and now for my Liz Phair thread

[tele-rain]

I had to do it...so bear with me folks!

Liz Phair. Yet another 90s artist that rescued my ears from the boring, cookie cutter world of top 40 and introduced me to music outside the box. I first saw the video for Supernova so I bought the CD (her 2nd at the time, Whipsmart). I liked it and then sought out her first, Exile in Guyville. Read up about her, but the whole idea about Guyville being a song by song response to the Rolling Stone's Exile on Mainstreet was a bit lost on me. I never was much of a Stones fan then , just getting more into them now (I know, shameful??!!). I still don't get it completely, but I read that she did it kind of obscurely, so it's not just the lyrics that are "responding" to the songs, but guitar parts, or solos in the same spot, as well. I could be wrong on that, it's been a while since I researched that stuff.

My first fave from it was Mesmerizing. Here is a clip from '99 (not my vids, just found on youtube):



But overall the whole album, wow. It was just so perfectly raw and different. And that sound of the guitar drew me in. Just the fact that it was so prevelent, and not just playing typical rhythm strums and chords (not that I knew what chords were back then). But it was so different and I loved it.

I was lucky enough to see Liz live a few times over the years, and each time in a close setting. When her 3rd album was out, she did a taping of a show Sesstions at West 54th Street. Then a few years back she did an acoustic type tour. My friend and I drove up to Boston to catch that, again, intimate setting. We sat maybe 6 rows back on folding chairs in a small club. And Liz had a great rapport with the crowd, she was cracking jokes and took some requests. And more recently, we got to go to her Exile In Guyville anniversary show in NYC, where she performed the full album.

Her lyrics are sometimes childish and whiny but witty and somehow intelligent at the same time. And yes, risque too, like Flower, F**k and Run, and a few others with choice words in there. But iit's just done brilliantly. EXCEPT on her self titled album, the song "H.W.C.", was a bit too much for me. I won't get into the meaning if you don't already know , but it just seemed like forced risque-ness to me. Like 'OK here is the obligatory pervy song because it's what people know of me".

But on that same album, she has a song called "Rock Me" that's about having a fling with a younger guy. So young in fact that he's unaware of who she was in her hey day:

"Your record collection don't exist
You don't even know who Liz Phair is
Your potential with no credentials
Your mother taught you how to be a sensitive man"

That gets me everytime!!! Brilliant

OK let me wrap this up, I'm sorry for rambling so much...but in my defense, one last bit of info. Her signature guitar is a Fender Sonic-Duo II. I always thought it was a Strat with a Tele pick guard...but I never knew much about guitars. Here's a clip from that same youtuber above, song called "Firewalker" with the guitar (also a fave song of mine):



Thank you all for your patience, and time. I hope you all enjoy what I've contributed, and I hope I didn't over do my posting new topics for the day!

[timmer]

Never heard her sing or play but I think she's hot.

I'm afraid to click on your links because she may not be hot anymore.

[tele-rain]

Originally Posted by timmer

Never heard her sing or play but I think she's hot.

I'm afraid to click on your links because she may not be hot anymore.

Haha...wll that all depends on your taste of music, I guess. She could be considered one that needs to "grow" on you. You can always watch with the volume down I suppose.

But to me, her music makes her hotter!

[pottedmeat42]

brings back memories of the freshman dorm...good times. =jason

[posiden9]

"and the license said you had to stick around until I was dead but if your tired of looking at my face I guess I already am."- The Divorce song

[tristanavakian]

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

[JimiBryant]

years ago I slow-danced with Ms. Phair at a wedding.
she's kinda short - but, boy howdy, she sure smelled nice!

one of my bands used to cover her tune Never Said
back in the days of Chicago's sadly-departed Lounge Ax.

she's improved her live act greatly, but back in the day
Liz was pretty darned abysmal as a live performer
("Exile In Guyville" era and before, I mean) as in
severely crippling stage fright and practically no timing
or consistency.. of course her music nowadays isn't
really anything I'd ever care to listen to.. she should stick
to doing backing vocals for Sheryl Crow!

[serialsteve]

She's a great artist in my book. Lots of great hooks and vocal turns, etc that just rock me.

[Yoni]

She had me with Exile. Her songs are downright honest and powerful and I love them. And yes she's very easy on the eyes.

[jazztele]

"exile" should stand up as one of the best independent records of the 90's.

there's just something so cool about the honesty in a tune like (blank) and run. and it's catchy!

[hekawi]

another fan here. "Exile" is her masterpiece, but all her later albums have their moments.

btw: to me "HWC" seemed like a novelty/self-parody song....as in "i'm doing a more mainstream album this time, shooting for a hit song, and most people who have only heard of me but not heard my music think all i write are dirty songs. i'll toss in one real overtly nasty number just to give them that side of me."

[metropolis74]

Originally Posted by pottedmeat42

brings back memories of the freshman dorm...good times. =jason

Same memories for me too. "Exile" was on heavy rotation all year in the dorms. Good times indeed! In fall of 1993 I was a freshman at DePaul, my dorm room was just a few blocks from Loung Axe. To this day, I regret not seeing Liz at the Lounge Axe. Seen her live twice since then though.

Then when I worked at Guitar Center in Chicago we would all get excited whenever she would stop by. Well, who didn't have a crush on her back in the day? Some of us probably still do

[tele-rain]

Originally Posted by hekawi

another fan here. "Exile" is her masterpiece, but all her later albums have their moments.

btw: to me "HWC" seemed like a novelty/self-parody song....as in "i'm doing a more mainstream album this time, shooting for a hit song, and most people who have only heard of me but not heard my music think all i write are dirty songs. i'll toss in one real overtly nasty number just to give them that side of me."

Hmm, see I thought of it the complete opposite. I saw it as the mainstream head honchos were like, "We're giving you this chance to get on the radio, have a hit single, get famous, etc. so why don't you write one of those pervy songs so the old fans will think we didn't change you and the new fans will be in on the essense of Liz Phair"

I guess like many things, it's all about perception! Your view is a good way to look at it, though. I should point out that I'm not against mainstream anything. It's all relative to me, some days I want only indie types, other days I'm digging through cheesy mainstream stuff and hearing it in a different way.

[stevedenver]

liz rocks!

[beep.click]

She's amazing. I discovered her music late, and it was such a breath of fresh air.

Got to see her only once, for free, doing a taping for the Jimmy Kimmel show. They only showed two songs on TV, but all of us there got to see a full set. A perfect live show.

[brillocaster]

Still remember the night I first heard EIG back in 1994. We must have listened to it 3 times back to back to back. What a great record. Gets heavy play in our house still (er, after the kids are in bed...I censor very little of what I play for the kids, but dang, Liz!)

I talked to her dad on the phone one time. He was a prominent AIDS researcher and a paper from his team came across my desk at the journal I used to work for.