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Liz PhairAlbums ReviewedExile In Guyville (1993)Whip-Smart (1994) Whitechocolatespaceegg (1998) Liz Phair (2003) Exile In Guyville(1993)Illinois based critical darling Liz Phair started her career recording songs in her bedroom, leading to her signing on Matador. Purportedly a song by song response to The Rolling Stones' 1972 classic Exile On Main Street - Phair claims that this was because she had no idea how to structure an album from scratch - the unpolished and explicit nature of the album won her immediate attention and it was hailed as an instant classic. Long after its release, it's still revolutionary; indie rock is still dominated by males and it's still unusual for a woman to make an album so stark, while some of Phair's lyrical assertions are still shocking in their frankness. But Exile In Guyville is far more potent in societal terms than in musical terms; lines like "I'll be your blowjob queen" are far more memorable than any of her tunes. That's not to say that this record is without musical merit, but at eighteen tracks and lots of slow draggy songs it could benefit from some drastic trimming. Still, even if this album's a chore to sit through, Phair's unusual song structures and melodies do reveal an interesting talent. Despite the aggressive sexual assertion of songs like 'Flower' and 'Dance Of The Seven Veils', it's the insecure admissions of 'Fuck and Run' that is the album's most emotionally affecting moment. "I want all that stupid old shit/Like letters and sodas", she complains, revealing a sweetness that's not apparent in other moments; "I can feel it in my bones/I'm gonna spend my whole life alone/It's fuck and run/Fuck and run/Even when I was seventeen." Even discounting the most provocative moments, her lyrics are often excellent: "When you said that I wasn't worth talking to/I had to take your word on that/But if you'd known/How that would sound to me/You would have taken it back/And boxed it up and buried it in the ground....Burned it up and thrown it away" is a particularly telling couplet from 'Divorce Song'. Even if Phair is an insightful writer, Exile In Guyville isn't consistently musically engaging; for every well constructed piece like 'Fuck and Run' or 'Stratford-on-Guy', there's a dull tuneless meandering like 'Canary' or 'Shatter'. It is kind of diverse, ranging from Stonesy rock to a piano piece, but it still drags. This grade does seem a bit harsh, since there is a bit more substance to Exile In Guyville than a standard two and a half star album, but ideally it would be enjoyable to listen to as well as being ground-breaking. 
Whip-Smart(1994)Exile on Guyville was such a unique record that it was inevitable that its follow-up would be either more generic or a carbon copy. Whip-Smart takes the former approach; it's far closer to regular Indie rock (if there is such a thing) than its predecessor. The song structures are tidied up somewhat, the arrangements are punchier and the lyrics are more conventional, although of course this does take away a lot of what made Phair unique so Guyville aficionados may not find it as enjoyable. But I at least find Whip-Smart more listenable than its predecessor; her melodies and vocals are still dull and she's still not particularly interested in hooks, but at least the songs are easier to follow and there are less tepid moments. Still, there's no single song that comes up to the standard of 'Fuck and Run', and there's nothing that would make me want to check out this record if I heard it playing on the radio. The two most significant songs are frontloaded to the beginning; 'Chop Sticks' bears the closest resemblance to Exile, with the detached vocals and dirty lyrics at their most evident (Phair suggests a position that allows she and her partner to simultaneously watch TV) against the background of the nauseating piano piece that any child can play. 'Supernova' is the unabashed attempt at a hit single, with a purposefully big chorus; it's not as embarrasing as her later attempts at commercialism (refer to her self-titled album, reviewed below), but it's not particularly convincing. I'm sure that her lover was flattered to be compared favourably to a volcano (it's probably more flattering than being referred to as a "fountain of youth" - see below), but it's cloying and the music is vapid. Elsewhere the album is just middling quality the whole way through; it's vaguely intelligent and creative, and Phair has plenty of personality even if her voice lacks charisma, but there's scarce little that's memorable and nothing that's outstanding on a musical level. The "you've got to have fear in your heart" chorus from 'Shane' sticks, using the numbing repetition of Phair's low key voice effectively. There are effective rock songs in 'Go West' and the title track, and Phair's skewed take on the genre is more interesting than many of her generic mid-nineties contemporaries. Still, it's not a good sign when the primary reason that I prefer this album to its predecessor is because it's significantly shorter.
