― Jeanne Fury (Jeanne Fury), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 16:02 (twenty-one years ago) link
Wordy mcword word. I can't believe the amount of attention this album has generated -- I guess in that sense it has already been a success for Liz, because I think in just one week it has generated more press than the last two albums combined.
― Nicole (Nicole), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 16:23 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 16:46 (twenty-one years ago) link
― teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 16:47 (twenty-one years ago) link
― teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 16:48 (twenty-one years ago) link
― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 16:49 (twenty-one years ago) link
― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 17:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Nabisco's posts are pretty on point.
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 17:04 (twenty-one years ago) link
― David Allen, Tuesday, 1 July 2003 17:31 (twenty-one years ago) link
― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 17:52 (twenty-one years ago) link
but this jewel article gave me the most severe case of "what the fuck/culture shock" in ages:
http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/music/top/documents/02974646.htm
― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 18:06 (twenty-one years ago) link
???????
People really took her seriously, ever?
― Nicole (Nicole), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 18:30 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 18:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 18:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
this is my favorite line. "well-endowed melodies"?
― Kingfish (Kingfish), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 19:10 (twenty-one years ago) link
New-wave junkies that they are, the band are a natural fit for the Joe Jackson classic "Is She Really Going Out with Him?", which they perform as a reverent cover with a little turntable scratching thrown in for good measure.
does anybody else ever feel like we're bit a few, trapped among the podpeople and mouthbreathers of this world? Growing up in the Midwest makes you think this a lot.
― Kingfish (Kingfish), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 19:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
― daria g (daria g), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 19:44 (twenty-one years ago) link
― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 19:59 (twenty-one years ago) link
this honestly has gotten out of hand. how much ink and discussion time has been devoted to this album now? actually really curious to hear it now, will have to see if i can find anything online.
― H (Heruy), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 07:39 (twenty-one years ago) link
"the simple fact that the album is good — solid, worthy pop. There are great songs, good ones, some clunkers — which could just as easily be said about the White Stripes record" -- Hazel Dawn Dumpert
??
Maybe it's just me, but that's quite a stretch as an analogy. For one thing, there's a great song on Liz Phair, let alone multiple ones?
I don't really care for the album. Far too polished, not particularly clever. Sure there's a couple lines here and there, but a pretty weak effort. I don't think there's really this indie swell of disappointment, honestly. I think editors simply see this as a way to address the pop-commodification business, which is only somewhat related to music (as opposed to the right look and sound).
What bugs me most is the apologists who suggest this album is a rebellious answer to indie-dom. Right. She admits she made a record "designed to work for a major label." Great. She wants to make some money. Having witnessed past attempts at this, hardly seems likely to succeed, however much press she gets. It just seems a bad fit to me, so put me down with the "polished the quirk right out of her resulting in blandness" line. But the whole "sellout" thing was played out 14 years ago. She has a right to try to make as much money as she can. I don't have her house payment. I just think a lot of people feel this is a HORRIBLE miscalculation. she probably loses a good bunch of fans who won't buy another Phair album. She better sell a lot to those ADD Avril fans....
― Chris Parker, Tuesday, 8 July 2003 16:11 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Sean (Sean), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 19:08 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Sean (Sean), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 19:15 (twenty-one years ago) link
"Shane" has some nice low bass
― calstars, Friday, 23 November 2007 21:12 (sixteen years ago) link
I suppose she is talented, but she is a privileged sell-out who feels rejected by "snobbery". As if 90% of the music buying public gives a shit about her opinion of "indie".
Don't rate her that much. She can't sing at all for starters.
― โตเกียวเหมียวเหมียว aka Italo Night at Some Gay Club (Mount Cleaners), Monday, 29 October 2012 15:28 (eleven years ago) link
classic mount cleaners cold open on this revive
― call all destroyer, Wednesday, July 18, 2012 1:25 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Victory Goon (some dude), Monday, 29 October 2012 15:32 (eleven years ago) link
Okay that was mean, sorry. I don't hate her but with all of the good stuff out these days I'm not in the mood.
