[neil]

I've always dug on Liz Phair's stuff. Just recently, I popped in Whip-Smart and fell in love all over again. This album came out 1994 -- man, seems just like yesterday when I picked it up.

Anyhow, just wondering who else digs on her stuff, which tracks you like particularly, etc. I just dig the entire Whip-Smart album -- front to back. She's so laid back, creative, and free spirited.. and well, the lyrics make her quite a bit sexy too (for those of you who don't know, some of her stuff can be quite sexually explicit).

Here's an interesting article about one of her sexy live performances.

 

[LobsterSan]

Well... I don't know much about Liz Phair's music -- I only know one song she did -- Turning Japanese.

But -- she did go to my jr. high and high school, in Winnetka, IL. She was a bit older than me, so I only saw her in the senior class portraits hanging in the hallways.

 

[markl]

I go back on forth on her (

). I like her well enough, but...

I think she had one interesting idea (skewer the Stones Exile on Mainstreet with her first album), then totally ran out of gas. Her second album Whip-Smart, which I think is her best, is made up of songs left over from the first album. Years later the very poor Whitechocolate... came out. Yawn.

And her early live shows were derrided for her utter inability to sing. It was brutal.

She's currently in the studio with the producers of Avril Lavigne's record. I kid you not.

Mark

 

[Kubernetes]

Yeah I really dig Liz Phair. Her last album was her worst, but still pretty good IMO. My favorite by far is Whip-Smart, which has a great indie lo-fi feel to it. It's simultaneously funny, smart, sad, and at times just heartbreaking. Most of my twenty-something women friends, if they wrote songs, they would probably write songs like Liz Phair.

 

[DarkAngel]

I tried her out and got "exit from guyville" and while I didn't like the music enough to keep the album the photo on the album cover is fabulous. Very dramatic/abstract and symbolic with beautiful balance and symetry...........almost worth having just for that cover photo, a real work of art.

The music reminded me of early PJ Harvey.

 

[taoster]

Quote:

Originally posted by DarkAngel The music reminded me of early PJ Harvey.

u think??

obviously so..

 

[Trawlerman]

I picked up a copy of "Whitechoclatespaceegg" when it came out and listened to it a few time, and ultimately I think I liked it.

Can't say that I've listened to it much since. May have to dig that one out again.


Exposure of Liz Phair's music in the UK is virtually non-existant. Nothing new there then. It's pretty much the same story for many fine artists from the US and around the world in general. We get mainstream pop music to saturation point and everything else has to sink or swim.





Sound As Ever
listening to Elkie Brooks - Fool If You Think It's Over
on Krell Md10/Studio DAC >-- Audiolab 8000q Pre >-- Sugden Headmaster >-- Senn HD580

Now with added Iso-Tek mains filtering

 

[carlo]

Quote:

while I didn't like the music enough to keep the album the photo on the album cover is fabulous. - the man with the dark desires

yeah, there's nothing like a woman leaning forward with an open mouth... personally its the nipple shot in the jacket that does it for me.

i've compared exile in guyville to the stones' exile on mainstreet and i can only see it as a song by song response when i try too hard - i have no clue if that was a promotional statement or if it was the actual inspiration for the album. that said its brilliant, divorce song is a hell of a tune and **** and run made her the patti smith of the time. liz phair showed talent on that debut and its hard for me to understand how anyone can deny that.

whip smart was those simple but catchy riffs and for a long time i was a big fan of it. nowadays it barely finds its way into my rotation... there was a time when i thought of her driving out west as a modern day version of joni mitchell's california, now i see the album as too simple. juevenallia was a piece of crap, an ep released in the wake of her positive press but disjointed and pointless.

whitechocolatespaceegg was an album i waited a long time for: it was pushed back and back and back for whatever reason, there was a time when it had a set release date and was slated for advance release to reviewers but that time never came - there was such disorginization and false hype around the release that when it finally hit the scence a lot of people were bitter over its content.

when considering that album i can't help but look at the difference between an angry youth and one singing of sons and family. just as ani difranco catches **** for supposedly losing her anger and edge (by singing of relationships in reckoning/revelling) phair was bashed by a few women's groups for her apparent happiness. its pure ********: johnny sunshine isn't that far removed from exile's boys pissing in the kitchen sink and her addition of song structure doesn't point to someone losing her edge but to someone who's becoming a songwriter. she isn't aimee mann and she isn't joni mitchell, but consider what other woman was such an intriguing and controversial voice in the 90's? courtney love's work was barely interesting, ani difranco spoke of political and sociological issues, meshell ndgeocello showed serious promise but wasn't taken nearly seriously enough. phair was it.

just my perspective as a fan,
carlo.

 

[neil]

And the whole time while reading Carlo's dissertation, I looked up at his avatar, imagining the muppet professing the Word about Phair.

Whip Smart (the album) is so smoothly delivered. When I listen to it, I don't feel like there was a whole lot of contemplation -- it just had a natural flow, delivery of energy that few artists accomplish.

I remember when she was engaged/married and a buddy (band member) of mine gave me a really sympathetic I'm sorry dude look as he shared the news. It was comical.

 

[DarkAngel]

I guess I will give "exile" another try, it's been @10yrs since I first gave it a try. Sometimes I go back and like things better that at first didn't appeal to me........I have heard a lot of other stuff in the interveining 10 yrs, so time to revisit this indie "darling"

At least I will have that cool cover pix.

 

[carlo]

Quote:

I remember when she was engaged/married and a buddy (band member) of mine gave me a really sympathetic I'm sorry dude look as he shared the news. It was comical. - Geordi La Forge

when the muppet found out he started drinking and ranting on his microphone. poor person.

 

[Ohoen]

I love Liz Phair. Her albums are not the kind I flip through my book looking for, and they don't jump out like others do when I see them and think, "Oo, I have to hear that song!" But when she does manage to get into the player she always goes around several times and I wonder, "Why the hell don't I listen to this more often?" And I think whitechocolatespaceegg is really good. Different but good.
We've all got "cheap, unpleasant desires"

 

[DarkAngel]

OK
I got "exile" again, this time I will keep it. Didn't quite sound like I remembered 10 years ago. The vocals and musicianship are not of high level, but there is much spunk and creative angst that make many of the songs refreshing. Many different styles used which is to be commended, however I think one Liz Phair CD will be enough for me.

 

[neil]

Well, I prefer Whipsmart over Exile, personally.