The Best of Liz Phair Compilation : What Would You Include?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mikeja75, Aug 9, 2013.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. mikeja75

    mikeja75 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    U.S.
    I have all of Liz Phair's album releases along with a number of singles, compilation tracks, and all of the girlysound demos...but I haven't listened enough to know her stuff inside and out.

    I'd like to put together a one disc "best of" disc and was hoping to find some help in deciding what should go on the disc. I'm looking at from a Marketers perspective by thinking up a collection that could be released to the public as a decent career overview...I don't want to load it up with a bunch of non LP tracks, but a few are okay.

    Let's call it a LP/101 release.

    Here we go:

    Her charted singles in the US (one one chart or another) are:
    Supernova
    WhipSmart
    Why Can't I
    Extraordinary
    Everything To Me

    So these belong on the CD.

    She also released videos for the following:

    Stratford-on-Guy
    Never Said
    Jealousy
    Rocket Boy
    Polyester Bride
    And He Slayed Her

    So these tracks should likely be in the running as well since they made some sort of imprint on the public (whether that be small or big).

    And then you have a 2003 promo CD release called Retrospective that was put together to promote her self-titled release. This nine track set included:

    Extraordinary
    H.W.C.
    6'1"
    **** and Run
    Supernova
    Whip-Smart
    Polyester Bride
    Love is Nothing
    What Makes You Happy

    Again -- in the running since Liz might have had some say in the tracks that went on this promo release.

    "Flower" probably belongs on their somewhere...and I love "Little Digger" and "Love/Hate" from her S/T release. I'm not anti-Funstyle either - I like "Smoke" a lot and a few of the "normal" tracks are pretty good.

    So there you have it -- what would you include on a "Best of Liz Phair" release?

    Thanks!

    PS: Let's try our best to not turn this thread into a "I don't know why, but I think she's hot" thread!
     
  2. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    H.W.C.? Please, no. Just...no.

    I mean, if Liz herself isn't embarrassed by this sugary jingle with the look-at-me lyric at this point, then I'm embarrassed for her.

    The tracks you pointed out as singles and video seem like a good starting point.
     
    Mechanical Man and marc with a c like this.
  3. Ben Adams

    Ben Adams Forum Resident

    Location:
    Phoenix, AZ, USA
    Man, "Divorce Song" has to be on there. Has to be. One of the best, purest descriptions of the end of a relationship by anyone, ever.
     
  4. JasonA

    JasonA Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cereal City
    Supernova is the jam!
     
    anthontherun likes this.
  5. mikeja75

    mikeja75 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    U.S.
    ...c'mon man, without she's just another Dorian Gray. We can't have that...
     
  6. Fullbug

    Fullbug Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    Crater Lake
     
    marc with a c likes this.
  7. bluesbro

    bluesbro Forum Hall of Shame

    Location:
    DC
    Bollywood
     
    marc with a c and kevintomb like this.
  8. AlienRendel

    AlienRendel Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, il
    I would just call it "Exile in Guyville"
     
  9. JDeanB

    JDeanB Senior Member

    Location:
    Newton, NC USA

    The very first one I thought of...
     
    Ben Adams likes this.
  10. SoundAdvice

    SoundAdvice Senior Member

    Location:
    Vancouver
    Capitol only own the 4 albums starting with Whip Smart.

    She owns Girlie Sound, Exile, Exile videos and everything she did after 2006.

    There is enough material for 1993-2005 set if she licensed stuff. Ideally there would be a deluxe version with bonus disc of rarities and another DVD of music videos than include a commentary track. Though sales of the Exile deluxe showed that her market evaporated her new album won't do much beyond the remianing built in fan base. The Come Get it EP needs a wider release(spent years looking for one, lost a few ebay auctions) 2000's albums need uncompressed versions and a couple albums could do with limited vinyl (re)releases. I think she's a candidate for some RSD stuff. 1998 was her last release on new material on wax.
     
  11. SoundAdvice

    SoundAdvice Senior Member

    Location:
    Vancouver
    Depending on her contract, she might be able to release a "hits" disc without Capitol if she did some careful re-records of a few tracks. The 2003/2005 stuff could used a fresh take.
     
  12. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA

    But, as you correctly note, sales of Exile deluxe demonstrated there's no market left. Any reissue is unlikely to recoup costs. A best of won't set the catalog charts on fire, either, but there should be one at this point. But the fact that all the material that would HAVE to be on a decent reissue isn't under one corporate roof means that either someone rolls over to allow the reissue, or it won't happen.

    At this point, her manager should be looking hard towards licensing her music for TV/ads/movies. A lucky break on a popular tie-in is about her last best hope to create the demand necessary to make a best-of that needs to be cross-licensed financially viable.

