The Independence of Liz PhairBy DAVID CARR
Liz Phair, former crown princess of indie music, has news for all those who wish she would go back to opening up a vein so listeners can feel her pain.
She does not feel theirs.
"I don't remember that time as fun or happy," she said, recalling the days in 1993 after she released "Exile in Guyville," a gender-bent song-for-song retort to the 1972 Rolling Stones album, "Exile on Main Street." The CD was hailed as a revelation, but since then, she has steadfastly refused to live down or up to her early reputation as the coolest girl at the party. Ms. Phair has made four CD's since "Exile," and the latest, "Somebody's Miracle" - due out in October - will do nothing to quiet critics and fans who suggest she traded mesmerizing musical idiosyncrasy for a more common, commercial sound.
"If you are an old fan and it doesn't fit what you need, don't buy the disc," she said with firmness, but no rancor. "People hang their hopes on you fitting into their CD collection in way that they have made a space for, but I'm playing a longer game than that."
Ms. Phair, 38, who has spent the past few years as a piñata for critics, is nonetheless in a very sunny mood. She is in the midst of a lo-fi, nine-city tour with her boyfriend and accompanist, Dino Meneghin. Sitting on Pier 25 in Lower Manhattan on Sunday afternoon before playing at Joe's Pub last night and tonight, she had to be persuaded to sit down at a picnic table rather than hop in a nearby kayak and paddle into the Hudson. The duo is doing three songs a night from the new record and then mostly winging it, grabbing requests shouted from the audience and playing B-sides and oldies as whimsy indicates.
"Every night we play a challenge song, which is one we might have rehearsed and then one hack job where we just do our best," she said. With its acoustic setting and reach-back into her oeuvre, the tour should be a crowd pleaser, which is something Ms. Phair has not been spending much career time on. Her last record, self-titled, but radio ready, drew particularly visceral criticism.
"Hating, I can understand," she said. "I hate stuff too. I can get with that. But some of it is personal and weird. I don't like being approached by people who look at me too intensely, who needed something from me that I didn't have. I don't represent anything. I am just like you and everyone else. I am trying to live my life as best I can."
Ms. Phair is a fickle cult figure, who was surprised by the adoration when it was forthcoming and seemed mystified by the disappointment that came behind it.
She jumped up to take pictures of passing boats and sipped on a half-caf iced soy latte - "I tamper with everything, including coffee," she said - seeming relatively self-aware, if not as self-involved in a way that made for compelling songwriting in the past.
"Am I coasting on some early success? Yeah," she said. "It was a good lucky break for me. But I would rather earn my way back again than simply conform to what people are expecting."
In the one version of Ms. Phair's career, she took all her early promise and squandered it on her last album with a production team that confected Avril Lavigne. She pointed out that the record did pretty well, not huge, but enough to keep her and hers - she has an 8-year-old-son - in food and shelter.
Ms. Phair said the record's singles, a particular genre of music, required plenty of compromises. "I would argue with the producers and listen and then say, 'Yeah, take my guitar off the record, because you know you want to.' I fought for the songs I wanted and cared about and tried to piece it back together in a way that was meaningful to me."
Her label, Capitol, put major juice and money behind the singles, and she trudged from morning show to morning show, plugging it with whatever wacky guys happened to be sitting in front of the mics. But it was not a strictly commercial undertaking, she added. The mostly nude cover art and a one-song ode to the health effects of semen meant Wal-Mart and Starbucks were not much interested in "Liz Phair" by Liz Phair. The fact that the project was self-titled only doubled the rejection.
Ms. Phair pointed out that she never signed with a major label to begin with and has tried to make the most of what has happened: Matador, the indie label she signed with, made a deal with Atlantic, and a later deal with Capitol Records, and so on.
"I figured if I was going to float, I would have to find a way to navigate these waters and still maintain what I like to do," Ms. Phair said. "I like doing the photo shoots, the interviews, the videos, but the bottom line is that I like to sit in my bedroom and write these little songs. I am still making records and still have a measure of control over my music, and that is not easy to come by."
But, she added, "I think what I do is still pretty identifiable. I think I have a quirkiness and a melodic sense that you won't confuse with anyone else."
Tiny, with a bustier framed by an overlay of white blouse and a skirt that demonstrates motherhood has not changed her penchant for showing some casual leg, Ms. Phair would be hard to mistake for someone else. Her do-me feminism and frank sexual lyrics may be part of what put the mostly-male rock criticism community in a tizzy to begin with.
