#47 - Phil

Liz Phair

Liz Phair

2003

Of all the albums on my list, this is the only one that was widely panned. Critics claimed that Phair had sold out her sound to appeal to a wider audience, that she had lost the edge that made her so unique and interesting on her masterful 1993 debut Exile in Guyville. Pitchfork actually gave the album a 0 out of 100 rating, a nearly unprecedented mark. But because of my love and admiration for Phair’s previous work I decided to give this record a chance… and am so grateful that I did!

People who grew up with Phair’s early albums need to keep something in mind: she’s not in the same place of her life as she was then. She’s not moving through one dysfunctional relationship after another searching for herself; she’s a mother now and knows what she wants. For her to continue writing songs addressing those topics would be desperate and artificial - in my eyes that would be selling out. Luckily, she hasn’t lost her touch one bit as a songwriter. Her versatility allows her to write catchy yet sincere love songs like “Red Light Fever” and “Why Can’t I?”, moving ballads addressed to her son like “Little Digger,” and hilariously sexually-explicit tunes like “H.W.C.” (I won’t reveal the acronym; all I’ll say is it stands for a warm, pale liquid). Phair’s sound on this record often gets compared to Avril Lavigne; if Lavigne could write lyrics half this interesting it would be the highlight of her career. This is her best work hands down since Guyville. -P.W.

I hadn’t listened to this record of hers and was glad to have a reason to as I really enjoyed Exile in Guyville. I had pretty high hopes for this one, but was disappointed. For the record I think Liz Phair is an exceptional singer-songwriter but on this record I feel like she stripped a lot out of her music that made her older material really interesting. She had very poppy songs, pretty unique vocal delivery, and a more lo-fi indie rock production to everything. On this self-titled, she polishes everything up and puts out a straight pop record. While the songs are nice and catchy, when I hear “Why Can’t I?” I can’t seem to keep Avril Lavigne out of my head (sorry, that’s probably a lot harsher than she deserves). - Ryan

Certainly a selection that you won't find on many other top 50s. Phil has an unabashed love for Liz Phair and I shouldn't say this out loud, but I think it clouded his judgment on this one. This isn't the Liz Phair of '90s lore, instead it's early '00s mall-pop ‡ la Avril Lavigne. Sorry Phil. - Steve