CD Odyssey Disc 1548: Liz Phair

After a lovely brunch, we’ve done grocery shopping and I’m now ready to firmly settle into that blissful feeling of knowing I am not going out again today.

Disc 1548 is…. Soberish

Artist: Liz Phair

Year of Release: 2021

What’s up with the Cover? Citizens of New York are on high alert tonight, as a 50’ tall woman stalks Lower Manhattan with an unknown purpose! She was last seen reclining on the Washington Square Arch and may or may not have been singing a pop song!

Will city officials send a delegation to hear her demands, or just urge citizens to lock their doors and hope she is only there to play some chess in the park before heading to the city’s outskirts?

How I Came To Know It: I am a Liz Phair fan from back in the day, so when she released her first album in over ten years I decided to give it a listen.

How It Stacks Up: I have six Liz Phair albums. Of those six, “Soberish” is in the bottom half, but I still liked it. I’ll rank it #4.

Ratings: 3 stars

For the last twenty years, Liz Phair has been exploring how to incorporate her nineties alt-rock sound into something a bit more pop-flavoured and contemporary. It hasn’t always been successful. 2003’s self-titled effort was good in places but was followed by albums I either didn’t like (“Somebody’s Miracle” 2005) or don’t even remember (“Funstyle” 2010). On “Soberish” Phair returns to form, rising above some unfortunate production decisions to deliver her best record in a long time.

The first thing that caught my attention on “Soberish” was the raw honesty in the songs. Phair’s truths are equally at home on songs that narrate the sad and weary ending of a long-term relationship, and the awkwardness of dating and finding love all over again.

“Good Side” is the former, a song that reminds us that wile breaking up is painful, we owe it to ourselves and others to leave with as much grace and forgiveness as we can muster. This song has a great pop hook, and amazing lyrics but it is pulled down by some very bad production choices. Weird synth sounds that would be more at home on a Sugar Ray record, and feel very dated, and just way too many instances of “let’s throw this in there!” happening either in the studio or post-production. Just strip it down and the song unfold. No bells and/or whistles required.

The same goes for the weird excess oughts-dance back beat on “In There” although in this case, the song is just too good to be denied. This song is such a great exploration of a woman acknowledging how some people can work their way into your heart. It also features the best metaphor on the record:

“Like smoke under the door, like cold comes through the floor
You got in there”

Is that electronic Frampton-voice box thing annoying on this song? Your damned right it is, but it is offset by some lovely piano bits.

“Hey Lou” is not confessional, but instead it’s an account of the relationship between Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson, told from Anderson’s perspective. Lou comes off like a bit of an asshole, but an entertaining one at least.

Phair maintains her penchant for writing songs with a focus on minor chords. It has always given her records a forlorn quality, and this record is no exception. However, in recent years she’s taken to a much greater “pop” emphasis, and it hasn’t always worked with that style of tune. On “Soberish” she has finally found a good balance. It isn’t perfect, and the constant attempts to throw in gimmicky sounds, finger snaps and what-not does the work no favours, but most of the time Phair navigates the resulting choppy water and pilots the song successfully through to conclusion.

Vocally, she sounds as good as ever, combining her favoured slightly flat delivery with a high sweet head voice that was a pleasant surprise even after years of hearing it. “Lonely Street” is a particularly fine vocal performance, and further benefits from the stripped-down arrangement.

“Bad Kitty” is the album’s last song, and has that low guitar groove that long-time listeners will remember from early in her career. The song has some tongue-in-cheek references, but she also throws in honest struggles with drugs and depression making the song much more than a novelty foot-tapper.

Overall, you shouldn’t expect “Soberish” to match records like “whitechocolatespaceegg” or “Exile in Guyville” but those are both classic rock records that set a ridiculous standard. However, if you’ve been put off Liz Phair because of her previous two sub-par releases, this record will be a pleasant surprise once you get past some of the production foofaraw.

Best tracks: Hey Lou, In There, Soberish, Lonely Street, Dosage, Bad Kitty

CD Odyssey Disc 888: Liz Phair

Sometimes deciding if I’m going to keep an album or sell it is a complex set of variables. This is one of those times.

Disc 888 is….Juvenilia

Artist: Liz Phair

Year of Release: 1995

What’s up with the Cover? Liz does karate in high heeled sandals. This cover looks half-finished, which is kind of how this record feels.

How I Came To Know It: I’ve liked Liz Phair for years and wasn’t even aware of this EP until about ten years ago. I bought it on a whim, since it came out during my favourite part of Phair’s career.

How It Stacks Up:  I have five Liz Phair albums. While at 8 songs and 30 minutes playing time this one is more of an EP, I’ll rank it anyway. It lands fifth (or last) place. They can’t all be winners, kids.

Ratings: 2 stars

Sometimes an EP can deliver some undiscovered gems of an artist’s early career. For example, the re-issue of the Byrd’s “Sweethearts of the Rodeo” features six bonus tracks of Gram Parsons’ previous band “The International Submarine Band” and these are great.

Other times an EP of early stuff can feel like an awkward amalgam of ideas that aren’t fully formed, by an artist that will one day be great but isn’t quite there yet. Unfortunately, this is how “Juvenilia” felt for me.

The best song on the record is the opening track, “Jealousy.” This song does a great job of capturing the manic rage of people consumed with jealousy. The rhythm rushes forward, flustered and grim and in a hurry to throw accusations before Liz even starts singing. It is a great song, but it is also available on 1994’s “Whip Smart” which I already have so we’ll call that a draw.

