Shawn Phillips ‎/ Rumplestiltskin's Resolve (A&M Records US 1976) (White Label Promo) Vinyl Rip in 16/ 44.1 - 24/96 - 24/192

Shawn Phillips is my guru, a spiritual guide if you will. After listening to this album I am always infused with energy and good will and feel I have the strength to carry on no matter what is pulling me down in life. Shawn is my candidate for the most overlooked / underrated musician of our time, he’s an extremely fine musician and vocalist with an incredible vocal range that will blow your mind.

Over the years Mr. Phillips has worked with Peter Robinson quite a bit, you might know him from Quatermass (the band). Peter Robinson shines quite a bit on Rumplestiltskin's Resolve, another Quatermass alum (John Gustafson on bass) shows up on the “Spiteful” track.

I’ve seen Shawn in concert many times over the years, his usual setup is that he sits center stage surrounded by about six to eight different guitars within hands reach, ready to be selected to supply the right vibe for a specific moment. There were six and twelve string acoustic guitars, single and double neck electric guitars + others that I have no idea what their specific significance was, but boy did they add THE special touch when needed. Sometimes he’d play with a full band and other times just by himself with his guitars and still at other times he added an Apple computer to his solo performances for background “support” music. The significance of the Apple computer is he was doing this in the late 80’s, early 90’s when it was not a laptop but the original “box” Macintosh type computer. This guy was on top of it!

Shawn was born in Texas, worked a lot with Donovan early on (actually wrote the song “Season of the Witch” in which he was never credited for). Lived in Italy for most of the 70’s and now lives in South Africa where he still records and does small tours at various places around the world, all this while working as an emergency medical technician (EMT), firefighter, 1st Officer, Navigator, and Extrication Specialist with the National Sea Rescue Institute of South Africa at the young age of 71!

This guy is brilliant!

Here’s the lyrics to my favorite Shawn Phillips song, which happens to be on this album:

Serendipity Peace
Oh if life could be like a merry-go-round
I'd ride it all over again
And all I'd find was the peace of mind
I'd known when I was younger in sin
Won't you take me ahead to the future of man
To see what becomes of us all
And I don't think I'll cry if'n we're not alive
It will be through no fault of God's
And the saving grace of a Marlin's break
Is an insight that's so good to know
And the sun makes diamonds all over the water
And off in the distance is snow
On the bitter cold crags of a mountain's face
I waited for something to feel
And the breathing of love
Came and fostered my brow
And left serendipity peace
And the time for playing is virtually over
It cannot continue for long
So people of terra, the loved and unsung ones
Beware the direction is wrong
But the fear is not such a comical trial
It ebbs and it flows with our souls
And it comes and it's greater or lesser in volume
It depends on what you love the most


Review by Bruce Eder
Folk-rock with some unexpected musical twists, sung with extraordinary passion. It wasn't going to sell well, as disco began its rise to the top of the musical pyramid, but it showed Phillips nearing the end of his A&M contract close to the top of his game.

Biography:

Shawn Phillips (born February 3, 1943, Fort Worth, Texas, USA) is a folk-rock musician, primarily influential in the 1960s and 1970s.

Phillips has recorded twenty albums and worked with musicians including Donovan, Paul Buckmaster, J. Peter Robinson, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Bernie Taupin, and many others. The Texas-born singer-songwriter was described as "The best kept secret in the music business" by the late rock impresario Bill Graham.

In the 1960s Phillips worked as a session player on several Donovan albums including Fairytale, Sunshine Superman, and Mellow Yellow, performed at the Isle of Wight festival, sang on "Lovely Rita" by the Beatles, and was cast to play the lead in the original production of Jesus Christ Superstar (he had to withdraw due to his heavy recording and touring schedule). In February 1969 Phillips wrote and performed, with The Djinn, the music for the controversial Jane Arden play Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven at the Arts Laboratory on Drury Lane.

Phillips worked the folk music scene in Los Angeles, New York's Greenwich Village, and London. In 1967, Phillips moved to Positano, Italy, where he remained throughout the 1970s, recording the albums Contribution, Second Contribution, Collaboration, and Faces'.

Four of his albums Faces, Bright White, Furthermore, and Do You Wonder made it into the Billboard Top 100. In addition, the singles, "Lost Horizon" and "We", made Billboard's top 100 in 1973 (63 and 92 respectively).

His album No Category, featuring his longtime collaborators Paul Buckmaster and Peter Robinson, was released in 2002.

In 2007, his first live album, Living Contribution, was released, along with a Live DVD of the same title.

Phillips today lives in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, with his wife Juliette and their son Liam. He is still touring and he divides his time between writing, recording, touring and his work as an emergency medical technician (EMT), firefighter, 1st Officer, Navigator, and Extrication Specialist with the National Sea Rescue Institute of South Africa (NSRI).