Whitechocolatespaceegg(1998)This is my favourite Liz Phair album, although that's not saying much. I'm not sure if that says something about my tastes; maybe I'm too white bread and mainstream to enjoy her two earlier, rough-edged and more provocative releases, although even I'm not mainstream enough to enjoy her more recent sell out album. At least it has more memorable melodies than her previous two releases put together, while it even has the occasional instrumental hook - something unheard of on her earlier albums, unless ripping off that beginner piano piece at the start of Whip-Smart counts. But stripped of her individuality, there's nothing to recommend her over more musically talented contemporaries; there's the odd nice chord sequence or winsome melody, but nothing particularly significant. Many of her original fans were disgruntled by the clean production and inoffensive nature of the record, claiming it as the point where Phair lost her inspiration and creativity - a theory supported by the song 'Shitloads of Money', where Phair unequivocally states that "It's nice to be liked/But it's better by far to get paid." Even though her lyrics are less remarkable than previously, due mostly to a lack of explicit sexual imagery, they're insightful and read well on paper, so it's a shame that she can't convey them better musically. 'Polyester Bride' is my favourite Liz Phair song by quite a margin, managing to combine a memorable chorus and eloquently feminist lyrics into a concise package. She also manages memorable and plaintive melodies on 'Uncle Alvarez' (another winner) and 'Go On Ahead', while 'Love is Nothing' is almost too poppy for Phair's oeuvre with its blatant hooks heading straight for the pay dirt. 'Headache' even gets trippy, with a catchily repetitive bass line. Still, it's hard to be too excited about Whitechocolatespaceegg; it's too uniform, with most tracks based around clean rhythm guitar textures, and there are too many throwaway tracks like the dorky rockabilly of 'Baby Got Going'. At least she's probably better than Jewel, although that's not saying much.
Liz Phair(2003)The strange decision of this formerly controversial indie queen to hire Avril Lavigne's producers and aim for the mainstream has been met with widespread bemusement, and it's not difficult to see why. The whole package is just so misguided and fraught with inner contradictions that it's almost impossible to take seriously. Phair has explained that she's always wanted a hit single, while apologists have tried to explain that the album reflects Phair's confusion as a mother and divorcee; this explain the slick production but not the incoherent and laughable mishmash of lyrical content. There are plenty of worse albums by female artists available - Jewel's Pieces Of You is an obvious example - this at least has melodies, hooks and Phair's characterful voice (which does sound more interesting against the backdrop of this otherwise vapid album) to keep things vaguely interesting. Songs like 'Good Love Never Dies' are simplistic, but pleasant enough in their own modest way. While the album's often too slick and overproduced for its own good, it's the lyrics that are the main problem. On the positive end 'Little Digger' is touching enough, stating Phair's attachment to her child and her confusion regarding her estrangement from the child's father, although it gets condescending fast with lines like "Now you're thinking little thoughts about it". Elsewhere the lyrics range from generic, to teen generic ("Baby, baby, if it's all right/I want you to rock me......ALL NIGHT"), to a level of ridiculousness seldom equalled in the history of popular music. "Oh baby know what your like?/You're like my favorite underwear/And I'm slipping you on again tonight" is the punch line of 'Favourite', and it's hard to imagine anything more cringeworthy. That is, until Phair outdoes herself with 'H.W.C.'; backed by some innocuously bright country rock, Phair extols the virtues of semen as a beauty aid. A fountain of youth is, in fact, the exact metaphor she uses to describe her lover. It's all a bit bemusing; this album isn't without musical appeal, but it just loses any possible credibility with some of the dumbest lyrics penned by mortal woman.
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Written 2001-2007, Graham Fyfe
