Cruel Inventions

Cruel Inventions is the sixth studio album by American singer and songwriter Sam Phillips.

Cruel Inventions
Studio album by Sam Phillips
Released	May 28, 1991 (1991-05-28)
Studio	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
Sam Phillips chronology
The Indescribable Wow (1988) Cruel Inventions (1991) Martinis & Bikinis (1994)

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Chicago Tribune	[2]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	[3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[4]
Entertainment Weekly	A[5]

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."^[5] Browne named it his sixth favorite album of 1991.^[6]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Lying"	3:52
2.	"Go Down"	3:38
3.	"Cruel Inventions"	3:00
4.	"Standing Still"	3:10
5.	"Tripping Over Gravity"	5:21
6.	"Now I Can't Find the Door"	3:36
7.	"Private Storm"	4:10
8.	"Raised on Promises"	3:11
9.	"Hole in Time"	3:19
10.	"Where the Colors Don't Go"	3:02

All tracks are written by Sam Phillips.

Personnel

• 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

Production

• 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