Artist bio

Liz Phair, though she has continued to grow as a writer and a musician over the past decade, would still have a place in rock history were she to have quit the biz after the release of her bombshell first album, Exile In Guyville. Exile was a revelation, a 18-track opus that sounds like it was recorded where it was largely written, in the upstairs bedroom of a teenage girl in suburban Chicago.

Listeners and writers picked up most strongly on the brazen sexuality of tracks like "Fuck And Run" and "Flower," but equally striking was the unabashed pop of "Never Said" and "6'1''," the seductive riffing on "Mezmerizing," the vivid portrait of breakup on "Divorce Song," the elegant atmospheric mood set in "Stratford-On-Guy," etc. It might have announced the birth of a star, but it was her coming-out party and grand achievement at the same time.

Phair would follow up Guyville with the very good albums Whip-Smart and whitechocolatespaceegg, but though neither have embarrassing moments, really, neither comes close to her 1993 debut. That said, Phair was one of the '90s' more intriguing female singer-songwriters, and whether or not her future work ever materializes, she'll be remembered fondly, if only as that frustrated and inspired girl in the attic.

Albums by this artist

Liz Phair (2003)

whitechocolatespaceegg (1998)

Whip-Smart (1994)

Exile In Guyville (Recommended) (1993)

Liz Phair

whitechocolatespaceegg

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» PIERO SCARUFFI | STAFF WRITER

Liz Phair whitechocolatespaceegg Matador, 1998 RiYL: Aimee Mann, The Breeders, Pavement, PJ Harvey

Ending a long absence for marriage and maternity, whitechocolatespaceegg proves that, long past puberty, Liz Phair is a "rocker", and a far warmer and less girl-centric one than her overly intimate lyrics would imply. Phair is a musician engaged in a more oblique approach to dealing with her sexual and moral appetites, and reconciling sex and love. This approach disposes with her controversial wit in favor of a more melodious musical persona.

Phair's new side is playful, catchy and groovy, well represented by upbeat and taut country-rocker "Johnny Feelgood" and the stellar "What Makes You Happy." No less poignant, her soliloquies now indulge in plenty of pop refrains and progressions ("Big Tall Man," "Love Is Nothing"), with a tinge of psychedelic folk/rock ("Ride"). Her ordinary voice lends some of them the sentiment of, say, a Billy Joel ("Polyester Bride"). As a matter of fact, the album, as well as Phair's melodic and songwriting talents, peaks with the epic and nostalgiac waltz of "Shitloads Of Money."

The sound is a complicated puzzle of colorful chords, laid-back to the point of mimicking the acoustic folk singer of days gone ("Uncle Alvarez"), elegant to the point of coining a sort of rock chamber music ("Perfect World," complete with strings). Phair and her producers have obviously studied the history of rock and roll, as debris of classic styles (gospel organs, rhythm and blues drums, blues chords, lysergic timbres, folk arias) surface almost everywhere.

What do not fit are, surprisingly, the harder-edged songs like the grungy title track, wrapped in a shower of distorted guitar riffs, or the frenzied, harmonica-addled "Baby Got Going" (as a matter of fact, she didn't write the music for either). Much more effective are the suave movements of "Headache," as she whispers over a spare and vaguely psychedelic arrangement of fuzz guitar and chirpy organ.

As a less ambitious and angry songwriter, freed of any vestigial ties to the controversial riot grrrrl of Exile In Guyville, whitechocolatespaceegg ranks as an impressive re-invention of Phair as folk-rock all-star.

PIERO SCARUFFI | Piero Scaruffi runs the exhaustive music database Scaruffi.com. A native of Italy, he has also been praised for his work on the General Theory of Relativity, formal theories of the mind, and artificial intelligence. And no, we aren't making that up.