Liz Phared Well On Her Fourth Album

Liz Phair
Liz Phair
2003
Capitol Records

Liz Phair came a long way to arrive at her 2003 self-titled fourth album. Her career took off when her 1993 debut album, Exile In Guyville, gained critical acclaim and thereafter became an indie classic.

Follow-up album, 1994's Whip-Smart, spawned the top ten modern rock hit, "Supernova," but never became the big hit it seemed aspired to become. After disappearing from the music scene, Phair got married, gave birth to a son, and divorced.

1998 finally saw her return with the release of whitechocolatespaceegg, the first time she was under a major label (Capitol Records), but turned out to be her lowest-selling album. Phair, who tried to get off Capitol, said, "If I only sold 100,000 records [on an indie label], I'd still make more money than if I sold 1 million on a major."

But Capitol didn't let her go, and wanted songs that would receive substantial airplay, eventually bringing in The Matrix to collaborate work on some tracks. (The Matrix is the music production team well-known for co-writing Avril Lavigne's first three hits, hence the ensuing baclklash and comparisons to Avril).

The four Matrix-assisted songs that make the album are the catchiest songs on the album, but they are--to the dismay of some longtime fans--very professional, conventionally-structured pop. Lyrically, these songs are dumbed down to attract a younger audience, but still above pop-princess nonsense.

The rest of the album (all self-penned songs but one) is a lot more toned-down, and quirky numbers--"Firewalker" and "Love/Hate"--seem like they may fit comfortably on whitechocolatespaceegg, which creates some inconsistency throughout the album. "H.W.C." recalls old Phair sexual explicitness and "Bionic Eyes" seems like typical Phair lyrical matter, but both songs are structured and catchy.

Feelings of betrayal and sell-out accusations aside (of which I have none since I became a fan through this album), it can be said that even through the professional production and pop hooks of this mostly solid album, Phair still hasn't completely lost her signature wit and grit.

Track Pick: "Rock Me"
Rating: B