Ms. Phair has lived her life in opposition to whatever has been placed in front of her. "Exile" was a bitter, compelling retort to both the Rolling Stones and all the snotty girls in her suburban neighborhood.
The gesture of "Somebody's Miracle" is more complicated. Conceived as another song-by-song response - this time to Stevie Wonder's 1976 album, "Songs in the Key of Life" - it tacked away from that concept to become an album that gives solace to whoever shows up. There are singles, throwaways and full-on confessionals - enough to satisfy or embitter various parts of her fan base, depending.
Which is just about pleasing to Ms. Phair, who might be seen as a diva without portfolio or a sly genius, depending.
"After all, I'm not sitting in an office telling someone that their insurance policy doesn't cover their chemotherapy," she said. "Theoretically, I am trying to make a piece of music come to life, to try and bring joy and meaning to people's lives. That's a pretty good deal."
― mcd (mcd), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 17:26 (eighteen years ago) link
― mcd (mcd), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 17:28 (eighteen years ago) link
and, Liz can do whatever she wants as far as I'm concerned. I don't even like Exile that much, I like Whitechocolatespaceegg better....and the other one (the one after Exile)
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 17:30 (eighteen years ago) link
Hoo-boy. (I do NOT find it compelling.)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 17:30 (eighteen years ago) link
Also xp, I do agree that Whipsmart is grebt.
― mcd (mcd), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 17:36 (eighteen years ago) link
Am I misreading this? Is the writer defining "singles" as a "particular genre of music"? How does that even make sense?
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 17:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 17:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 17:56 (eighteen years ago) link
(Which reminds me of when I showed my resume to my mom, after interning at Minty Fresh in college, and she looked askance at the description "record label" and suggested that employers might not know what a "label" was. Huh? She wanted me to change it to "company," and I'm like, "Mom, it's not a 'record company,' it's not like Sony. People know what labels are!")
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 17:57 (eighteen years ago) link
I suspect the Songs In the Key of Life response is just another line.
For the record, I think Whipsmart has been the only misstep (a retread of Guyville) in a career fueled by upsetting expectations.
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 18:00 (eighteen years ago) link
This is a good point, now that I think about it.
― mcd (mcd), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 18:10 (eighteen years ago) link
my wife plays the s/t record in her car, along with Enrique Iglesias, Elvis Presley, the Dixie Chicks, Otis Redding, Dead Milkmen, the Shangri-Las, Simon & Garfunkel, and Couch Flambeau.
― Haikunym (Haikunym), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 18:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 18:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― mike a, Tuesday, 2 August 2005 18:17 (eighteen years ago) link
Yeah, I thought she was an "indie queen," not the "crown princess." Jeez.
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 18:22 (eighteen years ago) link
I've tried but I just ended up fetal in the dirt singing lines about icarus.
― dan. (dan.), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 18:25 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 18:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― Haikunym (Haikunym), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 18:37 (eighteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 18:39 (eighteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 18:40 (eighteen years ago) link
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 18:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 18:48 (eighteen years ago) link
Let me introduce you to some of my friends.
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 18:58 (eighteen years ago) link
Not at all. Exact opposites, no?
― dan. (dan.), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 19:07 (eighteen years ago) link
Ah, they're the ones then.
I have a friend who actually discovered Liz via that last album, and loves it the best even after going back and buying all the others.
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 19:09 (eighteen years ago) link
― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 19:28 (eighteen years ago) link
Become born-again formalists, my children. Eschew backstory; it rots your teeth.
― M. V. (M.V.), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 19:29 (eighteen years ago) link
So not true. A lot of my friends did feel betrayed by Whitechocolatespacegg and Liz Phair.
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 19:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― mcd (mcd), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 20:02 (eighteen years ago) link
Feeling betrayed by any artist's decision = assuming one controls the artist. Not the healthiest of approaches.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 20:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 20:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 20:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 20:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 20:08 (eighteen years ago) link
This is because every interview is about this topic.
― The Original Jimmy Mod (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 20:17 (eighteen years ago) link
She pointed out that the record did pretty well, not huge, but enough to keep her and hers - she has an 8-year-old-son - in food and shelter.
This sentence makes my brain hurt.
