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Fan Dance
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Fan Dance Image
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: This is Sam Phillips' first new album in five years, following 1996's poorly-received 'Omnipop.' Phillips' husband, T-Bone Burnett, produces.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. AllMusic
    90
    With Fan Dance, Sam Phillips has made an album that proves modesty is one the rarest and most welcome virtues in pop music today.
  2. Sonicnet
    90
    Whenever the delicious sensuality of the music threatens to take over, the anxiety and restless intelligence that drive it return to the surface, creating a quietly riveting tension. Fan Dance could be Sam Phillips' best album yet -- and that's really saying something.
  3. The A.V. Club
    80
    Fan Dance confirms that Phillips has quietly developed into one of the most assured writers and performers in the underpopulated field of adult pop.
  4. CDNow
    80
    Framed in delicate, candlelit arrangements that beckon like distant ghosts, Phillips addresses matters of faith, love, and spiritual connection in such a way that questions are as important as answers.
  5. E! Online
    75
    A less produced, totally honest and much more sparse collection than what fans were dancing to with Omnipop.
  6. Billboard
    70
    Some may find the subtle Fan Dance too unadorned, but its quiet beauty holds real strength.
  7. Q Magazine
    60
    An album that's as entrancing as it is modestly proportioned. [June 2002, p.121]
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. SneedyM
    Apr 10, 2005
    9
    Having already forged a career in pop but failing to establish herself as a household name (despite her critically-acclaimed "Martinis & Having already forged a career in pop but failing to establish herself as a household name (despite her critically-acclaimed "Martinis & Bikinis" record which appeared on Virgin in 1994), this is Sam's attempt at paring down her sound after her bloated, heavier fourth album ("Omnipop" 1996). It's mesmerizing and vulnerable, with the entire album under a sort of acoustic restraint that makes it the first truly cohesive SP album since "Cruel Inventions" appeared a decade prior. While it's bound to turn off some fans, the independent label and mature focus make this transitional album as worthy as Bettie Serveert's "Private Suit" or any of Elvis Costello's albums from the mid 1980s.… Expand
  2. ChristopherC.
    Oct 9, 2001
    9
    A quiet masterpiece by an exceptional and very underrated singer/songwriter that draws you further in and grabs ahold of your soul with each listen.
  4. BobG.
    Aug 30, 2002
    4
    Boring album. I love Sam Phillips' "Cruel Inventions" and "Martinis & Bikinis," but this one's a dud. Why critics are creaming in Boring album. I love Sam Phillips' "Cruel Inventions" and "Martinis & Bikinis," but this one's a dud. Why critics are creaming in their pants about it, I dunno. But not one song sticks in your head.… Collapse

Awards & Rankings

56
#56 Best Album of 2001
88
#88 Most Shared Album of 2001