The second best song is “Turning Japanese,” which is a pretty great cover of the 1980 song of the same name by one-hit wonder The Vapors. Liz’s version has great energy and with its rock edge appeals to me more than the original. Is this cover enough for me to keep the album? Maybe…

Most of the record is composed of songs that Phair originally recorded in 1991 under the name “Girly Sound.” Most of these are pretty forgettable. “California” is a solid hook surrounded by Liz telling what is now a very old joke about cows. It is passable on the first listen and then it quickly becomes like any joke some drunk uncle tells you too many times at a backyard family barbecue. If it is a particularly bad uncle, there will be told too many times at a single barbecue, each time with a bit more drunk in the delivery.

Three more songs (“Batmobile,” “Dead Shark” and “Easy” are all lo-fi dirges which sound a lot like other Liz Phair songs, except not as good. There is one good track from the Girly Sound days, but more on that later.

The only original song on this album is “Animal Girl” and it is depressing even by Liz Phair standards. It features her characteristic minor key and flat delivery but it is a bit too emotionally hollow, even for her. The song has pretty bones, but it is one that needs to be surrounded by other catchier tracks, like it would be on one of her many amazing full length records. Here it just lays flat and sad, with no fury to punctuate the sadness.

So it all comes down to the best “Girly Sound” song on the record, “South Dakota” to break the tie on whether I should keep this record. Think of it as a presidential election where South Dakota’s 24 electoral college votes will make the difference.

“South Dakota” has Phair’s signature sparse but echoing production value, and the whole thing is a single guitar strumming away as Liz sings her lascivious heart out, occasionally punctuating a verse with an explosive “Huh! Huh!” of air from deep in her lungs. The song also has Beck-quality imagery with bizarre lines like:

“Masons and lumberchucks

As God is my squirrel”

That somehow make sense when Liz sings it, even though I’m not sure how.

So “South Dakota” should deliver this album safely back to its seat on my CD shelf, but I’m going to withhold judgment and see what it is worth at the local record store. If I can get a few albums I like better in return, maybe it is worth voting ‘no’ after all.

Best tracks:  Jealousy, Turning Japanese, South Dakota

CD Odyssey Disc 42: Liz Phair

The CD gods have apparently determined that the meaning of life is Liz Phair. How do I know? Because...

Disc 42 is...Exile in Guyville

Artist: Liz Phair

Year of Release: 1993

How I Came To Know It: My longtime friend Greg bought a Liz Phair album when we lived together in the early nineties, and I really liked it. Not this album, though. "Exile In Guyville" was a recommendation of my other buddy Kelly, when he found out I liked Liz Phair.

How It Stacks Up: I have 5 Liz Phair albums (I had 6, but her last album was awful). I'd put this album #2 out of a top 3 that are all really good, and very close in quality. Most Liz Phair fans would put this album #1 and to them I say good for you. Well chosen. I'll keep it at #2.

Rating: 4 stars.

Liz Phair is a great alternative rock singer and songwriter. She broke out in the early nineties with this album ("breaking out" being a relative term when it comes to alternative music). She was immediately lumped into the grunge movement, presumably because she made music in the early nineties, was innovative and talented and had a pulse.

Like many acts of the time, she really isn't grunge at all. However, she is a great talent. Also, although unrelated to this talent, she is smoking hot. Do an image search of "Liz Phair" - go ahead - just her name. You're welcome.

Phair's almost monotone singing can seem a little weird at first, but it totally works with her simple arrangements and off-putting topics. For example, as I write this I am listening to the song "Canary" which I think is about an abused wife who one day decides to burn her sleeping husband to death in his bed. The deadpan delivery of this song makes it that much more resonant and creepy.

There are many songs that capture a very disjointed and troubled emotional life, which for all its weirdness is compelling to listen to. She also puts together song arrangements and phrasing that is very original.

I had a lot of trips in my car the last couple days for work, and this album got a bigtime workout (about 4 full listens) and it held up well. While the Odyssey allows no song skipping on Listen #1, after that it is open season, and even on the 4th listen, I didn't skip one.

This album happens to feature probably the single best break up/I hate you song ever written - "Divorce Song" and also probably the single most explicit sex song in "Flower".

I have two minor criticisms of this album.

First, it has 18 songs. Hey, Liz! Know when to say when. The material here is strong but I think 14 is pushing it. Also, she could have save 4-6 songs for her last two albums, which are a definite downturn (more on that in another post). It would be hard to cut back, but I'd've been glad to sit down with Liz over dinner or breakfast (hopefully in that order) and help her choose.

Second, the song listings on the back are written in a way that makes it hard to figure out what track is what. Just number them and put them in order - save the artwork for the cover.

As an aside, the title of this album has become an expression when Sheila and I play "Carcassonne". For those of you who don't know, Carcassonne is a tile-based game where you place your playing pieces or "men" on an evolving map, scoring points based on placement. Sometimes a great place to score shows up, but you can't take advantage of it because you've already placed all your men at that point in the game. We call that "Exile in Guyless-Ville".

This will be how you will feel if you see this album in the store, but already spent your last $14 on a Nickelback greatest hits package. In addition to regret, you'll also feel very dumb - and you will be.

Best tracks: Help Me Mary, Dance of the Seven Veils, Explain It To Me, Fuck and Run, Divorce Song, Flower,