    I hope she saved her money when things were good...
     
    breakingglass and audiotom like this.
  13. SoundAdvice

    SoundAdvice Senior Member

    Location:
    Vancouver
    If her next album is truly good it will find an audience and there will be interest in older work. Is the generic loves songs and lack of an inventive guitar part is where she always looses me.

    The Exile deluxe wasn't that great or have worthwhile unique content. I love watching her being interviewed, but some how the 90 minute documentary she directed was something I had major trouble sitting through even once. People crucial to her early career are weirdly indifferent now and non showed up to her exclusive full Exile show in Chicago in 2008. Even Nash Kato had somewhere he rather be.

    Someone like Juliana Hatfield released a greatest hits by herself that included a couple tracks licensed from a major. Though it was a decade ago. There are acts in her "league" who got compilations in recent memory.

    Though she's VERY low profile about it she's been scoring tv and movies for closer to a decade now. That can sometimes be lucrative. Though who knows who owns that stuff and little of it gets an audio only release. She lives outside LA and seems to have ok money and active social life away from the lime light.
     
    Fullbug and D.B. like this.
  14. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Never say never, I guess. But it's a hard world out there now for music artists in general, and really hard for those outside the pop tart demographic, which now includes Liz. For a lot of artists, the success and money is now via touring (and merchandise). But Liz has always been a reluctant (and usually terrible) live performer. So that's not really a great avenue for her.

    TV scoring is definitely lucrative enough to make a living. If you can do it, and you can do it regularly, you can live (reasonably) well.

    As I earlier noted, it's not that a compilation for Liz makes no sense. It does make sense. In fact, at this point in her career, it's the release she should have in the racks. But it's not going to sell very well and who's going to pay for the cross licensing? Neither Universal/EMI nor Liz probably imagines that licensing from the other is going to be cost effective. Juliana Hatfield's release was, as you note, a decade ago. Which, for the music industry was an eternity ago. A decade ago you still had Tower, the record clubs, and a lot of other outlets for physical product.
     
  15. Obtuse1

    Obtuse1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    The Tra-La-La Song (One Banana, Two Banana) (w/Material Issue).

     
    music4life and pscreed like this.
  16. HenryH

    HenryH Miserable Git

    "Giving It All To You"...seriously.
     
  17. anthontherun

    anthontherun Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    Most of the essentials have already been covered--I'll put in a vote for "Satisfied" from Funstyle, probably the most universally appealing song from that album. But I also wanna bring up "Don't Apologize," which showed up on some extremely obscure various artists compilation and can be downloaded at Amazon or iTunes. It's one of her best bridge tracks--somehow it would have felt at home on either WCSE or the self-titled (ok, in fairness the production is more in line with the self-titled, but the structure is pretty similar to "What Makes You Happy"). One of my top 5 Liz tracks for sure, and one that certainly deserves more attention.
     
    Sean Murdock and No Bull like this.
  18. rene smalldridge

    rene smalldridge Senior Member

    Location:
    manhattan,kansas
    Exactly.
     
  19. Ben Adams

    Ben Adams Forum Resident

    Location:
    Phoenix, AZ, USA
    I lived in Chicago, managing a record shop and going to gigs heavily, when she first broke. From what I've heard from my friends in the Chicago area in the music scene, it's not that weird that people crucial to her rise are indifferent now . . . she apparently followed the stardom cliche of using people as stepping stones in her career, not even acknowledging their existence any more once she was above them in status. A lot of people are still pissed off at her.
     
    Mechanical Man likes this.
  20. paulg61

    paulg61 Senior Member

    Location:
    CT
    Much like another female singer from around the same era - 'cept Liz never reached the exalted heights (in popularity) as Ms Crow!
     
  21. audiotom

    audiotom I can not hear a single sound as you scream

    Location:
    New Orleans La USA
    Perfect world

    Id suggest listening to whitechocolatespaceegg on heavy rotation
    Prior to compiling this
    And dumping the later stuff
    So what if its a manufactered hit
     
    frightwigwam and kevintomb like this.
  22. Deano6

    Deano6 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Plymouth, NC, USA
    Carnivore!
     
  23. gates69

    gates69 Music Junkie

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    Always liked Gun Shy from Exile. It had a funky little vibe going.
     
  24. guidedbyvoices

    guidedbyvoices Old Dan's Records

    Location:
    Alpine, TX
    Of what's not mentioned, I always thought Support System was a great album track to pop on a party mix. And of her pop tart phase I always liked Rock Me.

    Exile still stands up really well front to back.
     
    Fullbug likes this.
  25. anthontherun

    anthontherun Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    After last night, I decided to listen to Funstyle again, and I wanna give a shout-out to "My My." Really good, funky song that shows off her diversity.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine