rstevens ([info]rstevens) wrote,
@ 2008-10-08 21:55:00
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Current music:Shane - Liz Phair

Whip Smart
If there is a more underrated album than Liz Phair's Whip Smart, I don't know what it is.

Coming off a perfect debut and being sandwiched in next to a train wreck make it no less perfect.


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[info]satinworship
2008-10-09 03:07 am UTC (link)
whitechocolatespaceegg was a trainwreck? I don't really listen to it but it was that bad, I think.

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[info]rstevens
2008-10-09 03:14 am UTC (link)
I could be remembering whitechocolatespaceegg wrong, but it felt like that's right about where she started becoming more momsy-smiley than angry. Will give another listen!

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[info]satinworship
2008-10-09 03:31 am UTC (link)
I thought maybe you were thinking of the self-titled 'What If Avril Lavigne Was A 40-year-old Single Mom?' album. But yeah, wcse is a lot more...mainstream.

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[info]loic
2008-10-09 04:42 am UTC (link)
and she's a very happily married mom. heartbreak makes great music, comfortable love does not.

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[info]satinworship
2008-10-09 05:11 am UTC (link)
When did she get remarried?

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[info]loic
2008-10-09 04:55 pm UTC (link)
hmm, I don't think she has, but I think during the wcse times she was.

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[info]satinworship
2008-10-09 09:44 pm UTC (link)
Oh, I thought you meant that her self titled album sucked because she was married at the time. Yeah, she got married before wcse and divorced before her next album came out. I think her writing on wcse was the same, just the production was more poppier to try and appeal to a more mainstream audience.

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[info]unrendered
2008-10-09 05:01 am UTC (link)
Do. It has some gems. I mean, "Exile" and "Whip Smart" are frikkin' amazing, but "whitehocolate" is a decent album.

Heh. First, I thought you meant "juvenalia" which I love, and I'm not sure has much merit at all. :)

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[info]modnar
2008-10-09 11:48 am UTC (link)
It's got merit for the 'Turning Japanese' cover alone.

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[info]rstevens
2008-10-09 01:55 pm UTC (link)
Juvenalia is the ULTIMATE.

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[info]quirkybird
2008-10-09 04:23 pm UTC (link)
yes. yes it is.

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No trainwreck here
(Anonymous)
2008-10-09 01:03 pm UTC (link)
whitechocolatespaceegg was far from a trainwreck. It's actually my favorite Liz Phair album. The one after THAT was the trainwreck.

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Re: No trainwreck here
[info]rstevens
2008-10-09 01:56 pm UTC (link)
how about the antilock brakes before the wreck?

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[info]morbid_o
2008-10-09 03:41 pm UTC (link)
It's the start of it, but it's still a good album, in my book. It's like..right in front of the shark, ready for lift-off.

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[info]lordpyrate
2008-10-09 03:09 am UTC (link)
"Supernova" is one of the best songs ever to put on a mixed tape for someone you're courting. Yes.

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[info]l0qii
2008-10-09 03:31 am UTC (link)
While it was never really my thing, I can agree that it is a totally underrated album.

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[info]atl
2008-10-09 08:23 am UTC (link)
Yeah, I always preferred Whip Smart in a way, partially because I came to Phair's music in that era. The explosive poptasticness of WS must have really disappointed the Indie Rock Petes of the world after learning of Exile. So I always thought Whip Smart's negative reputation was more a lasting resentment that she didn't stay more indie, lo-fi, and (quite as) potty-mouthed.

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In defense of the space egg.
[info]modnar
2008-10-09 11:53 am UTC (link)
whitechocolatespaceegg's definitely not that bad at all. Just because it's not raw like Exile doesn't mean it's shite. It's more polished, and she actually has, you know, like a band backing her, but there's some pretty good songs on there.

Now the recent stuff she's been releasing? Yeah, that's pretty much total pap.

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Re: In defense of the space egg.
[info]rstevens
2008-10-09 02:07 pm UTC (link)
I guess when I'm used to adoring 100% of an album, enjoying only about half is a letdown. You're right about the polish- I think I've got a bias there.

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[info]pushupstairs
2008-10-09 01:28 pm UTC (link)
a more underrated album is Hum's "Downward is Heavenward".

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(Anonymous)
2008-10-09 04:18 pm UTC (link)
Whitechocolatespaceegg is actually thoroughly awesome. And, ultimtely, every non-Guyville Liz Phair album is underrated. Even the most recent "pap" ones. She changed her musical style in an attempt to gain more listeners - which makes me a little sad, too - but she never changed her personality, not really, if you pay attention to the lyrics. "Why Can't I," for all its happy-sounding, pop bombast, is a song about cheating. "Little Digger" is "Divorce Song" plus a child. "My Bionic Eyes," "Everything to Me," "Why I Lie," "Wing and the Mountain," "Firewalker" . . . all these songs, especially, deserve a second listen by anyone who thinks she's writing happy songs about (or from the perspective of) comfortable love.

Furthermore, I've never understood music-lovers who hate "pop."

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[info]quirkybird
2008-10-09 04:22 pm UTC (link)
Hey now, I really like whitechocolatespaceegg, which was the next album, and, while way more radio than Guyville, still totally Liz Phair-y.

After that she hooked up with the Neptune crew and things went off the rails.

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