Customer Reviews

Exile in Guyville (Bonus Dvd)

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I never thought Dave Matthews would do something I'd care about, but he did! He signed Liz Phair recently to the ATO Records label that he's co-owner of, and re-released her "classic" debut Exile In Guyville.

This is a slightly odd choice, though. Firstly, why re-master an album that relies so heavily on its imperfect and raw sound? The 3 bonus tracks here are pretty useless. "Say You" is a reggae cover and is, to me, unlistenable, but nice to know they were messin around in the studio. "Ant In Alaska" is a song that fans of the Girlysound tapes will be familiar with. This is NOT the same version. It is cleaner, & it's nice to hear an unreleased studio version. But it is not one of Phair's best songs, and this take offers no real new insight. I thought the other track called "Instrumental" would be a little more interesting, yet it pales next to much of the guitar work that's IN Phair's first 2 albums. So again, this track is unnecessary filler.

FYI: The extra songs are not B-sides, as noted on the sleeve. In my opinion, they should be regarded as Outtakes.

Thankfully EIG is dense with 18 great songs, so there's no need to look for unearthed material to flesh out the picture. The album says more than enough on its own.

Another bonus with this re-issue is the companion DVD. It's well over an hour long, and features interviews with members of Urge Overkill, John Cusack, Dave Matthews(again), Steve Albini, Brad Wood and many other interesting people who helped Phair's career take off. The DVD is recorded in a low-budget way, making some dialogue hard to hear, but it's worth seeing if you're interested in what Phair was like at the time she made this album.

And as for Exile In Guyville re-mastered and all? Well, I'm unsure if the mastering brings any added qualities to the songs, but it's a pleasant, albeit unnecessary, excuse to revisit a brilliant album.

"Exile in Guyville," released in 1993 on Matador records, is an excellent, groundbreaking album. It is early `90's rock `n roll at it's best, with a fresh, new sound, both quirky and powerful, exploring the timeless problems of love and life with freedom and daring. It is solid rock `n roll, anchored securely in the guitars, rhythm, bass and drums tradition going back to Elvis. But against the crunching guitar chords and tougher than tough rhythm sections, the melodies are often odd and chromatic. Phair sings with confessional honesty about self-doubt, sexuality, power, and the contradictions, disappointments and compromises inherent in life. Nothing is off limits, nothing is too intimate or personal. The only requirement seems to be that the songs be honest and unflinching, and that they succeed as music. "Guyville" hits the bullseye on both counts.

In "Canary," Phair sings about an alienated housewife who "follows all the rules" - "I come when called, I come that's all." But in "Exile" the housewife doesn't just complain, she sets the house on fire. In "Help Me Mary" Liz dreams of revenge against her abusively snide male roommates. In "F--k and Run" she's not afraid to sing "I want a boyfriend...I want a guy who makes love `cause he's in it" as another one-night stand walks out the door. Phair takes full advantage of the freedom women had by the `90's to make music as interesting as they themselves were. Gender was no longer a limitation on the range of their artistic expression. Just like the boys.

"Exile in Guyville" was a great album when it came out in 1993. It still is a great album in 2008. Liz Phair would go on to make other good records, but never again would she achieve the combination of audacity, energy, and no holds barred song writing that she demonstrated in her first album. If you don't have it, you should get it . You won't regret it.

Since its release, this CD remains as a one of the musical milestones from the 1990s. It topped the lists of many critics, propelled Matador Records further into the big time, and helped open the door for Alanis, Fiona, Meredith Brooks and a hundred other female artists to follow. With a title adapted from an Urge Overkill song ("Goodbye to Guyville" from their 'Stull" EP), this impressive debut was supposedly structured as her song-by-song response to the Rolling Stones' "Exile On Main Street" album. Brad Wood's subtle production brings her sound out of the bedroom without sacrificing the intimacy and honesty of her "Girlysound" days. Several of those songs get updated, including the explicit "F&@k and Run" and "Flower." Pottymouth lyrics aside, the songwriting is outstanding and her quirky guitar riffs perfectly compliment her dry singing style. The subject matter is much more blunt than her later work (where her perspective was changed by marriage and motherhood), and the instrumentation has a stripped-down feel. For those just discovering this album, the freshness of the material will no doubt suffer a bit in the wake of Lilith Fair and the media's "Women In Music" saturation, but it's still superior to a lot of what came after it. Highly recommended.