― mike h. (mike h.), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 20:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― The Original Jimmy Mod (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 20:23 (eighteen years ago) link
― mike h. (mike h.), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 20:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― The Original Jimmy Mod (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 20:45 (eighteen years ago) link
― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 21:03 (eighteen years ago) link
"Used to love her, but I had to kill her. Her oh-so-naked grab for $$ and sales is appalling, and disgusting, and pathetic. I have N-O no respect for her anymore (and her songs, by and large, suck these days - I mean, the singer of "Fuck and Run" could kick the living shit out of the singer of "Why Can't I?")."
So...
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 21:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― Michael Collie (Sans Sushi), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 21:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― Michael Collie (Sans Sushi), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 21:33 (eighteen years ago) link
She wasn't entirely naked. There was some kind of scarf thingie draped across her lap.
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 21:35 (eighteen years ago) link
The most relevant fact about Liz and commercialism is that although there isn't a strict decline in record sales (the last one did better - albeit only slightly - than the third one, for instance), there IS an astonishing relationship between her sales and what her records cost to make and promote. If "Exile" was a 1 to 1 relationship, than "Whipsmart" was about 1 to 15, "Whitechocolate" about 1 to 30 and "Liz Phair" about 1 to 100. In other words, the more dollars they throw at her, the less the proportionate return. The last record barely broke even. You could expect that to some extent, as "Exile" was so cheap, but the enormity of the discrepancy is what's really interesting.
Liz was never particularly into "indie" rock or even music in general and always held Madonna (not Kim Gordon or whoever) up as her musical and career role model. I don't find Liz's "direction" to be very good or even remotely interesting, but I can see why the indie cred argument bugs her; it never was her scene. On the other hand, she firmly believes that a Madonna-style "Material Girl" candidness about her own ambition will work for her ultimately, in the sort of postmodern way it did for Madonna - despite the fact that she's just really not in the same league as Madonna in just about any sense. And of course, it's been done to death.
― Dee Xtrovert (dee dee), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 21:38 (eighteen years ago) link
It seems like she's gained new fans to make up for those crying betrayal. It will hurt though when she realizes that these new fans are just as fickle as the indie fans.
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 21:44 (eighteen years ago) link
― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 21:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 22:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 22:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 22:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 05:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 05:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― Douglas (Douglas), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 05:11 (eighteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 05:15 (eighteen years ago) link
that's much nicer than the recent indie trend of giving songs totally opaque song titles. although maybe this is not such a recent trend, and not necessarily indie either.
"One Thing She Did In the Early Days That I Miss" "I Hate To Break Up the Prince Dialogue But I Have To Track Back To A Point""Although Maybe This Is Not Such A Recent Trend""The Whole Thing Had A Pleasing Concision To It" "I Am Just A Big Talker and I Happen To Enjoy Spinning My Wheels" "I Don't Know This Guy From Adam But I'll Call Him Out"It's About To Snap At Any Moment""Christ, She's On A Major"A Diva Without Portfolio Or A Sly Genius, Depending"Dude She's Looking For Someone To Take Care Of Her Kids"
― gear (gear), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 05:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 05:27 (eighteen years ago) link
Don't ask me to rationally defend this distinction, because I can't, but there it is.
― M. V. (M.V.), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 05:36 (eighteen years ago) link
those are great song titles.
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 05:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 06:06 (eighteen years ago) link
haha oh boy
1) I conceded the what-those-songs-were-about a good while ago re Phair2) the discussion moved toward Prince3) I disagreed with some of the interpretive stuff in re: Prince based on things I've spent years thinking about, most of which is understandable enough but I've always heard them in different ways4) this has jackshit to do with the Phair songs from earlier, whose content I conceded I probably misheard/remembered
there. is that basic enough for you?
― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 07:40 (eighteen years ago) link
And collaboratating with Dianne Warren and Desmond Child to craft singles wouldn't be closer to an artist's original intent?
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 10:11 (eighteen years ago) link
Well, since Phair's songwriting shares exactly no aesthetic qualitites with Warren's (Desmond Child) - thematically, melodically, what have you - it's curious enough to warrant a "what's this about, then?" Like, if David Hockney suddenly announced a collaboration with Mark Kostabi (not that Phair's a Hockey nor Warren a Kostabi). There isn't much in Phair's catalogue that suggests an aesthetic kinship with Dianne Warren, so questioning whether the collaboration intends to explore some artistic connections or simply to "reach more listeners" (i.e. "make her songwriting more palatable to the broader audience that Warren has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to reach") seems fair.