― โตเกียวเหมียวเหมียว aka Sneakin' and Peekin' (Mount Cleaners), Monday, 29 October 2012 16:19 (eleven years ago) link
whew glad we settled that
― the ones that I'm near most: fellow outcasts and ilxors (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 29 October 2012 16:22 (eleven years ago) link
no, Mount Cleaners, please go on, 90% of ILM gives a shit about your opinion of "indie".
― Victory Goon (some dude), Monday, 29 October 2012 16:48 (eleven years ago) link
Sure I think she's talented. She has an art background. So are a lot of people from the Midwest. First album was pretty good, second was okay...then she just got derivative.
I don't give an ass crack who disagrees. Local college DJ plays her all the time like she's god's gift to cool. She didn't invent "cool".
― โตเกียวเหมียวเหมียว aka My Name Isn't Tori (Mount Cleaners), Monday, 12 November 2012 12:37 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XYsfEb7Re0
― The Harsh Tutelage of Michael McDonald (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 19 May 2018 22:52 (six years ago) link
The first time I flew into Chicago, about a year or so ago, I couldn't help but think of this song.
― The Harsh Tutelage of Michael McDonald (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 19 May 2018 22:53 (six years ago) link
The "Divorce Song" Song Exploder was really good, it's been a long time since I listened to Exile but I never noticed how thin it sounds (in terms of bass/drum presence).
She's playing in town the night before my birthday, I can't decide if I want to get tickets. Zero idea how good she is live.
― louise ck (milo z), Saturday, 19 May 2018 23:34 (six years ago) link
her tour has been selling out so you may be out of luck regardless
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Sunday, 20 May 2018 00:12 (six years ago) link
I bought the VIP ticket package for her Cleveland show and I am freakin STOKED.
― THERE IS NO PHIL D. THERE IS ONLY LIZ (Phil D.), Sunday, 20 May 2018 00:52 (six years ago) link
sold out in 2 minutes here
― we used to get our kicks reading surfing MAGAzines (sic), Sunday, 20 May 2018 07:18 (six years ago) link
Got tix for Nashville in October. I've seen her before but my wife hasn't and she is v excited to put it mildly.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 20 May 2018 12:58 (six years ago) link
Got regular tickets for Dallas, VIP was too holyshit expensive for me (and a meet and greet seems weird)
― louise ck (milo z), Sunday, 20 May 2018 17:01 (six years ago) link
Went to the Cleveland show last night, it was frigging awesome. I feel like a big gross Amazon next to her:
https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/41616323_224029205133832_8072503337636855808_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=19e3bfd962b879c9ba0a55b78a194403&oe=5BEF1D05
Her band is super-tight and the set list was great. (Among the songs I remember: Flower, Supernova, 6'1", Never Said, Johnny Feelgood, Cinco de Mayo, Polyester Bride, Stratford-on-Guy, Mesmerizing, Blood Keeper, Help Me Mary, Extraordinary, Why Can't I and a new song called The Game.) After being offstage for all of two minutes at the end of the set, she came back out and did a two-song encore of Fuck and Run & Divorce Song that brought the house down.
https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/41654869_224371265099626_1656388342821945344_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=ecf6cfddee3ebc8cac13eab7a93f5cbb&oe=5BEE10AC
https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/41566247_224371475099605_764812999721484288_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=341bcac5aeaa42eaa244cec2a5001c09&oe=5C1B5C02
https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/41644184_224371268432959_3991430390844751872_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=bd783f30d3b361799f6c238ef83fc333&oe=5C250D7D
― Plinka Trinka Banga Tink (Eliza D.), Wednesday, 12 September 2018 16:25 (six years ago) link
“Make America Girly Again”?
