Cruel Inventions
{{Infobox album
| name = Cruel Inventions
| type = studio
| artist = Sam Phillips
| cover = CruelInventions.jpg
| released = {{Start date|1991|5|28}}
| studio = {{flatlist|
- Eagle Audio, Fort Worth, Texas
- Ocean Way, Los Angeles, California
- Sunset Sound Factory, Hollywood, California
- Reggie Fisher's, Los Angeles, California
}}
| genre = Alternative rock
| length = 36:19
| label = Virgin
| producer = T Bone Burnett
| prev_title = The Indescribable Wow
| prev_year = 1988
| next_title = Martinis & Bikinis
| next_year = 1994
}}
Cruel Inventions is the sixth studio album by American singer and songwriter Sam Phillips.
Critical reception
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = AllMusic
| rev1Score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{cite web |first=Kelly |last=McCartney |title=Review: Cruel Inventions |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/cruel-inventions-mw0000263106 |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=24 November 2011}}
|rev2=Chicago Tribune
|rev2score={{rating|3.5|4}}{{cite web | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1991/06/27/sam-phillipscruel-inventions-virgin-starstarstar-12for-all/ | title=Sam Phillips Cruel Inventions (Virgin) | work=Chicago Tribune|author-link=Greg Kot | date=27 June 1991 | access-date=9 July 2014 | author=Kot, Greg}}
|rev3=Christgau's Consumer Guide
|rev3score={{rating-Christgau|cut}}{{Cite book |title=Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau |chapter=Sam Phillips: Cruel Inventions |chapter-url=http://robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=10606 |date=2000-10-15 |publisher=Macmillan Publishing |isbn=9780312245603 |language=en |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/christgausconsum00chri_0 }}
|rev4=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
|rev4score={{rating|3|5}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NQ0KAQAAMAAJ |title=The encyclopedia of popular music: Indexes |last=Larkin |first=Colin |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195313734 |pages=522 |language=en |author-link=Colin Larkin (writer)}}
|rev5=Entertainment Weekly
|rev5score=A{{cite web | url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,314503,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070401173554/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,314503,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=April 1, 2007 | title=Cruel Inventions (1991) | work=Entertainment Weekly | date=31 May 1991 | access-date=9 July 2014 | author=Browne, David|author-link=David Browne (journalist)}}
}}
Cruel Inventions received mostly favorable reviews from critics. At Entertainment Weekly, David Browne gave the album an A, writing that it "...is fraught with both beauty and tension, making it one of the year's most beguiling records." Browne named it his sixth favorite album of 1991.{{Cite magazine |date=1991-12-27 |title=1991's best (and worst) music |url=http://ew.com/article/1991/12/27/1991s-best-and-worst-music/ |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |language=en}}
Track listing
{{Track listing
| all_writing = Sam Phillips
| title1 = Lying
| length1 = 3:52
| title2 = Go Down
| length2 = 3:38
| title3 = Cruel Inventions
| length3 = 3:00
| title4 = Standing Still
| length4 = 3:10
| title5 = Tripping Over Gravity
| length5 = 5:21
| title6 = Now I Can't Find the Door
| length6 = 3:36
| title7 = Private Storm
| length7 = 4:10
| title8 = Raised on Promises
| length8 = 3:11
| title9 = Hole in Time
| length9 = 3:19
| title10 = Where the Colors Don't Go
| length10 = 3:02
}}
Personnel
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
- Sam Phillips – vocals, Chamberlin, guitars
- T Bone Burnett – Chamberlin, guitars
- Van Dyke Parks – Chamberlin, string arrangements
- Jim Goodwin – acoustic piano
- Elvis Costello – guitars
- Marc Ribot – guitars
- Jerry Scheff – bass
- Alex Acuña – drums, percussion
- Michael Blair – drums, percussion
- Mickey Curry – drums, percussion
- Ralph Forbes – drums, percussion
- David Kemper – drums, percussion
- Scott Musick – drums, percussion
- Sandy Bull – oud
- The Sid Page Strings – string quartet
- Larry Corbett – cello
- John Acevedo – viola
- Sid Page – violin
- Joel Derouin – violin
{{div col end}}
Production
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
- T Bone Burnett – producer
- Stacy Baird – recording
- Rik Pekkonen – recording
- Joe Schiff – recording
- Tchad Blake – mixing
- Kevin Killen – mixing
- Max Garcia – assistant engineer
- Mark Guilbeault – assistant engineer
- Julie Last – assistant engineer
- Tom Nellen – assistant engineer
- Chris Niswander – assistant engineer
- Eric Rudd – assistant engineer
- Brian Soucy – assistant engineer
- Jeff Ward – assistant engineer
- Bob Ludwig – mastering at Masterdisk (New York City, New York)
- Melanie Nissen – art direction
- Inge Schapp – design
- Kathleen Philpott – design
- Anton Corbijn – photography
- Borman Entertainment – management
{{div col end}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{Sam Phillips}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Sam Phillips (musician) albums