New Liz Phair

[Oh!]

Just wonderin' if anyone else has heard the new LP album. Thoughts?

[Oh!]

No? Well, there's 3 new songs available for your listening pleasure at http://lizphair.com
Opinions, please...

[t.d.]

Sounds nice and real clean. Real good production. It is like if Britney Spears remade 'Exile'. I can't wait until Liz is all over TRL, there is nothing like getting turned on by somebody's mom. There is nothing more exciting than a 30 something year old woman acting like she is 17.

[Brad Delp]

Poo poo poo poo.

These songs sound like every young woman who has a song on Top 40 radio, with zero of the originality that made Liz unique in the first place.

Good-bye, Liz. Hope you find the kind of success you're looking for.

[IamDamoSuzuki!]

Very pedestrian. Pop-baroque production values that overwhelm her voice and bury the growl. Why can't I is extraordinarily Avril. I am going to go ahead and believe that it's L.A. and not age that have so damaged the talent she once had. She still looks great, so at least some suits and teens will be able to get off to the photo shoot included in the album liner.

[romanp]

I just listened to the 3 tracks on her site. Very funny stuff. I'd say it verges on embarrassing. I think the producers should get a pat on the back for creating a very radio-friendly sound. It’s perfect for the clear channeled masses.

[Craig]

Honestly, what is she thinking? These songs are horrible. It seems like she's taking the "let's try to make a quick buck approach." I guess the VH1/John Mayer crowd may approve. Maybe not. I actually liked whitechocolatespaceegg, but this new one sounds like a career killer. Acts like Yo La Tengo, Malkmus & Cat Power have clearly demonstrated that, with the right amount talent, you can build a successful career and devoted fan base in this industry without having to lose your integrity (working with Avril Lavignes' songwriting team???). GBV made a noble attempt at getting on mainstream radio, but Pollard finally realized the futility involved.

[Paul]

Did it ever occur to any of you that Liz might never have been cool? I've been of that opinion for nearly a decade.

[t.d.]

Paul I agree totally with you, Liz has always been overrated. The only reason that she got praise was that she appealed to all of the indie rock boy fantasies of the day. When you realize that it was all a gimmick from the start and that she was always just wanting to be famous it loses the only thing it had going for it, her honesty.

Oh and, uh, Malkmus rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Take that Phair.

[Squall91]

Originally posted by t.d.
Oh and, uh, Malkmus rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I concur.

[amazonida]

I mean, even being a young teen (if so) by the time Exile came out I never became interested in Phair's work, didn't listen to the hypnotized press.
Just went to the site Oh! (I think) mentioned and listened to 1 minute of that... of that! I never tought I'd say a former Matador artist sounds WORSE than what I know of Lavigne's work. Shame, shame. and What's that outfit?!?! Old Lolita wannabe? Is there a stronger word for shame?

[tigerstyle]

well...even if she was shilling from the beginning at least when she did guyville it had some originality in it.

Time to dethrone the indie queen.

[Proceed]

The record is truly nauseating, especially lyrically...I don't have it in front of me, but she sings some unbelieveably shitty lines...I actualy liked whitechocolatespaceegg...There isn't a track here as good as that record's worst song. I think this thing will be assaulted by the critics, to the extent of blowing any chances she might have at mainstream stardom. The Avril Lavigne record blows this one away, too. At least she sounds sincere. Fuck and run, fast.

[snucker]

damn, the sound samples are gone. i personally lost interest in liz a while ago...just grew out of her. though whitechocolatespaceegg is her best, better than exile. maybe i shouldn't hear this stuff and have it tarnish my lingering respect for her. what's left of it.....avril lavigne song writting team??!?!!

[Paul]

I harbor no ill will toward the Matrix crew. They have a job writing and producing hit songs, and they do it well. But I still can't figure out why Liz or Capitol thought it would be necessary to team up with them. It makes the Matrix look bad (they're working with who?) and it makes Liz look bad (she's working with who?!). This whole album is a disaster -- in fact, I listened to it again last night to give it another chance. I didn't make it past "Rock Me," which may possibly be the worst song of the year.