There are few truly rivetting albums out there, and few artists capable of demanding my attention on first listen. Liz Phair, on her debut album, "Exile in Guyville," is one of that rare breed.

I originally sought out this album after reading Rolling Stone's rave review of the album, but was dubious that she could really live up to the hype. I listened, spellbound, the first time through. Then played the CD again. I've worn out mix tapes of her albums, bought multiple versions of her latest CD and built my own little Web shrine to Liz ....

Liz's musicianship on this effort is sometimes uneven, her vocal performance hardly revolutionary but her writing ... such songs.

Her songs touch the heart, engage the mind and stimulate the ... well, she's gotten a reputation as a pottymouth girl, although she's much, much more. "Divorce Song" rips out your heart and stomps on it with the brutal honesty of how breakups truly feel, "Soap Star Joe" casts a dubious eye at the sensitive dudes who cruise the single scene (not that I was EVER one ... ahem) and, quite frankly, Liz still remembers how to rock.

I have not before or since encountered an artist who was able to capture the pain, anxiety and hopefulness of post-collegiate singlehood as Liz did, and "Exile in Guyville" remains one of my perennial favorites.

A must-listen for fans of singer-songwriters, rock and roll or women in music. Liz Phair's "Exile in Guyville" is simply one of the all time great rock albums.

his album is a hit-or-miss case. I have friends who can't stand it, and I have friends who love it and claim it in their Top 10 of all time. It's worth listening to just to see where you stand. There isn't much debate about whether or not Liz can sing...she can't. She had to take singing lessons for her latest album. So ignore her voice...its whining, its monotone, it cracks, and it sounds like she was singing in her garage. That's also one of the strong points to those people who loved this album so much. When Liz's voice cracks, its usually because of the emotion in it. That's generous, given she doesn't really show much emotion...but she does deliver angst, longing, despair, guilt, and a little raw hatred. Her lyrics are witty, yet sometimes simple, but what her voice fails to deilver, her words do. Take the warnings of parental advisory seriously...she doesn't edit her feelings at all. It took me a long time to love this album. The songs don't work the first, oh, let's say 10 or so times you hear them. But if you think you hear something in her style, then listen some more. Memorize the songs...because they will grow on you, and infect you, and take you over. This is an ideal album for someone who just got out of a relationship. It runs the full range of emotions about breaking up...longing, hope, anger, guilt, despair, anguish. But ultimately the real charm of this album lies in its simplicity...most of the songs feature Liz as the sole musician. The songs seem as if they were recorded by Liz, her guitar, and a tape recorder (and actually, most of the songs came right from the demo tape that got this album recorded). The production quality may disapoint those looking for a studio-hyped album with richly woven melodies. I personally thought that the power and the charm of the album came from the fact that it was nothing more than Liz, stripped down to nothing but herself and her guitar. You'll either love it or hate it. But those who love it never take it out of their CD players.

The first song blew away me from the beginning. Punk dissonance followed by a peppy 60's beat? She takes more chances than you realize, and they work. No way to pick out highlights, (every track is a winner) but I especially liked 6'1", Help Me, Mary (pulls on trad. Rock riffs), the jangly rocker "Never Said," Mesmerizing," f**k and run ("whatever happened to a boyfriend, the kind of guy who tries to win you over. . .I wan' all that stupid old sh*t, like letters and sodas...letters and sodas"), the dreamy, incredibly romantic "Shatter," and "Strange Loop?" The whole album is infused with the spirit of rock.

Finally, a pared-down, somewhat minimalist album where every note counts. Co-Produced by band members Phair and Brad Wood (with Asst. Engineering credited to guitarist Casey Rice), each short song is a small gem, with the intimacy and immediacy of a garage recording (without the ego and the lousy sound).

Liz Phair's voice is not particularly noteworthy, but that's not the point. The word paintings are as vivid as Patti Smith, and as cutting as Tracey Chapman. Her sometimes monotonic, weary voice has undertones of strength and defiance, and the lyrics are as poetry perfect and emotion-tinged as Lene Lovich or Joni Mitchell. (And there's an interesting Midwest accent to boot).

