lambchops's Full Review: Exile In Guyville by Liz Phair
Liz Phair burst onto the music scene with her 1993 debut Exile in Guyville. Nearly ten years later, I finally took it upon myself to pick up said album for a trial run. Unfortunately, my first experience with Phair would be my last. I found myself consistently annoyed and under whelmed by Exile in Guyville.
It is really a mystery as to what critics and fans see in Phair. I suppose there is something positive to be said for her ability to energetically yowl about most everything one moment and the next singing eerily barely in front of an ironically delicate solo piano. But Phair is sorely lacking in an area that is required of singer-songwriters. The girl sounds like hell. Her voice is nasally and she rarely holds anything resembling a tune. To add insult to injury, the songs really aren’t that good. As evidenced by the unmotivated and repetitive intro track 6'1", Phair seems to have some bit of talent for assembling a decent rock track but she doesn’t possess a skill for execution.
Exile in Guyville is obviously a taste which I haven’t acquired. This is a low-key affair with modest production. There’s nothing wrong with quaint production if the music is done well, but these are plain songs with bad vocals. Phair would have benefited greatly from a good producer. Instead, listeners are stuck with tinny, angular, obnoxious vocals and equally droll musicianship. But there has to be something about this album that has led to various magazines putting the album toward the top of the lists of 1990’s albums.
Since it is clear that Phair isn’t particularly talented, maybe her critical appeal can be better explained by the times from whence she came. Of course, Exile in Guyville was unleashed in 1993 in the midst of the angry-guy grunge movement. Women wanted a similar outlet, somebody to scream laments in their honor. The petite Phair fit the bill and sold the rest of the critical audience on a similar notion. That somehow she was a genius and deserved nothing less than the world’s appreciation. But here I am ten or so years later, prepared to go against the grain as set by Rolling Stone, Spin, NME, Melody Maker, Alternative Press, and Village Voice among many others. Phair’s debut is something better than crap but something significantly less than worthwhile.
Exile in Guyville is eighteen songs long. Though, with that said it’s not as drawn out as one might think. Most of the tracks are thankfully brief, the only real complaint to that end is that my index finger gets a little numb from having to hit skip time and time again. It is hard to be this negative about such a respected album…but Phair doesn’t do a damn thing for me lyrically, musically, or vocally. On occasion I can actually feel her sarcasm or ire, but usually I feel alienated as a result of her lacking talent and purposeful obscenity. Phair is one of the few acts that have managed to completely turn me off from their music totally (others include Catatonia and Portishead). There really is little if anything about Exile in Guyville that I can point to and say: “Wow, Liz Phair really did a great job on that!”
The aforementioned 6'1" is about as good as Exile in Guyville gets. Yes, the tempo and melody are repetitive but Phair is just enough restrained that it is possible to chew on the song without being pushed to nausea. Quite unfortunately, the album gets worse from there. Help Me Mary stomps gleefully on my eardrums at the command of this disturbingly bad singer-songwriter. Much the same thing applies to Glory and Dance of the Seven Veils. Phair’s vocals and songs in general eat at me, her intonation are unbelievably crass and painful. It is a punishing chore to sit through this album at length.
Briefly improving, Phair returns with the significantly more melodic Never Said. The verses are significantly more controlled while the choruses are even mildly entertaining. But the song still is only average as a result of predictable melodies and style. Phair seems unable to come up with a musical idea that lasts the length of a song without becoming monotonous. Believe it or not, much of this track does remind me of Sheryl Crow…maybe even the not-quite inspired lyrics:
So don't look at me sideways
Don't even look me straight on
And don't look at my hands in my pockets, baby
I ain't done anything wrong
But the upswing in quality lasts for just a song before spinning back out of control. Soap Star Joe is a shoddy excuse for music. Phair’s vocals are the unfortunate centerpiece with much of the song devoid of emotion and devoid of instruments aside from a badly strummed electric guitar. Explain It to Me, Canary, and Mesmerizing are also as equally forgetting. Explain It to Me is supposed to be a thoughtful track, but comes off as a shallow composition. The piano in Canary is lovely, but once Phair breaks in her nasally voice ruins all possible decency and defeats the purpose of the otherwise promising song. Mesmerizing on the other hand returns to the bluesy feel of Never Said. But where it falls short is once again with Phair’s pained voice.
F*ck and Run is about exactly what you’d expect. Phair doesn’t pretend to be profound in this song and others. The one thing that momentarily saves the track is that she doesn’t wail or force her voice to do what it is obviously not meant to accomplish. But again the song is dull and ordinary. Returning to the category of pure crap, Phair yowls her way through the excruciating Girls, Girls, Girls. To make matters even worse the backing guitar overly loud and unvarying. The one good thing is that it nearly drowns out the pitiful vocals.
Divorce Song sounds like a shimmering pop-rock song on many levels. The maracas are nice, the melody is decently appealing, and the guitars are properly upbeat. But Phair once again makes the mistake of actually singing. Shatter is even worse with an overly melancholic instrumental line that lasts much too long. I do have a problem with instrumentals all too often if they are stuck in the middle of an album to fill space. Eventually Phair joins in vocally, but it is much too late. But then the album makes a seriously problematic turn for the worse…Flower is meant to be an honest statement about sex. Okay. Whatever. I don’t believe a damn thing Phair sings about. The one thing that saves this song from being horrible is that the vocals are creatively layered. But the two-minute song seems to go on for ages, thus indicating that it probably isn’t worth hearing.
As the album wraps up, it doesn’t get any better. Johnny Sunshine is annoyingly repetitive and when tainted by Phair’s whinnying it is easily among this album’s worst. Hell, it ties with about seven or eight other songs as the worst. Gunshy has a decent enough guitar line, but once again I’m reminded that Phair is supposed to be a singer-songwriter. And as such, her voice should have some amount of quality to it. Unfortunately it once again rips through my ears, mind, and heart…wounds me to the core of my being. She is truly is a horrid artist.
Stratford-On-Guy and Strange Loop? finally wrap Exile on Guyville up. There are worse things than the former on this album. Though with that said it doesn’t sit well with me. Nothing about Phair sits comfortably with me. Strange Loop? finishes this album up just as you’d expect…without tact or intelligent musicianship.
Exile in Guyville should have been my style. It should have been appealing and by all critical accounts it was a genius effort. Considering these assessments of the album, I wonder what kind of crap people have been listening to? Or if maybe I’ve gotten hold of some strange alternative-universe release. But however you slice it, I extremely disappointed with Liz Phair and this 1993 effort. If you’ve never heard her music, then I suggest you not try now. It doesn’t even go well with a stiff vodka drink. Seriously.
Rating: 1/5 stars
Track Listing:
01. 6'1"
02. Help Me Mary
03. Glory
04. Dance of the Seven Veils
05. Never Said
06. Soap Star Joe
07. Explain It to Me
08. Canary
09. Mesmerizing
10. F*ck and Run
11. Girls, Girls, Girls
12. Divorce Song
13. Shatter
14. Flower
15. Johnny Sunshine
16. Gunshy
17. Stratford-On Guy
18. Strange Loop?
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