Of course, the "debate" on "rockism" (which in its current incarnation is neither a debate, nor about rockism; it's public preening about social positioning) might argue that to decry artistic collaborations that are specifically about cold, hard cash is "naive," etc. But just because it's perfectly fine for art to be about commerce (it is!) doesn't mean that success is good simply by virtue of being profitable. Capitalism's all right (maybe), in other words; Wal-Mart's still a shitty store, and Phair/Warren's a dumb idea by any measure other than "hey, fuck, we could really sell some records if we got Dianne Warren on board!"
― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 10:56 (eighteen years ago) link
― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 11:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 11:31 (eighteen years ago) link
omg please have her release that!
― latebloomer: i hate myself and want to fly (latebloomer), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 11:39 (eighteen years ago) link
― Haikunym (Haikunym), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 13:20 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 13:28 (eighteen years ago) link
http://www.patfullerton.com/superman/pix/phantomzone/generalzod.jpg
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 13:29 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 13:30 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 13:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 13:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 13:53 (eighteen years ago) link
― alex in montreal (alex in montreal), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 13:55 (eighteen years ago) link
Liz & friends give oral history of Exile in Guyvillehttp://www.spin.com/articles/liz-phair-exile-in-guyville-oral-history-best-1993/
Phair: I can remember listening to [Guyville] in my apartment and thinking it sounded amazing. I was so proud and felt a rush of power because I had done something I knew was good. Listening back at my parents' house, privately, feeling terrified that my two worlds would collide and it was not going to be pretty. I had kept them separate. It would blow my cover.
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Monday, 24 June 2013 14:51 (ten years ago) link
Even more novel and exciting was the fact that Guyville was, in both form and concept, a rookie's rogue retort to classic rock: Phair conceived it as a track-by-track response to one of the pinnacles of swaggering musical masculinity, the Rolling Stones' Exile On Main St
I think I posted this on another thread, but a few days before it was released, she was interviewed on WXRT in Chicago. The interviewer asked if this was a response to the Stones record. Phair said she hadn't heard Main St. until after recording Guyville, and only knew it by name. The interviewer pointed out that Guyville had the same number of tracks as Main St.. Phair: "Really?! That's so weird. What a random coincidence."
― Esperanto, why don't you come to your senses? (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 24 June 2013 15:04 (ten years ago) link
= she was trolling xrt?
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Monday, 24 June 2013 15:05 (ten years ago) link
She seemed genuinely surprised. This was before there was much, or any, hype around her and the record.
― Esperanto, why don't you come to your senses? (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 24 June 2013 15:06 (ten years ago) link
Maybe she is a good actress? I dunno. I certainly don't think she's lying about it now.
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Monday, 24 June 2013 15:07 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, after she started talking about it being an intentional response I thought, huh, that's weird, she said she hadn't heard it. So yeah, either she was trolling xrt, or if she wasn't, she spent a lot of time coming up with a convincing backstory.
― Esperanto, why don't you come to your senses? (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 24 June 2013 15:10 (ten years ago) link
It was the way she described the way she went about the response that seemed really natural and logical to me, esp since she was a novice songwriter who had spent a lot of time listening to music.trying to figure out patterns and reproduce them is what i'm doing right now, so that part really resonated with me. i have my own bizarro notation system and have adopted my own spirit animal record to experiment with. i hear where she's coming from and it doesn't seem to me to be an elaborate backstory. also she was at the age then that she totally would have trolled xrt!
i dunno, i thought it was interesting to read her in her own words with the benefit of hindsight.
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Monday, 24 June 2013 15:15 (ten years ago) link
Who among us wouldn't troll xrt if given then chance?
But it's definitely interesting reading about her/the record's development. Didn't know the drums were added last! Always thought the drumming on "Never Said" was pretty special.
― Esperanto, why don't you come to your senses? (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 24 June 2013 15:28 (ten years ago) link
The panning background vocals in the second verse (or bridge, I guess, since the melody is different) of "Never Said" are one of my favorite things in any 90s record.
― This amigurumi Jamaican octopus is ready to chill with you (Phil D.), Monday, 24 June 2013 15:33 (ten years ago) link
I thought that bit about the drums was interesting too! i also like how they get the exile stuff out of the way and then get to nitty gritty -- focusing on the concept really gives the actual album short shrift. her notation system worked! how gratifying is that.
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Monday, 24 June 2013 15:35 (ten years ago) link
God, 6'1" is so great, as a song, as an album opener, as a statement of purpose, everything. That long, LONG first line, in which the entire verse is a single, coherent sentence, grows in awesomeness when I read her say: Like you are talking about tripping home from being at someone's house sleeping with them and you run into your other girlfriend while you're doing your walk of shame — which is what I thought about "Rocks Off." So I wrote a song like I was the girl he ran into, which was "6'1"."