[Salman]

I downloaded most of the album earlier today and gave it a listen and I thought it was pretty tame and generic. I didn't hate it or anything but it just wasn't too good or enjoyable compared to Girlysound and Exile in Guyville. Nothing to appealing to me...more appealing to soccer moms, I guess. Oh well. At least I still got my Girlysound bootleg!!

[Oh!]

Seriously.
This album isn't any worse than whitechocolatespaceegg, I'd actually say it's a lot better. Aside from the 4 Matrix tracks, most of these songs aren't a huge departure from her last album.
Of course, that isn't saying much, considering I hated WCSE upon first listen and still find much of it mediocre, but there's a good handful of worthy material to redeem her new album from the reject pile. And even a few of the Matrix tracks are enjoyable as guilty pleasures.

Even though my interest in her music has waned over time-waiting 4 and 5 years for less than solid albums having a lot to do with that- I don't think Phair is overrated at all. Her GirlySound tapes are nothing short of genius, and a better representation of her talent than anything she has produced in the last half of her career.

[anagrama]

I can pretty much guarantee you that Liz's album will be fucking awful.

It will be so ridiculously removed from the coolness of Whip Smart, etc...........trust me.

She wants to make money.

and this album will reflect that.

[Proceed]

The songwriting, even in comparison to whitechoclatespacegg, is totally ass. THIS ALBUM WILL FAIL, DESERVEDLY SO!

[anagrama]

Originally posted by Proceed
The songwriting, even in comparison to whitechoclatespacegg, is totally ass. THIS ALBUM WILL FAIL, DESERVEDLY SO!

:D

Anytime an artists makes a big concerted effort to make money, to be a big major unit shifter at the cost of their artistic vision...

I wish their demise.

Liz should have kept making indie rock blowjob anthems.

[Funk]

Originally posted by anagrama

Liz should have kept making indie rock blowjob anthems.

Yes, people shouldn't change at all over the course of ten years.

[anagrama]

Originally posted by Funk
Yes, people shouldn't change at all over the course of ten years.

People should learn the meaning of sarcasm.

[Paul]

Originally posted by anagrama
People should learn the meaning of sarcasm.

By "people," you mean you?

[anagrama]

using sarcasm to deflate anothers sarcasm...... to deflate anothers sarcasm.........is just annoying.

I know what sarcasm is.

fuck off paul.

[Kameek N Deesha]

Liz Phair is in the Matrix seqeul? I'm so there, duude!

But seriously (nyuk nyuck( Phair has always been overrated... she's about one tenth the artist that Barbara Manning or Edith Frost or Joan Jett are...

And of course her emmense popularity has always rested on the backs (or below the belts( of balding, overweight, middle-aged, virgin male "criticks" who live in their mothers' basements and interpret her work as a wild come-on... in fact to her credit her best work displays a range of emotions utterly missing from the legion of worthless phony "chick" singers who profiting in her wake...

especially overlooked by almost EVERY single reviewer is her vulnerability -- lines like "I want to be your blowjob queen" are taken out of context and disabused of their intended meaning. For Pete Townsend's sake, she sings that song like a robot for a fucking reason, pay attention! And the song about losing the map and how its harde r to be friends, etc. or the song about "Canary" or Fuck and Run all display a disappointment and longing wich is really touching -- I don't remember any Meredith Brooks songs about those subjects, but maybe she was too busy going through menopause to notice such normal emotions (I haven't heard her daughter April Lavine's work so who knows(.

And if Phair really was a blowjob queen don't you think she'd be more successful? Obviously she's not very good at it, or she's blowing the wrong people...

[sharpsponge]

I bought her exile in guyville album because I thought she looked like Pam Dawber ... I had a real thing for Pam when she was on Mork and Mindy

don't remember getting anything out of the music other than annoyed because she was so monotone

stick with Cat Power

[romanp]

This is a quote from Liz defending her new direction. It appeared in last weeks Entertainment Weekly :

''People are like, 'Don't be commercial, then. Just be...Wilco.' And that's one way to live. But even when I made ''Guyville,'' I was hating indie then. The whole album was about how much I hated indie. I was sick to f---ing death of that snobbery. You know, I liked radio hits my whole life, including when I was cool. When Shakira goes [sings]'Underneath your clothes...,' that works on me.

