Music CD - Liz Phair: Liz Phair

	Music CD: Liz Phair Artist: Liz Phair List Price: $17.98 Our Price: $3.95 Your Save: $ 14.03 ( 78% ) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: Capitol
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Tracks: 1. Extraordinary 2. Red Light Fever 3. Why Can't I? 4. It's Sweet 5. Rock Me 6. Take A Look 7. Little Digger 8. Firewalker 9. Favorite 10. Love/Hate 11. H.W.C. 12. Bionic Eyes 13. Friend Of Mine 14. Good Love Never Dies
Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0724352208401 Format: Enhanced Label: Capitol Manufacturer: Capitol Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Capitol Release Date: 2003-06-24 Studio: Capitol
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Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: This is where it's at Comment: Apparently this is the album where Liz "sold out". Nonsense. This album has LEGS. It just gets better with each listen. I've bought every Phair release. I tried to like "Exile", I really did. Didn't happen. Liz has been working with a vocal coach and it really shows here, her voice sounding almost mellifluous on a number of tracks. In fact this album and "White Chocolate" are the only ones of hers that are still in my collection. A terrific production with a really gutsy sound too. Now if you want to call a terrible, commercial Liz album then "Somebody's Miracle" is definitely it. Just terrible. But do buy this one. Customer Rating: Summary: She Got Me Way Deep Down Inside . . . Comment: OK, so I didn't pick up a copy of LIZ PHAIR for the first 5 years of its existence, but other reviews have inspired me to jump into the fray (no pun intended). Yes, Ms. Phair has waded hip-deep (at least) into producing power pop, but to me one of the most boring things in the music realm is the ubiquitous snob who looks down his upturned nose at pop music -- as if something being popular represents a sin against true progressivity. I say thank goodness one can not know for sure what to expect from a Liz Phair release. Pet peeves aside, I'm also coming down strongly on the approval side of LIZ PHAIR. The CD is aurally pleasant from start to finish, but just "H.W.C." would have been worth the price of admission. Who needs hidden meaning or deep exploration of a lyrical theme when she gets our attention almost immediately? I challenge any straight man listening to the tune while admiring LIZ PHAIR's front cover to successfully avoid actively imagining giving this multi-talented (not to mention fetching) woman exactly what she's requesting! Any truly good pop song has to have a hook, and there is no doubt that Liz Phair has hooked me with this one. Now I'm only hoping she'll consider taking a break from her obvious 2003-current preference for younger men. Customer Rating: Summary: Liz ROcks Comment: I love this CD. Liz's lyrics are very powerful and almost feminist. They are blunt and don't hide. I love her for it. The music is unique and catchy; one of my favorite songs to rock out to in the car. Customer Rating: Summary: Interesting beat and lyrics Comment: I liked how they mixed "Why Can't I?" into the movie Thirteen Going on 30, so I decided to listen to the entire CD. Some of the songs were of "meh" quality, but I still enjoy them. Customer Rating: Summary: Let Me Explain... Comment: I didn't buy this album. I borrowed it from a friend because I said I was looking into some indie music. Therein lies the problem: When you talk about "indie music", there's no telling what the other person in the conversation is thinking of. With that premise stated, I'm pretty sure this is not "indie music". So if you're thinking of Sufjan Stevens or Joseph Arthur (and his Lonely Astronauts), then drop this album like a hot rock. Actually, I had heard "Why Can't I?" on the radio and in waiting rooms several times before I realized Liz Phair performed it. This is a straight-forward pop album. And, quite honestly, it's a mediocre pop album at that. Musically, the album is unimaginative, with alot of simple ABA song structures in major keys with few key changes. Most of the tempos were pretty much walking pace with a few ballads thrown in (Little Digger). Like a bad slasher film, I knew where each song was going within 30 seconds (and I didn't like its destination, anyway). Some songs have a folk-colored hue to them, but they sound forced with a rococo-type embellishment with no substance underneath. The biggest embarassment is Liz's lyrical content. I actually thought she was trying to be funny with the underwear comment on "Favorite". Most songs were of course about having promiscuous sex, relationships (mostly bad ones), man-hating, and using a certain male bodily fluid for dermitological purposes ("H.W.C."). And that was the real low point for me: Was this song a joke? Did someone in the studio say, "Hey Liz, betcha won't lay down that ditty you were working on earlier!" I actually got embarassed listening to this song ALONE, much less with anybody else. If that's what Liz was shooting for, then bull's eye... Honestly, there's not much more to write because there's not much to critique. P.S. The album cover complements the music: Cheap without alot of thought put into it. More Reviews
Editorial Reviews: Eponymous albums are usually either debuts or the work of musicians trying to introduce themselves to a new audience. Count Liz Phair among the latter. It's Phair's fourth studio album, but her first since 1998, and it's a long way from the arty, low-fi sound that marked her true full-length debut, 1993's Exile in Guyville. Phair has developed into a considerably more confident singer, while her songs and the production they receive here are as slick and radio-friendly as anything by, say, Avril Lavigne. That's no surprise, since Lavigne's production team, the Matrix, produced many of the tracks here. (The rest are helmed by LA rock stalwarts Michael Penn and Pete Yorn producer R. Walt Vincent.) Sex is still Phair's primary subject, whether it's comparing a lover to a comfortable pair of old underwear ("Favorite"), asking a much younger man to "Rock Me" all night long, or praising the beauty benefits of oral sex ("H.W.C."). The only time Phair lets the cheery facade crack a bit is on "Little Digger," on which Phair tries to explain to her young son why the man she's currently dating is not the boy's father. Who could've guessed that even the freest, best-protected sex could have such far-reaching, unintended consequences? --Keith Moerer