"The fire you like so much in me. . . is the mark of someone adamantly free"

This (too cool fer school) persona could go stale after a while, but she doesn't seem pretentious or announce how hip she is (with the possible exception of some of "Divorce Song"). Rather, the tone is matter-of-fact; she knows when to let the music do the talking. The only artifice is her perfection of the virgin/whore male fantasy in such explicit songs as "Glory," "Dance of the Seven Veils," and "Flower." This got a lot of almost-hysterical attention from critics (she's the FEMALE Mick Jagger!!), and if it helped sell a lot of records, fine.

But that would miss the point. She knows how to construct an intense, personal statement with no waste, and she has a knack for the engaging hook. Every song shines on this CD: It's amazing how the power she achieves with some piano and harmonica, jangling/droning guitars, some background vocals, and peppered drumming. It's a tribute to the SONG qualities of rock, and especially, to the emotional complexity and accuracy of Ms. Phair's writing.

With the release of two excellent follow-ups, Liz Phair has proven she's no one-CD wonder. That was one question when she burst on the scene with this "Rolling Stone Album of the Year." And, though her output has been less than prodigious, this CD alone stands as one of the best of the nineties.

Liz Phair's debut album is, quite simply, one of the best debuts ever. It is no wonder that "Guyville" is consistently ranked highly in almost every "best of" and "must have" alternative album list to ever exist. From the stutter-drum introduction of "6'1" to the discordant instrumentation at the end of "Strange Loop?," "Guyville" will hold you captive and pound itself into your brain.

Most people mistakingly assume that the majority of "Guyville" came from Phair's earlier Girlysound demos, recorded in her basement, but this is false. Only 6 of the 18 songs on "Guyville" are from these early recordings, and all of them have been at least slightly rewritten from the previous versions. (Also, the Girlysound demos did not immediately prompt Matador Records to sign Phair--at the signing, they had only listened to a scant few of the demo songs.)

"Guyville," however, retains the lo-fi feel of the early demos, with relatively simple instrumentation, imperfect vocals, and a much less glossy production than her later albums ("Whip-Smart" and "whitechocolatespaceegg"). The songs are almost like diary entries, with Phair baring her soul to the world in blatantly open, sometimes shocking, ways.

Many people characterize Phair as "angry female rock," but I don't see it. Phair is many things on this album--self-deprecating, sad, arrogant, and sexual--but I don't see a lot of overt anger. Rather, her songs deal simply with the wide range of emotions everybody feels with regards to life. Sometimes her issues are complex, such as in "F*** and Run," where she desires a stable relationship but is at the same time ashamed and seemingly incapable of having one. Sometimes they are simpler, like in "Help Me Mary," a reaction against the male-dominated independent music scene. Sometimes she even finds what she's looking for, like in "Strange Loop?"

Also, much has been said about her sexuality with regards to these songs. Phair takes traditional male viewpoints and standards with regards to women and sex and turns them on their head. She pokes fun at men and their conventions, but then, she pokes fun at herself, too. "Flower" especially, with its graphic sexual imagery, has to be taken with a grain of salt. She asks the question: Why is it that we react so harshly when these words are spoken by a woman, when we accept them from a man?

Musically, the strongest songs are probably "F*** and Run," the poppy "Never Said," and "6'1." The most memorable songs are probably "Flower," "Girls! Girls! Girls!" (again turning the male-female dynamic in relationship upside down), "Glory," and the infinitely sad "Divorce Song." My personal favorite is "Mesmerizing," in which Phair asks her lover to think of her in better terms than what he does ("You said things I wouldn't say / straight to my face, boy").

Phair has made many claims regarding "Guyville's" relationship to the Rolling Stones' 1972 double album "Exile on Main Street," calling "Guyville" a "female response" to the Stones' album. I highly recommend that you listen to the two albums together sometime. They really do work amazingly well together (plus, "Main Street" is just a great album, anyway).