― stan in the place where you work (morrisp), Wednesday, 12 September 2018 16:26 (six years ago) link
Cool photos
― calstars, Wednesday, 12 September 2018 16:37 (six years ago) link
love the two lizes photo
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Wednesday, 12 September 2018 16:39 (six years ago) link
excellent! I'm going to see her in... two weeks!
― com rad erry red flag (f. hazel), Wednesday, 12 September 2018 19:24 (six years ago) link
Waited too long and DC show is sold out. Oh well, saw her a long while ago once.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 13 September 2018 14:00 (six years ago) link
Saw her play last night, and after a shitty day/week/month/year I'm glad I didn't just stay home. It was a really good show. Her voice is fantastic! I only really know Exile and Whip-Smart (songs from which comprised well more than half the set, yay), but the newer stuff sounded pretty good... she should get a lap steel guitar and do a country album, I think it would work really well.
― com rad erry red flag (f. hazel), Friday, 28 September 2018 16:16 (five years ago) link
Great new interview:
https://www.vulture.com/2019/09/liz-phair-horror-stories-in-conversation.html
To be my age now, 52, and see a huge music community of women that didn’t exist when I was coming up is the best fucking thing. If I meant something to them, they mean a hell of a lot to me. It’s why I want to get back out there. My “Liz Phair” now are these young women. They give me motivation, excitement, a sense of safety, and inspiration. Every day I follow a new female artist on Twitter, so I have more of that feeling I was so hungry for back then. Girlville is here.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 6 September 2019 18:00 (five years ago) link
super good interview, i appreciated so many quotes that i got sick of c/p'ing them a must-read if you have liked her music
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, 6 September 2019 20:09 (five years ago) link
yeah, she is a total badass.
― ☮ (peace, man), Friday, 6 September 2019 20:10 (five years ago) link
and also not! she is a complex person. she is otm about so much.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, 6 September 2019 20:13 (five years ago) link
memoir out today!!
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Tuesday, 8 October 2019 16:38 (four years ago) link
A new single, it's not bad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uF-kldIIQQ
― drunk on hot toddies (morrisp), Monday, 14 October 2019 20:01 (four years ago) link
Turns out I wouldn't have heard "Can't Get Out of What I'm Into" even if I did check out Somebody's Miracle – as it was only on advance copies, and the Japanese edition. Good recording (those guitars)!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXd2htiC0SI
― Phair · Jagger/Richards · Carl Perkins (morrisp), Tuesday, 7 November 2023 23:33 (ten months ago) link
xp "Suckerfish" is great!
My favorite thing, though, are those lovely, heart-tugging counter-melodies on "Slave," which she layers behind the Jesus & Mary Chain melody... like, how'd she come up with that??
― Phair · Jagger/Richards · Carl Perkins (morrisp), Tuesday, 7 November 2023 23:38 (ten months ago) link
not only are the songs (obviously) terrific, but the way she takes bits & pieces of well-known/famous songs, and kind of reconfigures / recontextualizes them, feels like a significant aesthetic move that I'm sure has other precedents, but I can't think of them at the moment.
^Going back to this comment (by me) – I think it's notable that two of the most powerful songs on these tapes are "Easy Target" and "Slave," both of which are built upon well-known melodies. Earlier this year, after listening to the early Lana Del Rey acoustic stuff (the "May Jailer" demos), I remarked how some of the songs reminded me a little of the Girly-Sound material... not to make too much of it, as the similarity isn't that strong, but I think it's there. And while I can't immediately think of cases where Lana has interpolated preexisting melodies in her songs, referencing lyrics/musicians/etc. is obv a centerpiece of her "artistry."
Also seems that Liz (Phair) and Lizzy (Grant) may have come from somewhat similar suburban milieus(?) Guess I don't really have much of a point, other than to suggest that there are links btw these two artists whom on the surface seem Phair-ly dissimilar (and whose career paths have definitely, well, diverged).
