So recently I was convinced to listen to "Exile in Guyville" by a friend. After hearing the incredible sh** of "Why Can't I" and "Extraordinary" all over the radio/tv I was pretty certain this would suck as well. But WOW what an album! I rarely like any feminist themed music, but it's just so clever, raw and has such a unique sound. So why did she let herself get reduced to a typical top 40 hit artist? I can't believe the same person who wrote this album wouldn't realize how much worse she is.
Why does Liz Phair blow now?
- Thread starter touchmyichi
- Start date
This is true. She was mixed up in the payola scam a few months ago.
As to the op's question. She got tired of being an obscure indie queen. It was her decision to "sell out" and try to sell a million cd's. What can ya do?
Btw, you should definately check out the next 2 cd's after Exile. Whipsmart and Whitechocolatespaceegg are very good. The last is probably my favorite.
I can understand her situation - she'd been basically making the same album over and over for ten years and each one sold less than the last. So there she is, in her mid thirties, with nothing at all in common with the girl who wrote "Exile" - and decides to do something completely different. Nothing to lose.
Really, "Liz Phair" was a pretty damn good album as far as pop trash goes. Well written songs, nice crisp production (though I shudder at the sheer amount of computing power it must have takent to pitch-correct her vocals) and a sense of fun you don't get from anything else she's done. It alienated a lot of her original fans, but most of those people stopped buying her records after Whip-Smart anyway. It made her a lot of money too - something she richly deserved.
nakedfrog
No Lifer
- Apr 3, 2001
- 61,037
- 16,432
- 136
Whitechocolatespaceegg was great. I think it struck a nice balance between the stripped down approach of her first two and what she's been doing lately.
The latter half of her self-titled album sounded more like actual Liz Phair than the first half. I haven't heard her newest yet.
The latter half of her self-titled album sounded more like actual Liz Phair than the first half. I haven't heard her newest yet.
i had never heard of her before Why Can't I, and that song ESPN used for the women's tourny 2 years ago. I was surprised that she's pushing 40. What does her earleir stuff sound like?
Mermaidman
Diamond Member
- Sep 4, 2003
- 7,987
- 93
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Very, very different. Her first album was called "Exile in Guyville" and sounds like it was recorded on a 4-track in somebody's garage - with a band that was juuuust baaaarely able to get through the songs. Everything about it has this loose, teetering feel - which somehow works perfectly with the material.
The songs themselves were tremendous - funny and insightful, with this skewed, deadpan, incredibly female perspective - a couple of them with lyrics as obscene as anything 2live Crew did. She managed to capture female twentysomething angst in a way nobody has done before or since.
Considering that it cost almost nothing to make, "Exile" was a huge critical and commercial success. But she was never able to top it. She doesn't sing particularly well, and has crippling stage fright which makes it difficult to promote her records. She'd pretty much faded into obscurity when the time came to make "Liz Phair".
PricklyPete
Lifer
- Sep 17, 2002
- 14,582
- 162
- 106
There's 3 of her older videos on the yahoo page here. http://music.yahoo.com/ar-260264-videos--Liz-Phair
The audio quality is pretty crappy though.
Some pretty good quality videos at the vh1 site, too.
http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/phair_liz/videos.jhtml
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