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Don't Do Anything - Sam Phillips
Don't Do Anything Image
Metascore
84 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 7 Critics What's this?

User Score
8.5 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 8 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Summary: This is the first album not produced by T-Bone Burnett for the California-born singer-songwriter Sam Phillips.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. Paste Magazine
    80
    On Don't Do Anything, she succeeds beautifully by doing nothing more than being the best possible version of herself.
  2. Q Magazine
    80
    Always an intriguing lyricist, her divorce from producer T. Bone Burnett seems to have added a bittersweet dimension to her words too. [Oct 2008, p.150]
    All this publication's reviews
  3. All Music Guide
    80
    With Don't Do Anything, Sam Phillips has struck out on her own with a work that's among her most challenging to date, and it reveals that she's held on to the gifts that have made her one of the most rewarding singer/songwriters of her generation while adding fresh accents as she follows her muse with commendable courage and clarity.

See all 7 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. JillL.
    10
    I have not stopped listening to this CD since I received the downloads from Nonesuch, and was also blessed to meet Sam in S.F. at Borders and hear her sing these songs. Her music affects me more deeply than any other music I have ever heard, and it stays with me as feelings of hope and unending possibilities. She is a gift to us all.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. JesseS.
    8
    Reliably ingenious, but could use some more weirdness.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. JamesB.
    8
    I'm very happy to see/hear the return of one of my all-time favorite singer/songwriters. "Don't Do Anything" is an excellent collection of intelligent and melodic pop tunes. And I feel it's a slight improvement on "A Boot and a Shoe". That's not to say I "disliked" Sam's previous album, only that her new release is more consistent. Aside from a couple tracks that too easily recall "A Boot and a Shoe", Sam's new album refreshingly features a fair amount of actual "electric guitar", especially on the superb "My Career in Chemistry" (one of the most original and "rockiest" tunes in her catalogue). Other standouts include: "Flowers Up", "Under the Night", "Signal", "Another Song" and the title track. All in all, this is one of my favorite albums so far in 2008.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

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