― Phair · Jagger/Richards · Carl Perkins (morrisp), Wednesday, 8 November 2023 20:50 (ten months ago) link
heart-tugging counter-melodies
On the flipside, she improved "Bomb" by removing the countermelodies when it became "Stratford-on-Guy" (...yes, I listened to the entire set of demos again today).
― Phair · Jagger/Richards · Carl Perkins (morrisp), Wednesday, 8 November 2023 22:47 (ten months ago) link
The show last night was lots of fun... the crowd was very into it – a theater full of super appreciative fans – and Liz seemed genuinely moved (this is in contrast to a Breeders show at the same theater, a few weeks back, where the crowd was oddly cold).
Her band was four young dudes dressed in black; pretty much exactly how you would picture the Liz Phair Band to look. The songs from the album sounded good, and they did cool things with some of the arrangements, while staying faithful to the original feel. There's something a little funny (in a charming way) about some of these offbeat little songs being presented with such fanfare (and also now, at her age and all our ages); Liz did little "dramatic routines" for a few of them. The big rockers sounded great.
The encore did indeed consist of a few "fan favorites"... Dave Pirner, of all people, came out and played "Go West" with her (dude still has the hair). The final song was "Why Can't I," which doesn't exactly push my personal nostalgia buttons... but it went over really well, and I could see it meant a lot to some of the folks around me. Why not!
― Phair · Jagger/Richards · Carl Perkins (morrisp), Saturday, 11 November 2023 16:44 (ten months ago) link
SF show ruled no special guests but she closed with Supernova, Go West and Why Can’t I rowdy crowd too, lots of fun
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 12 November 2023 07:08 (ten months ago) link
I had no idea there was a girly sound version of Shane! Wow
― calstars, Sunday, 12 November 2023 16:13 (ten months ago) link
I was there too, it rocked. I really liked Blondshell too.
― brimstead, Sunday, 12 November 2023 16:22 (ten months ago) link
Yeah Blondshell was a great opener (I wuz already a fan, and so really pleased to see those songs played live).
― Phair · Jagger/Richards · Carl Perkins (morrisp), Sunday, 12 November 2023 16:30 (ten months ago) link
yeah they were great!
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 12 November 2023 16:56 (ten months ago) link
Circling back to my above rambling comments (which I know no one cares about), Liz actually mentions Lana Del Rey in this new Pitchfork feature ("I had never heard of her until she played SNL, but something about her reminded people of me, which I found really surprising").
Putting that aside, I thought her comments on the Human League's "Don't You Want Me" were particularly interesting:
(...)it also became really formative for me, because it was the first time I had heard a woman clapping back in a song. Until that point I had always wondered (about the female perspective) in these stories. I would identify with the girl that they were singing about in my little romantic mind, like Cecilia — yeah, I did get up out of the bed, Paul Simon. But this was the first time that I really heard a woman say, No, no, no, let me set the record straight. That became my thing. And it all started with this stupid song. Guyville wouldn’t be Guyville without the Human League.
― low-sorbitol frootloop (morrisp), Monday, 20 November 2023 16:58 (ten months ago) link
“Only human” also does that, was that a feature of the H League in general ?
― calstars, Monday, 20 November 2023 17:25 (ten months ago) link
Upcoming DC show is in a big hall and they are having it all seated in a venue that sometimes has standing area on floor (which is ok). Tickets are expensive. Saw her years back once or twice. Not sure if I will splurge . Blondshell are opening and I haven't seen them yet.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 20 November 2023 19:50 (ten months ago) link
Fyi, they didn't sell out Detroit & a bunch of $20 tickets showed up on the day of the show yesterday. Not sure if that will be the case everywhere.
― BrianB, Monday, 20 November 2023 20:52 (ten months ago) link
They also release tickets the day of (presumably unused comps). This happened with Chicago even though it had been sold out for a while.
