James Phillips
Soul Ou

Tracks:

1. Africa Is Dying
2. Polling Day
3. See How The Wind Blows
4. Light Me A Light
5. Pearls & Swine
6. Sages
7. Heaven
8. Loving Feeling
9. Little Lies
10. The Fun's Not Over

Musicians:

• James Phillips: vocals, guitar, piano

Release information:

1997, Shifty

Review:

As the appropriate title says, this was a solo performance by the ou with the most soul in SA rock. That it turned out to be his last released album is just an extra irony in the story of James Phillips. These songs were recorded by Lloyd Ross at the Shifty Studios with no album release in mind. They were purely intended as rehearsal tapes for the concert Phillips was to perform in Grahamstown and as such have a haunting, quiet feel with Phillips accompanying his sensitive vocals with a lone, sparse, guitar, keyboard or piano.

The songs were mostly unreleased and in most cases, unheard, even by the most devoted and obsessive fans, and there were many! The songs range across the many styles that Phillips handled with such ease including blues, folk, jazz and rock. They are all shot through with his renowned humour, irony and cynicism. They reflect the mixture of relief, concern and overall optimism of the new democracy in which he found himself. The old targets were gone and Phillips began to look inward for his subject matter. He found these low-key and heartfelt songs and poured his soul into them. 'Soul Ou' is a sensitive and fitting epitaph to this great South African man, musician and artist.
-- Stephen Segerman

Webpage:

• James Phillips

Info supplied by Saad Cloete, July 2001.