Jack of Diamonds is a different creature entirely, which comes as no surprise: It's cobbled together from various early 70s sessions to approximate what might have been a second album. Wolfking was the epitome of the California album, so laid back and effortlessly pretty it often seemed like making the album was the happy byproduct of days and nights wading into the water and partying out on the patio overlooking the canyon. fit the bill perfectly, resonating upon recent reissue with a new generation of hipsters in tune with the album's lazy and suddenly fashionable California rock vibe. Yet Phillips' 1970 debut John, the Wolfking of L.A. Phillips' legendary sessions with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Mick Taylor, once they saw the light of day, largely sucked.

But sometimes lost music is lost for a reason. Phillips has too storied and sordid a history, but his solo work falls into the realm of 'lost' albums. But thanks in no small part to huge quantities of drugs, Phillips fell off fast, and for most of the 1970s on up he wandered wasted and restless, his sole commercial success a co-write credit on the Beach Boys' unctuous 'Kokomo' before dying of heart disease in 2001. As a member of the Mamas & the Papas, he's been heard and loved by millions, and he's part of the very fabric of American folk and rock history. Not that John Phillips is your typical elite fare.

Jack of diamonds play theatre review