Music Review: Recollection by Leslie (Sam) Phillips

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Encouraging lyrics; great music

Cons: 80's sound on many songs

The Bottom Line: Will encourage you

With music that is dated

But timeless lyrics

Recollecting the Christian Music Hits from the Start of Leslie Phillips Varied Career

Sam Phillips has had quite an interesting career.  As a musician, she's released several lauded alternative rock discs.  She did a lot of the scoring for the TV show Gilmore Girls.  She played the mute terrorist in the third Die Hard movie.

And before she took the stage name Sam, she was using her birth name and recording Christian pop music as Leslie Phillips.  She released four records back in the mid-80's plus Recollection, a greatest hits compilation that includes quite a few good songs.

I was only familiar with two songs when I got this disc.  "By My Spirit" is a duet with Matthew Ward, a member of the Second Chapter of Acts who was branching out on a solo career by that point.  Based on Zechariah 4:6, this song reminds us of the power of God to deal with the situations that seem to overwhelm us.  I especially love the song because the bridge absolutely soars, and Leslie and Matthew sound incredible on it.

The other song I was familiar with was "Strength of My Life," although it turns out I only knew part of the song.  I had learned the bridges and chorus as a praise chorus.  Turns out there are some pretty great verses as well.  Russ Taff, another Christian music veteran of the period, joins her on this duet.  This is another ballad with beautiful piano backing.  The lyrics are a great prayer to God asking for help during the tough times.  It is one of the few times I don't mind repetitive lyrics for a chorus, too.

Like all collection efforts, this one has some new or unusual tracks.  "No One But You" is an upbeat song about God's faithfulness no matter what we do.  It's in a minor key, which really sets it apart.

"Your Kindness" starts off and ends the disc.  She's done an acoustic version of the song for this disc, and it is absolutely beautiful with just her vocals and guitar.  The lyrics are our response to God's unconditional love for us.  The reprise at the end is just the chorus, but this time Leslie is playing the piano for a slightly different take on the song.

In an interesting twist on the rare tracks, she included the home demo of "Walls of Silence."  You can definitely tell there is a slight loss of quality here, although you can still hear the vocals just fine over the guitar.

"Libera Me" is a fun track despite the lyrics.  The song itself talks about the pains of life and being trapped in them.  But the music is very upbeat, heavy on the percussion and with a light and airy guitar.  Normally, you'd picture a song asking for help in escaping the heartaches of life to be serious, but in this case it always brings a smile to my face.

Likewise, "Love is Not Lost" has a fun rock feel to it.  This time the theme of the song is the pain that love can bring, but it does challenge us to not let that sour us on love in the future.  Of course, the song betrays its 80's roots.  We've got synthesizer and drum machines here.

Other highlights include "Answers Don't Come Easy," a song of patience in trials and "You're the Same," which takes hope from the eternal nature of God.

Because of the more acoustic nature of some of the songs, not all of them betray the original 1987 release date for this disc.  But other songs really do.  I had some friends in the car with this playing, and they asked me what 80's music I was listening to.  You just can't miss those synthesizers when they get going on some of the songs.

I took a chance on Recollection, knowing I'd love two songs, but I found that Leslie Phillips had quite a few gems during her short Christian music career.  The lyrics will really encourage your soul if you can get by the 80's production values.

CD Length: 45:18

Tracks:

1. Your Kindness

2. No One But You

3. Heart of Hearts

4. Walls of Silence (Home Demo Version)

5. Libera me

6. Love is Not Lost

7. Answers Don't Come Easy

8. You're the Same

9. I'm Finding

10. When the World is New

11. By My Spirit

12. Strength of My Life

13 Your Kindness (Reprise)