Blame it on producer and Calgary musical fixture Lorrie Matheson — that’s the party line regarding Tom Phillips’ bold careen into cover-song euphoria on his new album Mr. Superlove. The Valentine’s Day release date winks at the title track’s saunter through a chillingly detached scenario of domestic violence.
Oh and then there are the rest of the songs in which images of dead kittens hearts drawn on coffin lids and kidnapped teenaged girls nestle amongst captivating and yes pretty melodies originally recorded by a combination of obscure and prevalent artists including New Order The Kinks Nick Lowe Richard Buckner and George Harrison.
All in all it makes Phillips’ usual forays into the drunken randy escapism of honky-tonk seem like a ladies’ bridge luncheon. So what gives? “Essentially it was a 100 per cent selfish exercise” says Matheson. “I’ve kept a catalogue of songs I think would be good covers in my brain for as long as I can remember.
“I wanted the songs to have evocative lyrical content because it’s Tom after all. He’s a smart literate guy and I knew that he’d appreciate singing (and I’d appreciate hearing) intelligent lyrics. There’re plenty of ‘Oooh-shooby-dooby-baby-I-love-you’ songs on my mental list but y’know not right for Tom.”
That’s because Phillips has written some of the most nakedly earthy yet cerebral songs that ever kicked open the swinging doors of the honky-tonk. His body of work is so admired that no one blinked when Eric Bibb recorded Phillips’ “Ribbons and Bows.” While Matheson avoided duplicating the sound of Phillips’ longtime band the Men of Constant Sorrow (MOCS) the understated sound of the album is simultaneously stunning and alluring.
“While I was concerned about what the songs were saying I was also determined to make it unlike anything anyone (including Tom) would expect in terms of the sound. Not just sonically but chords and melodies too.”
As Matheson says “I’ve known Tom for a long time — 20 years. I’ve always liked his songs and he’s always liked mine. He’s turned me on to a lot of stuff: Tom T. Hall and Kris Kristofferson spring to mind — and he is truly curious and adventurous when it comes to art. Lots of things — not just music but books films etc. get discussed when we hang out and he welcomes everything with open arms. So when the idea came up that we should do something together à la (Rick) Rubin/(Johnny) Cash he was on it. He was like a little kid at Christmas. Me too.”
However Matheson was mindful about not copying the American Recordings project’s Rubin/Cash dynamics. “Rubin is great. Cash is great. Those records are great…. we didn’t (want to) just copy what the Cash records were. (Because) again we’d fail and why bother? Those records already exist. I can’t say it wasn’t a springboard for the idea though. That would be disingenuous.”
As for Phillips letting go was not as hard as one might expect. “When Lorrie and I first decided we were going to collaborate on something we both agreed that’s how we should do it. It was our common ground” he says. When Matheson who was raised on punk gospel and all that lies between played Phillips his mental list Phillips was “… at first shocked then excited. We had a studio full of instruments and two of the most dedicated guys on the planet” he says as Tim Leacock who played with both the MOCS and Matheson’s former band National Dust helped steer the journey.
While songs such as The Hold Steady’s “Stuck Between Stations” and Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill” are some of the ones that got away an album like Mr. Superlove leaves little room for regret. Still Phillips has one: “I wish we could have made a go of Mick Jagger’s ‘Evening Gown’ but it decided it didn’t want to be on the album.”
Tom Phillips performs on Saturday February 14 at Festival Hall.
