Shoe" (which was excellent, by the way).

Particularly strong tracks--"I Need Love", "Black Sky", & "You Lost My Mind"

Having just listened again to this album, I have to say that it has done nothing but improve to my ears over the years. Don't really think of it as a "best of" collection - it's just a very nice assortment of _some_ of her best songs, plus some very interesting remixes. (The remix of "Fighting With Fire" alone is worth the cost of a typical CD.) All-in-all, a very nice assortment of the work of the most underrated published songstress of our age.

"Zero Zero Zero" is an extraordinary retrospective by an extremely gifted singer/songwriter who has always been ahead of her time.

Phillips' powerful and pointed lyrics paint a world that is superficial, harsh, and illogical.. In "I Need Love" she sings, "I need love, not some sentimental prison; I need God, not the political church; I need fire to melt the frozen sea inside me..." In "Signposts" she longs for a world where "beauty and the truth I could breathe like air." In "Animals on Wheels", a song that pretty much sums up much of human history, she cries, " The famous...don't have to be talented or do good work or be smart....."

It's NOT bitter irony, then, that fame has eluded this multi-talented musician!

Perhaps the best thing about this collection is that it apparently marks the end of Sam Phillips time with Virgin, which clearly had no idea what to do with her. But listening to this rather oddly chosen compilation serves to remind me--a huge fan--of all of the great songs that are missing. I wonder what the "uninitiated" will make of it?

I bought this CD merely to complete my Sam Phillips collection - even though I already had most of these songs on other CDs of hers. I was initially excited that a 'collection' was made, but then I read the songs listed and felt disappointed. Making a Sam Phillips 'Collection' is an impossible task - how can you pick and choose just a few songs to represent Sam Phillips?!? If anything, they should have released a box set of all her recordings!! While there are good songs on this release, there are many gems missing from what a fan would consider her best collections: like "Go Down", "Standing Still", "I Don't Want to Fall in Love", "I Don't Know How to Say Goodbye to You", "Same Rain", "Baby I Can't Please You", "Same Changes", "Entertain-men", "Help Yourself", I guess I could go on and on. I was surprised to see "Black Sky" on here - which was one of my all-time favorite songs, but didn't think it would be appropriate for a collection disc. The new cuts on here are ok, but nothing spectacular. I still think Virgin Records could have done Sam Phillips more justice by releasing a box set of all her recordings. Now, that would have been a great collection!!

I have only high praise for Sam Phillips. This album is a solid collection of only some of Sam's standout songs, there is so much else to be heard. The album focusses on the 91-94 period - it would have been nice to see a couple more tracks from Omnipop (1997) but the songs have been well chosen nevertheless. Highlights include stark and beautiful tracks like "Black Sky". The remixes are on the whole, not very remixed but the new tracks breathe a bit of life into the album. "Disappearing Act" is concise and appropriate (at the end of Sam's virgin contract), hopefully not a forecast on Sam's future as a musician. I hope there is much more to come.

There's something here indescribable, which is just about right, since SP's first release was The Indescribable Wow. Sam Phillips is part savant, part naif, and part waif - seductive by thirds. Zero, Zero, Zero is a compilation of songs mostly from other releases. A good bit is from Martinis & Bikinis (1994), her closest brush with stardom. Missing is her John Lennon cover of "Gimme Some Truth", but the gorgeous "Flame (Remix)" insinuates itself into your soul with the subtle insistence of its inspiration, Beatles production values from the Rubber Soul period. T Bone Burnett is the producer and his licks come from various places, American folk as much as pop - witness the Brother, Where Art Thou! soundtrack. My favorite here is "Animals on Wheels", a piece SP sampled in her cameo in the Wim Wenders film The End of Violence.

Sam Phillips can do anything that she wants and she does. ZERO ZERO ZERO is a good example. I like it because it has it's own style; layed back and diverse in a subtle way. The track choices are unexpected because ZERO ZERO ZERO doesn't include her "pop" standouts. But who cares? All I know is that she is it. Have a sense of humor, baby. Buy ZERO ZERO ZERO!