― This amigurumi Jamaican octopus is ready to chill with you (Phil D.), Monday, 24 June 2013 16:16 (ten years ago) link
this is (supposedly) the first article ever written about liz phair and she claims the 'exile' parallel was deliberate -- maybe she was going back and forth on whether or not it was a good idea to encourage the association.
http://www.hitsville.net/2013/06/24/exile-in-guyville-at-20-the-first-liz-phair-interview/
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 27 June 2013 19:09 (ten years ago) link
Her guitar tunings – her guitar playing, period – are mad underrated. I can listen to "Explain It To Me" ad infinitum.
― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 27 June 2013 19:12 (ten years ago) link
maybe she was going back and forth on whether or not it was a good idea to encourage the association.
Yeah, maybe it wasn't clear exactly how the association would be received. I don't doubt now that she conceived of it as a response to the Stones, but I'm not really clear on how "Canary" relates to Angela Davis.
― Esperanto, why don't you come to your senses? (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 27 June 2013 19:38 (ten years ago) link
the amount of shit that liz phair has put up with (and probably dished out to herself to some extent) since Guyville came out is staggering
there are so many liz phair threads i wasn't sure which one to bump but i chose this onedebating whether or not i would completely lose it if i saw her play at the empty bottle at the close of her anniversary tour. also, $35. still think it would be super fun if i can manage to not freak out!
https://www.avclub.com/liz-phair-announces-massive-exile-in-guyville-reissue-1823801606
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Thursday, 15 March 2018 23:35 (six years ago) link
that sounds awesome. she was really great when I say her in '98, you should go!
― sleeve, Thursday, 15 March 2018 23:47 (six years ago) link
I saw her at the last go-round of Guyville anniversary show at the Vic, and I thought she was great, LL. She has a really has such an interesting live guitar style/phrasing.
― BlackIronPrison, Friday, 16 March 2018 00:02 (six years ago) link
something about seeing her at the EB seems really appropriate
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, 16 March 2018 00:04 (six years ago) link
To dip back into the above convo from four years ago -- when you compare the two "Exile" albums song-by-song, it seems pretty clear that hers was indeed conceived at l ask loosely as a response to the Stones LP (musically, maybe even more than lyrically)... it's very impressive. She was probably indeed just trolling when she brushed it off in that first radio interview; or (more likely) didn't want to invite her album being saddled with the association at that early stage, and later was okay embracing it when it was clear that it wouldn't be portrayed as a negative?
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Friday, 16 March 2018 05:06 (six years ago) link
("at I ask" = "at least". Autocorrect is killing me lately.)
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Friday, 16 March 2018 05:07 (six years ago) link
Then again, a lot of those songs are on the Girlysound tapes (not tracking the Stones album), so I dunno. Maybe it was half serendipity, the way the parallels fell into place.
― absorbed carol channing's powers & psyche (morrisp), Friday, 16 March 2018 05:09 (six years ago) link
That SPIN article was really interesting & revealing; really cool to hear about how that album was constructed
― the man from P.O.R.L.O.C.K. (Drugs A. Money), Friday, 16 March 2018 23:10 (six years ago) link
Also
Her guitar tunings – her guitar playing, period – are mad underrated. I can listen to "Explain It To Me" ad infinitum.― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, June 27, 2013 3:12 PM (four years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, June 27, 2013 3:12 PM (four years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
This is super otm (& not solely bcz "Explain" is my OPO from the album)
― the man from P.O.R.L.O.C.K. (Drugs A. Money), Friday, 16 March 2018 23:12 (six years ago) link
Been playing her first three albums a lot since her show on Friday. This track is still a favorite:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHqOJwgbpxo
FWIW, I also saw Richard Linklater's Before trilogy yesterday - I was surprised how disappointing the third film seemed when viewed immediately after the first two. It still had a good deal of promising ideas, but they give way to a pair of climactic scenes that feel much too prosaic and much too narrow - packed with dramatic fireworks but with nothing new to say. Liz's song suggests a whole lot more in its two minutes and 53 seconds.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 28 November 2023 05:36 (five months ago) link
^I revisited Whitechocolatespaceegg last week, and too was struck by how good & precisely worded that song is.
― This field is required (morrisp), Tuesday, 28 November 2023 06:34 (five months ago) link