[Paul]

"You know, I liked radio hits my whole life, including when I was cool."

When was that, exactly?

[abevigoda]

She's right about Shakira

[Kameek N Deesha]

If she hated "indie" so much, then why did she allow Matador, THE "indie" label of the moment (early 90's) to release her record? Where i come from this is called hypocrisy.

[Paul]

Oh, she's conveniently copping a contrarian attitude now. Exile isn't about hating a particular scene. By 1993, the indie market was becoming flooded with a bunch of yelling boys, but very few foul-mouthed girls. She accidentally benefitted more from a right place/right time situation than from any sort of novel talent. Had the album been dumped into the market in 1992 or 1994, we probably wouldn't even be talking about her now.

[muscleman_14]

It's really not that horrible. (If you can get past the sucky lyrics.)

[johansen smith]

she's opening here for the Flaming Lips and the Starlight Mints... so, basically, there's no need to come early to THAT show.

[Oh!]

Regardless of what a lot of people think of the new cd, it's worth checking out the 5 song bonus ep that is available via a weblink provided with the disc. The songs are pretty much the exact opposite of what is on the cd- stripped down, underproduced, and lyrically complex. The first track, "Jeremy Engle" has some of the strangest lyrics of any Liz Phair song and concludes with the line: "sometimes all you need is a napkin".

Here are the lyrics to the second track, "Bouncer's Conversation":

See that girl alone
Dressed all in her evening clothes
She's dying
'Cause her boyfriend didn't show up

Pull her out of line
Stick her in a waiting room
And ignore her
'Til her face gets really bloated

And I wonder what it's like
To be second all the time
And you never get it right
And you're never gonna win
And your ass is on your face
And your life is such a waste
And there's Sugar
Leanin' in the window

See that amazon?
Her head looks like it's connected to her shoulders
They look like little boulders

Turn her round and round
Take a mental picture of her naked, inebriated, face down on the linoleum

And I wonder what it's like
To be second all the time
And you never get it right
And you're never gonna win
And your ass is on your face
And your life is such a waste
And there's sugar
Walking to the dressing room

Oh, What would I give to be her joyride daddy-o tonight

And I wonder what it's like
To be second all the time
And you never get it right
And you're never gonna win
And your ass is on your face
And your life is such a waste
And there's Sugar
Heading to the barrio

With a faggot on her left
And a faggot on her right
And my dick is getting limp
'Cause the chicks all suck tonight
And the band is such a bore
And I've seen it all before
And there's Sugar
Making me a video

Oh, What would I give to be her joyride daddy-o tonight

[Funk]

Originally posted by Oh!
Here are the lyrics to the second track, "Bouncer's Conversation":

See that girl alone
Dressed all in her evening clothes
She's dying
'Cause her boyfriend didn't show up


Reading these lines, I thought Liz was going back to the "response to Exile on Main St.' Liz.

"Who's that woman on your arm
all dressed up to do you harm
And I'm hip to what she'll do,
give her just about a month or two."

[Dayne1234]

Pitchfork just reviewed Liz Phair's new album and gave it a whopping 0 out of 10! Take a look...

http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/p/phair_liz/liz-phair.shtml

[tigerstyle]

Originally posted by Dayne1234
Pitchfork just reviewed Liz Phair's new album and gave it a whopping 0 out of 10! Take a look...

http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/p/phair_liz/liz-phair.shtml

And we all know that pitchfork knows all when it comes to what is good and bad music.

But actually there quite dead on with this review. Her new album sucks.

[bitterfruit]

And now I know what "H.W.C" stands for. Never knew.

[Ladt]

I'm really growing to like Pitchfork! They're hilarious, sometimes intentionally!

[bitterfruit]

All this talk about Liz Phair makes me want to start a poll. Hmm.....Neko, Liz, Chan.....

I've learned my lesson. No more polls involving current or former Matador artists and their sex appeal. Sorry. There. I said it.

