Review Summary: Give me your hot white cum.
Liz Phair's 2003 self-titled album was her fourth, following a string of three albums released during the 90's. While she had made a name for herself with her debut
Exile in Guyville – a conceptual, indie-rock album that mimics The Rolling Stones'
Exile on Main St. – the two albums that followed,
Whip-Smart and
Whitechocolatespaceegg, did not have the same success as their predecessor. It's solely in my opinion as a listener that these latter two albums sounded like weaker versions of
Exile in Guyville – in terms of concept, lyrics, songwriting, and general musicianship – which lead to their relative lack of popularity. It was time for Liz Phair to undergo a change of sound, and after a five year gap from the release of
Whitechocolatespaceegg, she released her self-titled album, with which she effectively revitalized her career.
The lead single,
Why Can't I?, is a brilliantly catchy mainstream pop-rock tune that to this day stands as Liz Phair's most popular song. The album opener and second single,
Extraordinary, matches all of the intensity of
Why Can't I?, and in my opinion should have garnered the same amount of success. The second track
Red Light Fever, although slower in tempo, is helplessly catchy, and could have easily served as a third single. These three tracks I've mentioned above, with
Why Can't I? being the third on the album, start
Liz Phair with a much-needed bang (I'm sure she'd enjoy that pun).
Unfortunately, the rest of the album is pretty hit-or-miss, with the tracks that discuss anything sexual being the good ones, and the ones where she sings about literally anything else generally being mediocre. To give a slightly more detailed summary on the songs I don't like,
Take a Look,
Firewalker, and the last three tracks all feature dull, usually acoustic cookie-cutter chord progressions with unimaginative lyrics and vocal melodies. The softest song on the album,
Little Digger, describes a young son who is jealous of the attention that his mother gets from her boyfriends; and while the lyrics are somewhat touching, given some of the more mature themes on the album, the song feels out of place.
The other songs that
do work in the album's favor are the ones that, in typical Liz Phair fashion, describe sexual situations and ideas with absolutely no censorship, remorse, or shame. To give a few examples,
Rock Me describes Liz, who was 36 when this album was released, coercing young men (hopefully legal) into sex and/or dating.
Favorite gives detailed descriptions of Liz's favorite underwear, with these descriptions also doubling for whichever lucky guy she is writing about.
H.W.C. (oh gosh, I'm at that part of the review I was afraid of; let's get it over with) stands for "hot white cum", and the song is about Liz's insatiable desire to receive said substance from some guy that I am jealous of. There is also a cute line in the song that goes "baby, you're the best magazine advice", undoubtedly referencing all of the girly magazines that recommend sex for its natural physical health benefits (this wasn't so bad).
As I mentioned previously, I feel that the stylistic change that Liz underwent on this album was much needed, but some critics have marked this as the official point where Liz "sold out". I agree that Liz likely wanted to create a more successful, mainstream album at the time to get more record sales and make more money, but I sense enough passion in the majority of these songs that I feel she genuinely wanted to go in this direction with her music regardless. While I'd recommend
Exile in Guyville first and foremost to anyone who has never listened to Liz Phair, I do maintain that
Liz Phair is her most fun, accessible, and possibly best album overall.