― birdistheword, Monday, 20 November 2023 22:34 (ten months ago) link
“I would identify with the girl they were singing about in the song…like Cecilia” Sorry to be a lyrics dork but Cecilia is a song about writing a song. St Cecilia is the patron saint of songwriters.
― bbq, Thursday, 23 November 2023 20:05 (nine months ago) link
wait is the Simon and Garfunkel song about writer’s block?
― assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, 23 November 2023 20:08 (nine months ago) link
!!
― out-of-print LaserDisc edition (sleeve), Thursday, 23 November 2023 20:08 (nine months ago) link
Yep.
― bbq, Thursday, 23 November 2023 20:12 (nine months ago) link
That’s an interesting factoid. (Fwiw, Phair doesn’t even get the lyric right… it’s the narrator who gets up out of bed.)
― This field is required (morrisp), Thursday, 23 November 2023 20:16 (nine months ago) link
what the!
― alpine static, Thursday, 23 November 2023 20:58 (nine months ago) link
i had no idea
Finally that song makes sense and is beautiful
― meaner stinks meat bake it cone (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 23 November 2023 21:03 (nine months ago) link
Paul Simon was writing a song, washed his face, and found someone else was writing his song?!?
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 23 November 2023 21:40 (nine months ago) link
Garfunklel’d, as they say in the biz
― bbq, Thursday, 23 November 2023 21:47 (nine months ago) link
I was today years old when I learned…
― Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 23 November 2023 21:48 (nine months ago) link
Probably Robert Lamm
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 23 November 2023 22:05 (nine months ago) link
― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Saturday, 25 November 2023 11:44 (nine months ago) link
(Also, don’t know what band you all are talking about, Blondshell were horrific)
― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Saturday, 25 November 2023 11:45 (nine months ago) link
I went to the Brooklyn show last night - missed Blondshell and got in my seat like 10 minutes before Phair started and it was really awesome. I wasn't sure if I'd ever see a show like this, but I really loved hearing all the lesser-known songs from Guyville, particularly the quieter cuts.
― birdistheword, Saturday, 25 November 2023 20:30 (nine months ago) link
Saw her tonight in Nashville, lots of fun. This was the third time I've seen her so I'd heard the fan faves off Guyville before but it was cool to hear the lesser-known tracks. I also love how 30 years on she's still kind of perched halfway between making it and not making it — Gen X for life.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 28 November 2023 05:56 (nine months ago) link
So, "making love with Cecelia" is a metaphor for writing a song, "wash my face" is some distraction (like the man from Porlock?) and "someone's taken my place" being "can't remember what I was thinking about while I was writing"..... ?
― Mark G, Tuesday, 28 November 2023 07:51 (nine months ago) link
Or maybe a song was released by someone else that covered similar ground or had a similar melody.
― nickn, Tuesday, 28 November 2023 18:17 (nine months ago) link
happy 30th to whip-smart
― mookieproof, Saturday, 21 September 2024 02:57 (yesterday) link
good album by a weird woman in a bar iirc
― mookieproof, Saturday, 21 September 2024 03:09 (yesterday) link
I read and mostly enjoyed Horror Stories this summer. Can't seem to find much discussion of it on ilx...
― the last visible dot (Doctor Casino), Saturday, 21 September 2024 03:25 (yesterday) link
i read it. i liked the early childhood parts bc i didn't realize she was adopted. i would say i partially (not mostly) enjoyed it bc by the end i didn't want to be around her anymore.
― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Saturday, 21 September 2024 13:46 (yesterday) link
I didn't react quite so strongly, but I did get to a point of believing that the life of rock-star bubble had definitely taken its toll. And I think she does intend it as a warts-and-all kind of thing, but on occasion I did cringe at the way she was making sense of things. Overall enjoyable tho, I thought!
― the last visible dot (Doctor Casino), Saturday, 21 September 2024 15:05 (yesterday) link
You gotta have fear in your heart.
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 21 September 2024 15:30 (yesterday) link