Don't Do Anything
by Sam Phillips
  • Record Label: Nonesuch
  • Release Date: Jun 3, 2008
Metascore
84

Universal acclaim - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. AllMusic
    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.
  2. Boston Globe
    80
    Anyone who rues the scarcity of smart, serious pop music for grown-ups should snap up the entire Sam Phillips catalog. On second thought, skip "Omnipop." But don't miss Phillips's splendid new effort, Don't Do Anything, a collection that dances in her signature mystery space between darkness and light with strange grace, emotional candor, and winsome hooks.
  3. Hot Press
    80
    Phillips’ vocal style is of the quietly devastated Erin Moran/Aimee Mann school, backlit by Bacharach-and-Wilson-ish arrangements on ‘Another Song’, ‘Little Plastic Life’ and ‘Flower Up’.
  5. Paste Magazine
    80
    On Don’t Do Anything, she succeeds beautifully by doing nothing more than being the best possible version of herself.
  6. PopMatters
    80
    Phillips realizes that music, like life, is found in the flaws. She creates sonic sandcastles with strings and percussion and croons above it, but her inner eye is open and sees the waves crashing to the shore.
  7. 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
  8. Trouser Press
    80
    Brimming with confidence and good humor, Don’t Do Anything is another high point in a career that threatens to become overstuffed with them.

Awards & Rankings

27
#27 Best Album of 2008

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 8 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. JamesB.
    Jun 25, 2008
    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 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.… Full Review »
  2. JesseS.
    Jun 19, 2008
    8
    Reliably ingenious, but could use some more weirdness.
  3. JillL.
    Jun 18, 2008
    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 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.… Full Review »
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