I'm sitting here listening to the new Liz Phair
record, and I am so appalled.  I had heard a couple of
tracks before, and knew her longtime fans were in for
trouble (I don't know about you, but, to me, calling a
song 'Hot White Cum' smacks of a bit of desperation to
prove your continuing "edginess").  However, I had
been holding out some hope for the album tracks on the
(self-titled) record.  

I was a huge fan of 'Exile,' thought 'Whipsmart' was a
letdown, and found 'Whitechocolatespaceegg' a return
to form -- a great example of an underground artist
struggling to make sense of growing up.  But even
'Whipsmart' had plenty of redeeming moments -- this
new record is just dismal.  The Matrix (Avril Lavigne,
other dreck) is the production team behind the album,
and has smoothed away every rough edge and bit of
character from Liz's voice (hello, pitch-correct
much?), and made every track sound like any other
radio-ready heavy-production-sheen female artist, from
Sheryl Crow to Michelle Branch to, yes, the
aforementioned Avril.  

I'm sure the intent here was to get ol' Liz on the
radio, to "bring her work to more people."  Well, it
MAY get her on the radio on your local "modern adult
contempory" radio station, but it won't bring any of
her PAST work to a wider audience, because this is not
the same artist who made the first three albums.  

From the song 'Rock Me': "Your record collection don't
exist -- you don't even know who Liz Phair is."  Ugh. 


I can't even think of a time when I have heard more
absolutely blatant pandering in the quest for a
commercial "hit."  How sad - especially from an artist
who, in my opinion, was responsible for one of the
most important records of the 1990s.

14 tracks of crap.  Don't waste your money.

--Shawn

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