Henry Phillips

first album "On The Shoulders Of Freaks"  Score: 97.02  Scores range from 0 to infinity, infinity being best.  100 is excellent.
The music sound quality is always good.  The variable part is if Henry gets good ideas for songs.

Songs ranked from best to worst:
Best: Sweet Little Blossom Of Mine (live)   Great song for the way he sings long complicated sentences involving increasingly absurd analogies.
On The Shoulders Of Freaks (studio)  Stop it Henry, you're freaking me out.
I'll Be Your Everything (live)   More absurd analogies.
What Do You Want Me To Do About It? (live)   It's funny because he can get through long complicated sentences without messing up.
Drivin' (live)   Drinkin', drivin', sobriety check, and she's only 15 years old.
Your Tax Dollars At Work (live)
When We Were Young (live)   Oh summertime-raincoat-wearing candy-giving guy from my childhood.
Jerkin' Around (live)   Jerkin' around, choking the chicken... Quite a list here.
The Fight (studio)   unhappy story,  pretty music
The First Time I Saw You (live)   Contains one weak joke and a sicko song.
Worst: The Bitch Song (studio)   Imagine if Billy Joel's song "She's Always A Woman To Me" was more negative.

Songs listed in track order:

  1. On The Shoulders Of Freaks   02:49
  2. Sweet Little Blossom Of Mine   03:16
  3. I'll Be Your Everything   03:16
  4. Drivin'   03:30
  5. The Bitch Song   02:20
  6. The First Time I Saw You   03:19
  7. When We Were Young   03:59
  8. Your Tax Dollars At Work   04:39
  9. Jerkin' Around   03:43
  10. What Do You Want Me To Do About It?   03:38
  11. The Fight   04:10

Total play time: 38:44   CD released in 1996.   Critiqued March 8, 2000 by Eric Houg


Henry Phillips second album "Number 2"   Score: 104
Songs ranked from best to worst:
Best
Guitar Pill
(live)  I can tell from the audience reaction that this is the song they were waiting for.  Clever song about an imaginary pill you could take that would enable you to play the guitar really well.  Amusing tricky musical passages played without messing up.
Jane (Stop This Crazy Thing!) (studio)  This sure is the weirdest song on the album.  That's what made me chuckle.  The music is...hmm, I don't know what the heck it is.  Sounds good.  Maybe soap opera music.  Lyrics touch on the Flintstones-Jetsons similarity.
Urban Myth (studio)  The lyrics don't matter much in this song.  I was more attracted to the catchy new wave Elvis Costello type music.  It's more pop song than comedy.
Hey, Mr. Postman! (studio)  There's some pretty good music here.  The dialog between Henry and Mr. Postman, Mr. Phoneman, and World Wide Webman  is pretty sick.  Henry plays the jerk.
Roommate From Hell (live) Good song title.  I had this CD for a while before listening to it.  I first played it to hear this song, to see if it fit my current roommate from Hell situation.  Unfortunately there were only three characteristics in common between Henry's roommate and mine, so I was disappointed.  I felt that the Sudden Death song "The Mouth" was a closer fit to my roommate.
What Do You Want Me To Do About It? ('99) (live)  This was a good song on Henry's first album.  Some lyrics are new here but the laughs come mainly for the same old reason.
Mystery Girl Story Intro, 
Roommate Story Intro
(live)(live)  Two stories with punch lines that might make you smile.
Mystery Girl (live)  Another girlfriend song, about a woman who does suspicious things.
Talking Again (studio)  Henry's rant about a girlfriend who won't stop talking.  The music sound quality is excellent, but the music composition though is not so good and I don't feel comfortable to crank it up, although it be rock.  I can also relate to the subject of the song but Henry's lyrics aren't much inspiration.  The woman's chatter provides more amusement than the lyrics do.
Hit In The Head By A Brick (live)  There are still some people laughing in the audience despite me putting the song here on the list.
Fresh Out Of Blues (studio)  A blues song from a guy who has no problems.  Adequate music, no laugh or smile funny lines for me, but lyrics also adequate
Worst  The Night I Fell In Love With You (studio)  There are no REALLY bad songs on this album
Songs listed in track order:
01.  Talking Again  04:01
02.  Fresh Out Of Blues  03:40
03.  Mystery Girl Story Intro  01:10
04.  Mystery Girl  02:54
05.  Guitar Pill  04:31
06.  Hey, Mr. Postman!  04:30
07.  Urban Myth  03:28
08.  Roommate Story Intro  00:56
09.  Roommate From Hell  03:07
10.  Hit In The Head By A Brick  03:17
11.  The Night I fell In Love With You  03:03
12.  What Do You Want Me To Do About it? ('99)  04:19
13.  Jane (Stop This Crazy Thing!)  04:43
Total play time: 43:45   CD released in 1999.   Critiqued March 8, 2000 by Eric Houg

Henry Phillips website: http://www.henryphillips.com