★★★★★
Fuck and run / Fuck and run / Even when I was seventeen. Fuck and run / Fuck and run / even when I was twelve."
When Liz Phair released her debut Exile In Guyville on June 22, 1993, it rocked the male-centric indie rock (and really, rock in general) music world. A female songwriter singing openly about real relationship problems and the anxieties they bring with it? Unheard of at the time...
- www.punknews.org
2013-07-03
★★★★★
In her own words, Funstyle cost Liz Phair her management, her record deal, and a lot of sleep. Listening to it costs something too. That's as clear as Funstyle gets, an album so all over the place you won't even bat an eye at the inspirational slogans from the guru on "Beat Is Up" - "The trick to freedom is to deny your past regrets" - or when two nameless record executives talk about who hates Phair's work the most on the baffling "U Hate It," a song that rhymes, "I think I'm a genius" with...
- www.americansongwriter.com
2013-04-25
★★★★★
Rock n' roll in the 1990s graced us with a number of masterpieces, many of which were followed by lengthy silences from their creators; a recent Slate piece on Neutral Milk Hotel's The Aeroplane Over the Sea compared Jeff Mangum's withdrawal from the public eye to J.D. Salinger's, and the anticipation of the reunited My Bloody Valentine has gradually morphed from excitement into something resembling dread among fans and critics alike...
- www.slantmagazine.com
2012-04-23
★★★★★
With the release of her debut album 'Exile in Guyville', Liz Phair made a critical impact and a name for herself as a girl power icon. With song titles like '**** and Run', she was probably a bit strong for the Spice Girls audience who came along a few years later. Now on her fourth album, she has teamed up with production team du jour The Matrix, most famous for assisting Avirl Lavigne with Complicated and Sk8er Boi...
- www.gigwise.com
2010-12-14
★★★★★
Liz Phair's indie credibility took a tumble with her self-titled 2003 collaboration with The Matrix, the production team that turned knobs for Avril Lavigne, Michelle Branch and Hilary Duff. The pop sheen of "Why Can't I," as catchy as it was, didn't pack the salacious crotch-grab of "Flower," from her 1993 debut, "Exile in Guyville." Those expecting any elements remotely close to "Guyville" or the 1994 follow-up, "Whip-Smart," won't find them in "Miracle...
- www.soundspike.com
2010-12-07
★★★★★
"Yeah, you've heard it all before" announces Liz Phair prophetically towards the end of her latest album Somebody's Miracle, "but this time it's true". Hint to reader: this is largely bad news. Phair was the post-grunge golden girl, seemingly charming all the demographics culminating in a Rolling Stone cover and, surely, stardom. Along the way, though, the quality of her music has slowly diminished...
- www.the-trades.com
2010-12-07
★★★★★
Advice for listening to Liz Phair's double CD Funstyle/Girlysound is similar to what you'd hear pre-tattoo: It's gonna be painful, but worth it in the end. That's because Funstyle's what would happen if M.I.A. joined a musical sequence on Saved by the Bell--Phair's bhangra rap isn't as bad as her Beck-era funk or phrases like "penis colada," though tracks like "Satisfied" are pleasant but gritless. The payoff...
- www.filter-mag.com
2010-12-06
★★★★★
I don't know what to think of Liz Phair. The way this particular blonde fireball chooses to package and present her public persona doesn't exactly make it difficult for dudes like me to ponder her "work" and "significance". And I do admire her often self-deprecating sense of humor and the fact the she is unapologetically doing whatever the hell she wants...
- glidemagazine.com
2010-11-29
★★★★★
Why is it that so much by "mature" American female solo artists (excepting Jewel, read on) sounds like Sheryl Crow these days. It seems sentimental rock tunes with multi-tracked vocals, big southern-fried guitar hooks and overdubbed acoustic guitars for "authenticity" are as inevitable as menopause. Add to the massive production a supporting cast of guest spots - in this case, Pete Yorn, Dr...
- www.hour.ca
2010-11-09
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