762. Exile in Guyville - Liz Phair

It is not often that Chloe and I are presented with an award-winning artist from the 90s of whom neither of us have heard. It is even more surprising when all of our well-versed musically-minded friends draw a similar blank. This was the fate suffered by Liz Phair, whose 1994 debut failed to make any impact on our collective consciousnesses.

Upon first listen, it became apparent that this album would at the very least be filed under 'interesting'. There is a real variety to the record, ranging from the stripped-back (sorry!) acoustic Dance of the Seven Veils, to the classic grunge rock of Never Said. What really impressed was the depth of the songwriting, with some insightful, well-observed, and often outright funny lyrics. Anyone who has the audacity to sing about only being "a cunt in Spring" is at least brave. There are some misses on the album, such as the plodding Gunshy and the and the effects-laden Shatter, but for Fuck and Run to be written by a 19 year old is pretty damn impressive.

Phair's versatile voice and guitar dominate the album, and rightly so, but Casey Rice's guitar on Never Said adds an element of singalong power pop to proceedings. The phased effect in Stratford-on-Guy works remarkably well, and indicates the difference a bit of focused time in a studio can make to the foundations of a decent song. There are elements of REM here in terms of the variety and simplicity of the music, except Michael Stipe tends to avoid singing about sex; I can't imagine him penning something as explicit as Flower, for example. Indeed even Prince may blush at some of the lyrics contained within that particular number.

Whilst Phair was never fully able to live up to the promise of this debut, to level the charge that this was due to losing her 'pornographic nature', as some critics did, seems to completely miss the point. Whilst Phair willingly confronts sexuality, it seems to me to be in an experimental and investigative sense, rather than simply voyeuristic. Also, given the title of the album, and Phair's own admission that she felt she'd lived her life on the sidelines where guys would dictate conversations and what music was playing, for her to take ownership of her sexual interactions in such an explicit way was a provocative yet entirely reasonable choice.

An undiscovered gem of an album, then, with variety, humour and damn fine songwriting. There are definitely a number of songs here that will be played in the Templeton-Carr household for years to come, and surely that's the point of this project.

Chloe's album rating: 8
Chloe's favourite track: 12. Divorce Song
Olly's album rating: 8
Olly's favourite track: 9. Mesmerizing

Next week is 29. Back at the Chicken Shack by Jimmy Smith; Daphne chose this one, thus showing an early preference for the Hammond Organ. Hmm….