[lester1/2jr]

I wonder if she's taking some anti-depressents or something. Not to diss people who are on those, but it can have that effect.

or is she saying "Guyville" was totally false? I wash my hands of the whole thing

[Salman]

I think she's re-releasing Exile in Guyville by the end of the year.

[winterwooskie]

i wonder if part of the reason she is doing this is because she wasn't really into just making music because she enjoys making music. maybe guyville wasn't about playing a formula, but the album after that was doing the alternative niche thing. that album could have been made by letters to cleo. and her album sales have been dwindling, not to mention she is divorced and has to provide for herself and her daughter, so careerism is looking good at this moment for her. i can't wait until her next album when it will more than likely be less lavigne-ish because it did not sell well and she will come up with dumb excuses for this album. i like how she tries justifying her latest musical style by writing off indie music by saying it's full of snobs. everyone knows that labeling music as indie is retarded especially when you are playing music that is being labeled that, such as herself and should be aware of the stupidity of it. and she tries to validate herself by finding a way to write off music because she does not play music with the intentions of just making songs the way she likes them, like some people who are labeled indie. and she tries to make it seem like its not valid and the snobbery thing is the best she can come up with for why its stupid.

[music dude]

I think that Exile and Whip smart were really good albums, and you can even hear that sense of Top 40 in those releases, it's just done through a Brad Wood filter, but I thought WCSE wasn't great, but the songwriting was still there: "All these babies are born, to the wrong type of people." That said, after that album I knew i wouldn't buy her new one, because I'm not sure if I care what she has to say anymore, because her overtly trying to be famous, wreaks of sucking. I mean getting the Matrix to produce some tracks would make not buy an album by Malkmus, but that being said, she might be in need of some money, the economy sucks, and she has a kid, and maybe he wants a playstation, or he might be downloading music off Kazaa, and she needs money for the RIAA lawsuit against her son.

[lester1/2jr]

Maybe the motivition is simply greed.

[winterwooskie]

i'm kind of glad she is doing it though. the pics of her to get in on the sex sells market are nice. hopefully she starts putting out more albums so there will be more pics of her in skirts and showing lots of cleavage. at least by the time she hits 40. maybe she is trying to get that in before her only asset goes downhill.

[lester1/2jr]

what if she got her own reality show?? or was on big brother 4. hahaha

[elvissinatra]

I wrote an article which dissects an interview she did before the album came out and attempts to explain why fans feel betrayed: Exile in Hitsville: xxoo Liz Phair (http://www.gloriousnoise.com/arch/000746.php)

My friend Johnny reviewed the album and tried to be as fair as possible: That's Not Phair! (http://www.gloriousnoise.com/arch/000881.php)

[pony]

first off i don't think she really wrote exile to bash the indie scene... for many reasons -but mostly because she's not an idiot, she had to know that the indie scene was the only place for her to start.
i do think she is being a hypocrite, but at least she's making money for it. nothing worse than someone making a fool of themselves for nothing. and hey, she hit 27 on the charts! woohoo.
the new album does suck. she only plays guitar on one track and what she did write herself reached new lows. I own probably every thing she's done on vinyl and seedee, but you won't catch me forking out anymore money to her now.

[spurious_dander]

Originally posted by pony
first off i don't think she really wrote exile to bash the indie scene... for many reasons -but mostly because she's not an idiot, she had to know that the indie scene was the only place for her to start.
i do think she is being a hypocrite, but at least she's making money for it. nothing worse than someone making a fool of themselves for nothing. and hey, she hit 27 on the charts! woohoo.
the new album does suck. she only plays guitar on one track and what she did write herself reached new lows. I own probably every thing she's done on vinyl and seedee, but you won't catch me forking out anymore money to her now.

Where's Dilaudid? What happened to the Matador BB of old? In all earnesty, I don't belong here.

[lester1/2jr]

I think she could have chosen a more interesting way to sell out. I mean, rappers don't come off like Young MC to sell records anymore. One or two real mainstream cuts could have been okay, but ... I don't want to hear Billy Holiday singing "How much is that doggie in the Window" it's not dignified.

[pony]

i think "not dignified" sums it all up. exactly how i feel. If liz phair is going to sell out I would have thought she'd manage it with more- I don't know - oomph?