"Guyville" is a feminist work, and any woman who wants a fresh perspective on male-female dynamics should certainly check it out. However, it transcends that and becomes a commentary on life in general, for everyone, and the complicated emotions we have to face every day. Therefore, I recommend "Guyville" to anyone who likes their music to be thoughtful and fresh.

Whether you're a hard-core indie music fan or someone who is just discovering the genre, "Guyville" is a definite must-have. More listener-friendly than many independent albums, "Guyville" has something for just about everyone.

Liz Phair's classic debut tells it like it is in the twisted 90's world of love. All of the songs on this album are the painful truth about guys. Liz Phair, on occasion, sounds like my diary being read back to me. She's had the experience and knows what she's writing about. The lyrics come out powerful and perfect. One of the best songs on the album is "Flower", as it is to-the-point yet poetic. Another great song is "F--- and Run". Liz ponders where all the classic bubble-gum relationships have gone, making you ask yourself why you didnt write the same exact words into song. It's that honest. The first two songs on the album had a sound similar to the Stones, while the rest had a sound all their own. Every song is unique both lyrically and musically. I recommend this album to any woman currently BREATHING, as Liz may sound like a therapist to you on many occasions.

I first saw Liz Phair perform in 1993 at Treno's in Urbana, Illinois. She was an opening act (along with the Coctails) for the now-defunct Urbana-based band Corndolly. At that time, Liz was singing and playing guitar in the middle of a room full of people; I couldn't hear her at all. Therefore, when I saw "Exile in Guyville" on the shelf at the record store, I figured I'd buy it just to see what I'd missed. From the first listen, I was hooked. It rarely left my CD player, and the tape I made for my car nearly wore out. That next academic year, I was working on my master's thesis. I was three months late submitting it for approval, and I blame the delay entirely on this album. Late at night, when I should have been working, I would play "Exile in Guyville" and absolutely disappear into the lyrics. Each of the songs stands well on its own, but together, they make up an album worth more than the sum of its parts. This CD truly is a work of genius.

Those who criticize EIG for 1) Liz' admittedly sometimes flat or even off-key singing; 2) DIY lo-fi "non-professional" sound; and 3) lack of bitchin' guitar solos or hot licks etc. are totally missing the point. Yes, the early 90's indie media over-hyped this one a bit (fueling an inevitable backlash....), but this disc has lasted; while some of the "potty-mouth" shock-value has worn off (it wasn't really the point of the record anyway....just something easy for no-nothings and those who enjoy being offended to latch onto...), the songs themselves remain potent and compelling.

The entire album is suffused with an atmosphere that alternates between anger and melancholy (and after all, doesn't depression manifest itself just as often as lash-out anger in addition to weepy sadness??). The over-arching mood of the disc perfectly captures the feelings of a young woman in her 20's, caught in the in-between gray-area between lingering adolescence and true, mature adulthood; this creates a portrait of a protagonist that feels perpetually lost and bewildered by her circumstances, the path her life seems to be taking, and even by her self and her own motivations and desires.

I have long tried to figure out how a disc such as this (with its semi-lo-fi production, sometimes unwieldy singing, and fairly basic instrumental skills etc.) works so well and has such an impact. Of course, the songs are simply terrific and often pack a huge emotional wallop. The production and performances, while not "professional sounding" in some instances, are imaginative, quirky, resourceful, and totally fit the songs they serve. (As Bob Mould once said, if you just got jilted by your girlfriend and you can manage to sing on-key about the break up, you must not really be that upset by it....). While some find the lyrics overly confessional and the profanities distracting, well, all of this creates a persuasive aura of candor, emotional openness, and realism: most young adults I've known do tend to self-obsess and swear. Girls, too.

In short, the best way I can put it is like this: Liz and Brad Wood worked some sort of magical alchemy that mysteriously turned every factor that should have been a disadvantage or stumbling block into a victory as they recorded these songs and made this disc. Forget the critical indie-hype that surrounded its release, and don't get distracted by the other baggage (including the over-emphasized linkage to "Exile on Main Street."); assess and re-assess EIG on its own merits and you'll recognize a start-to-finish classic, even now 15 years later. Yes, its confusing, inconsistent, messy, sprawling, and self-contradictory; sounds to me like a good description of what its like to live life as a human being.....

We love ya', Liz. Best wishes!