Shawn Phillips's decision to shelve his acoustic guitar in favor of a double-necked electric backfired. It not only alienated many of his older followers but also laid bare his own limitations as a composer and lyricist. Do You Wonder seeks a middle ground, with one side mellow and folky, the other brassy and rocking. Though the acoustic side generally makes it, it succeeds more by comparison to its other half than anything else.

Phillips has a fine assortment of musicians here—Ben Benay, Jim Horn, Chuck Findley and Joni Mitchell's accompanists, John Guerin and Max Bennett—and his keyboard player, Peter Robinson, gives outstanding support throughout, especially on "As All Is Played," which serves as side two's centerpiece. But Phillips himself fails to generate any real interest, either lyrically or melodically. The result is cosmic ornamental fluff, unless you find lines like the following just your cup of jasmine tea: "The understanding in explicit simplicity/Comes to you blindingly,/Never you mindingly how/It makes its changes and yet nothing is changed." (RS 199)

BILLY ALTMAN