Thanks for checking it out. it all comes off much better without The Matrix tracks.. And I do really love Jeremy Engle.
For those who are curious, though, here's the track list for the first version of whitechocolatespaceegg that Capitol rejected: 01. White Chocolate Space Egg 02. Fantasize 03. Headache 04. Big Tall Man 05. Baby Got Going 06. Only Son 07. Bars of the Bed 08. Oh My God 09. Ride 10. White Bird of Texas 11. Perfect World 12. Desperado Theme 13. Tell Me You Like Me 14. What Makes You Happy 15. Freak of Nature 16. Girls' Room 17. Russian Girl For the songs that did appear on the version that was eventually released, the original mixes were, for the most part, notably different and not as polished. "What Makes You Happy" is a completely different production/arrangement (the original was done before Liz reunited with Brad Wood).
I always wondered if Rapids came to a full stop on purpose.... Great track. I will have to seek out Insanity. I was unaware of it.
Some of the rejected tracks are fairly weak. White Bird of Texas and Russian Girl... are throwaways imo.. Tell Me That You Like Me is pretty good though...
I'm not a big fan of "Russian Girl", particularly as an album closer, but I do like "White Bird of Texas" a lot. That said, the final version of it is a bit too polished; I much prefer the demo, which has a murkier quality that suits the song better.
I'd say check out both Exile in Guyville and whitechocolatespaceegg. The production on the former is a little raw for some people's tastes, but those two albums represent her finest collections of songs.
I'd say half of Courtney's solo album, America's Sweetheart, is great as well, although the mastering does it no favours.
I haven’t heard this version but I have to think the album was hugely improved by the addition of “Polyester Bride,” “Johnny Feelgood,” “Uncle Alvarez”, “Go On Ahead”, and the final “What Makes You Happy”... record companies aren’t always wrong.
The person who originally found it on a file-sharing service (as part of a folder named "4th Album Roughs") and shared it with the Liz mailing list said that the person he was downloading it from disconnected mid-transfer (possibly realizing they were inadvertently sharing something they hadn't intended to?). That said, the abrupt stop after "And you don't see it coming" does sound like it could've been deliberate.
Those five songs are definitely among the finest on the album, along with "Headache" and "Perfect World".
I adore all three of Liz Phair’s first albums. I would agree with @aseriesofsneaks but also hasten to add that Whipsmart is a highly underrated album that suffers only by being the successor to Exile - a tough act to follow! I have not heard Funstyle yet but was not a big fan of the self-titled or Somebody’s Miracle albums; they just didn’t do it for me. I would certainly start with these first three and then backtrack and check out some of the Girlysounds demos and also the Juvenilia E.P.
I do love Whip-Smart as well; it's definitely an underrated album. I just feel that Exile and whitechocolatespaceegg have a slight edge over it, with the former being Liz's strongest collection of songs and the latter being her most diverse. That said, the best songs on Whip-Smart easily match the highs of those two albums (most notably "May Queen", "Jealousy", "Nashville", "Cinco de Mayo" and "Supernova").
Wow - thanks - you are a veritable font. I do stand corrected though. I guess at 14-15 songs it's just about right. I had it in my head that previous albums had more songs. Mea culpa.
Exile in Guyville is a very good album and she is attractive, might have been a bigger star based on that, but I don't see any great tragedy because her career didn't go anywhere after a successful debut. I can think of many living artists I consider more talented with careers that stalled out just as quickly.
All I see is a lady who keeps getting dumped on by her 'fans' because whatever music she makes doesn't measure up somehow to their standards. When I read quotes like the one where she didn't want to keep putting out Funstyle-type releases because she was tired of getting so beat up, that's just very sad to me. I never really understood why she didn't go the self-release route and just make her songs and records available via a website or bandcamp or whatever. I know she wouldn't make a lot of money from that, but clearly she hasn't subsisted on income from her records for probably quite some time anyway. If she is not doing so for fear of constantly being shat on, that's just a situation where we all lose. Hard not to believe this is largely because she is a woman.
Interesting thread for a Brit - LP made little inroads here (i was a massive indie kid in the 90s too) Maybe US and UK indie mean different things (?) It's strange why some artists cross the pond and some don't - Cat Power over here is very well respected and has a big fan audience but LP nope never heard any of my indie friends mention her. But interesting to listen and see if we've missed something (on the fence at the moment!)..
I dunno if I can agree with that. Someone mentioned Cat Power. She’s a woman and has avoided most of the pitfalls Liz has struggled with. Then again Cat Power stayed on Matador and has been prolific and has always seemed to follow her own muse. That said, Cat Power didn’t have the sort of amazing and defining debut album Liz did and was able to gain more confidence and power as she went along. It must be difficult when you’re debut is also your peak.
I'm happy to see this thread revived again (even though the title is unfortunate). Apparently there is still interest in Liz Phair's music. If she releases a new album, I will definitely check it out, and I will probably check out her book(s) as well. I would also be very interested is some kind of bootleg series type release if that could be done. Also, I think, a high quality re-release of her albums on vinyl is long overdue. If none of the above happens I will still be a fan, but I haven't completely given up hope of a commercial and critical comeback at some point.
It’s a great title in that it inspires some very thought-provoking discussion. On lesser forums, this thread would lack insight and just be full of pictures of Liz looking gorgeous.
Or when your debut is what other people think is your peak. Why didn't they call this thread 'Liz Phair - the Orson Welles of Pop'?
Well, it IS an amazing album and kinda felt like a bomb exploding out of nowhere when it came out. It’s hard to keep up that sort of momentum no matter what the circumstances. Happens to many acts/bands. You always hear how everything AC/DC did after Back In Black sucks or everything The Beach Boys did after Pet Sounds, even though their output since then does have its hardcore fans. Once a narrative gets out there though, into the general public, it’s hard to shake.
Fans don't owe Liz Phair unconditional loyalty just like Liz Phair doesn't owe fans a new Exile in Guyville every three years. I don't know how much misogyny has plagued her career, but I don't think this is a situation where the quality of her material is beyond reproach. I've been re-listening to her catalog on Spotify since yesterday and it's easy to see why this stuff failed to connect, particularly the last 15 years of work. At some point, it's hard to believe this isn't mostly on her. Fiona Apple's battled her record label and still released excellent material. Bjork has spent her entire solo career changing directions and releasing far more challenging music than Phair without her fanbase revolting on her. Lauryn Hill has only released one godawful album since Miseducation, routinely hits the stage late, and still headlines befores thousands of people a night. There's an interesting quote from Phair on Wikipedia: "I don't really get what happened with Guyville. It was so normal, from my side of things. It was nothing remarkable, other than the fact that I'd completed a big project, but I'd done that before... Being emotionally forthright was the most radical thing I did. And that was taken to mean something bigger in terms of women's roles in society and women's roles in music... I just wanted people who thought I was not worth talking to, to listen to me." (Emphasis added).
She hasn't released a proper album in 13 years. She begged to be dropped from Capitol for 5-6 years and since that time the only full length release of new music was Funstyle. She's only ever played 2 songs from Funstyle live. Funstyle was more ignored or too obscured to be known than critically beat up. She made money from doing music scoring in Hollywood, which double as a reason to stay at home during her son's final years of high school. She could self release and make $7-10 per album. Chris Cornell's Timbaland album got mauled, Metallica Lulu got mauled, Morrissey frequently gets mauled by the pressed and u2 got mauled for the iTunes album. As for not making it outside the US, AFAIK, she's only done a single show in the UK in the past 23 years. There's even huge chunks of Canada that she's never played. 97% of her concert career has been in the US.
