Liz Phair - Exile In Guyville (1994) (2008 Reissue)

Elizabeth Clark "Liz" Phair (born April 17, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist.
She began her career in the early 1990s by self-releasing audio cassettes under the name Girly Sound, before signing with the independent record label Matador Records.
If Exile in Guyville is shockingly assured and fully formed for a debut album, there are a number of reasons why.
Most prominent of these is that many of the songs were initially essayed on Liz Phair's homemade cassette Girlysound, which means that the songs are essentially the cream of the crop from an exceptionally talented songwriter. Second, there's its structure, infamously patterned after the Stones' Exile on Main St., but not the song-by-song response Phair promoted it as. (Just try to match the albums up: is the "blow-job queen" fantasy of "Flower" really the answer to the painful elegy "Let It Loose"?) Then, most notably, there's Phair and producer Brad Wood's deft studio skills, bringing a variety of textures and moods to a basic, lo-fi production. There is as much hard rock as there are eerie solo piano pieces, and there's everything in between from unadulterated power pop, winking art rock, folk songs, and classic indie rock. Then, there are Phair's songs themselves.
At the time, her gleefully profane, clever lyrics received endless attention (there's nothing that rock critics love more than a girl who plays into their geek fantasies, even -- or maybe especially -- if she's mocking them), but years later, what still astounds is the depth of the writing, how her music matches her clear-eyed, vivid words, whether it's on the self-loathing "Fuck and Run," the evocative mood piece "Stratford-on-Guy," or the swaggering breakup anthem "6'1"," or how she nails the dissolution of a long-term relationship on "The Divorce Song." Each of these 18 songs maintains this high level of quality, showcasing a singer/songwriter of immense imagination, musically and lyrically. If she never equaled this record, well, few could.
It is also considered a landmark in alternative rock music, and was ranked at 327 by Rolling Stone in their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

01. "6′1″"  - 3:05
02. "Help Me Mary"  - 2:16
03. "Glory"  - 1:29
04. "Dance of the Seven Veils"  - 2:29
05. "Never Said"  - 3:16
06. "Soap Star Joe"  - 2:44
07. "Explain It to Me"  - 3:11
08. "Canary"  - 3:19
09. "Mesmerizing"  - 3:55
10. "Fuck and Run"  - 3:07
11. "Girls! Girls! Girls!"  - 2:20
12. "Divorce Song"  - 3:20
13. "Shatter"  - 5:28
14. "Flower"   2:03
15. "Johnny Sunshine"  - 3:27
16. "Gunshy"  - 3:15
17. "Stratford-On-Guy"  - 2:59
18. "Strange Loop"   3:57

2008 Reissue
19. "Ant in Alaska" (previously unreleased) - 5:48
20. "Say You" (Lynn Taitt and The Jets cover, previously unreleased) - 3:25
21. "Instrumental" (previously unreleased) - 3:29

All songs written and composed by Liz Phair.

Credits
Liz Phair - guitar, piano, vocals
Casey Rice - guitar, cymbals, background vocals, hand clapping
Brad Wood - organ, synthesizer, bass, guitar, percussion, bongos, drums, background vocals, drones, feedback
Tony Marlotti - bass
John Casey - harp
Producer - Liz Phair, Brad Wood

Notes
Released:  June 22, 1993
Genre:  Indie rock, lo-fi
Length: 68:33
© 1993/2008

Label - Matador Records