Too Many People in One Bed

Liner Note Author: Swamp Dogg.
Photographer: Willis Hogans, Jr.
Though Sandra Phillips was a decent soul singer, her sole LP is as notable for the contributions of Swamp Dogg -- who produced the album, and wrote or co-wrote all but one of the 12 tracks -- as it is for Phillips herself. Swamp Dogg was reserving his more unusual and distinctive compositions and arrangements for his own releases, but this is still a fairly strong Southern soul record, if a little modestly so. As the title implies, some of the tunes are more forthright about squabbles over romantic partners than was the norm in soul and pop music at the beginning of the 1970s, especially on "To the Other Woman (I'm the Other Woman)" (a song more renowned to soul fans in the version sung by Doris Duke). Phillips might have missed out on a potential hit on what's apparently the original version of "She Didn't Know (She Kept on Talking)," which Dee Dee Warwick had a Top Ten R&B hit with in 1970. The more risqué elements of the lyrics aren't too obvious without paying close attention, however, and some of the songs are pretty typical, straightforward, energetic period soul numbers. Phillips has a clear, strong voice, and the production has commendably brassy arrangements with a touch of gospel. Overall, however, it (like some other Swamp Dogg productions from the era) falls into the category of a record that's decent without being close to qualifying as a worldbeater. ~ Richie Unterberger