Tracklist:

A1 - Early Morning Hours - 5:21
Bass – Bobby Lichtig
Guitar – Steve Hammond
Percussion – Bill Summers
Piano, Synthesizer [Arp String Ensemble] – Peter Robinson
Vocals, Guitar, Chimes – Shawn Phillips

A2 - Spiteful - 4:53
Bass – John Gustafson
Drums – Barry DeSouza
Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes], Synthesizer [Arp String Ensemble, Arp Odyssey] – Peter Robinson
Guitar – Caleb Quaye
Oboe – John Pullen
Organ – Paul Buckmaster
Vocals, Guitar – Shawn Phillips

A3 - Today - 10:38
Bass – Paul Jackson
Drums – Mike Clarke
Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes], Synthesizer [Arp String Ensemble, Arp Odyssey] – Peter Robinson
Guitar – Mike Miller
Percussion – Bill Summers
Vocals, Guitar – Shawn Phillips

B1 - Wailing Wall - 5:53
Vocals, Guitar – Shawn Phillips

B2 - Hie Away - 5:35
Bass – Paul Jackson (2)
Drums – Mike Clarke
Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes], Clavinet, Synthesizer [Arp String Ensemble, Arp Odyssey] – Peter Robinson
Guitar – Mike Miller
Percussion – Bill Summers
Saxophone [Tenor] – Al Wing
Vocals, Guitar – Shawn Phillips

B3 - Serendipity Peace - 2:49
Bass – Bobby Lichtig
Percussion – Bill Summers
Piano, Synthesizer [Arp String Ensemble, Arp Odyssey] – Peter Robinson
Vocals, Guitar, Synthesizer [Aks] – Shawn Phillips

B4 - Rumplestiltskin's Resolve - 7:18 (There is very quiet music playing / repeating through the run out/lock groove at the end of this song)
Guitar – Mike Miller
Piano, Synthesizer [Arp String Ensemble, Arp Odyssey] – Peter Robinson
Saxophone [Soprano] – Al Wing
Vocals, Guitar – Shawn Phillips

Credits:
Arranged By – Peter Robinson
Engineer – Ellis Sorkin
Engineer [Assistent] – Steve Katz
Mastered By – Rick Collins
Mixed By – Peter Robinson, Shawn Phillips
Produced & Written By – Shawn Phillips

Notes:
Recorded at A&M Studios, Hollywood, California, except A2 and B1, recorded at Ramport Studios, Battersea, England. Mixed at Cherokee Studios, Los Angeles

Discography:

- I'm a Loner (1964) [re-issued in 1965 as Favourite Things]
- Shawn (1965) [re-issued in 1966 as First Impressions]
- Contribution (1970)
- Second Contribution (1970) US #208
- Collaboration (1971)
- Faces (1972) US #57
- Bright White (1973) US #72
- Furthermore (1974), A&M Records US #50
- Do You Wonder (1974) US #101
- Rumplestiltskin's Resolve (1976) US #201
- Spaced (1977)
- Transcendence (1978)
- Beyond Here Be Dragons (1983)
- Best of Shawn Phillips (1990)
- The Best of Shawn Phillips: The A&M Years (1992)
- The Truth If It Kills (1994)
- Another Contribution: Anthology (1995)
- No Category (2002)
- Living Contribution (2007)
- At The BBC (2009)
- Reflections (2012)
- PERSPECTIVE (2013)

Singles:

- A Christmas Song (1970, A&M AMS-819)
- We
- Lost Horizon
- Anello (Where Are You)
- Do You Wonder (1974. A&M)

Sessions / Appearances / Credits:

Donovan
The Fairytale - 1965
The Summer Day Reflection Song (12 string guitar), Jersey Thursday (12 string guitar), The Little Tin Soldier (Composer)

Donovan
Sunsine Superman - 1967
Three King Fishers (Sitar), Season of the Witch (Music composer not credited), Guinevere (Sitar and Co-writer not credited),
The Fat Angel (Co-writer not credited), Breezes of Patchulie (Sitar) Released in 1992

Donovan
Mellow Yellow - 1966
Sunny South Kensington(Sitar)

Gilbert Montagne
Gilbert Montagne - 1967 & 1971
Shawn Phillips (guitars)

The Beatles
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - 1967
Lovely Rita (Background vocals not credited)

Tucker Zimmerman
Ten Songs - 1969
A Face That Hasn’t Sold Out (Electric guitar), Children Of Fear (Sitar)

Blossom Toes
If Only for a Moment - 1969
Just Above my Hobby Horse's Head(12 string & Sitar)










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FilePost Links:

Art:
http://filepost.com/files/bde761db/SP_RR_USPROMO_ART.rar/

16-44.1:
http://filepost.com/files/c7ee48ef/SP_RR_USPROMO_1644.rar/

24-96:
http://filepost.com/files/322d9159/SP_RR_USPROMO_2496.part1.rar/
http://filepost.com/files/6fdaa887/SP_RR_USPROMO_2496.part2.rar/
http://filepost.com/files/5bm1fmf5/SP_RR_USPROMO_2496.part3.rar/

24-192:
http://filepost.com/files/a7c3a2f1/SP_RR_USPROMO_24192.part1.rar/
http://filepost.com/files/14e63b62/SP_RR_USPROMO_24192.part2.rar/
http://filepost.com/files/258a668c/SP_RR_USPROMO_24192.part3.rar/
http://filepost.com/files/7m334bbe/SP_RR_USPROMO_24192.part4.rar/