ANGELS
Auf der Maur
Belinda Carlisle
Sarah Cracknell
Juliana Hatfield
Helen Love
Cerys Matthews
Idha Ovelius
Liz Phair
Suzanne Vega

ARCHANGELS
The Breeders
Curve
The Donnas
The Field Mice
Lush

LISTS
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Screen Favourites
Gigs and Festivals
Guilty Pleasures
Top 25 Albums
Top 25 Songs
Yearly Music Lists

AMIGA
My Amiga History
My Compositions
System Snapshots

How can I best describe how I really fell in love with Liz Phair?  I know what you're thinking (if you're a die-hard fan), Liz has been releasing albums for years, so why does Liz only come into my life in 2003?  That's a good question.  The reason is that although I've known about Liz for many years (I'd first heard of her and her music in 1994), it wasn't until 2003 when Liz released her (fourth) self-titled album that I was made aware of just how much I should have been keeping an ear out for her music.

Liz Phair's lyrical song writing style means that she can come across as being vulgar occasionally.  Certainly, some of her lyrics to some songs are undeniably coarse at times, but she has always managed to hold her own when it comes to actually performing the songs by being so direct.  Liz has an unquestionable beauty, and there's no doubt that she does use this to great effect when it comes to promoting her albums.  Liz's most recent album is, in terms of album cover shots, her most outrageous yet.  However, the album's also up there with her finest.

I was aware of Liz Phair when she came to prominence in the UK sometime during 1994.  I'd heard and seen the video to her breakthrough song Supernova, but I think that due to other distractions and priorities I truly forgot about her.  Whilst I remember being vaguely aware of her Whitechocolatespaceegg album, it wasn't until 2003 when Liz's self titled album got released that I decided to pick up the mantle properly, and fully re-investigate what I'd been missing over all these years.

As with anybody who is in my Angels list, there has to be a reason why they have qualified there in the first place.  In the case with Liz, the reason is quite simply that she is a damned good musician (especially when it comes to playing the guitar).  Each of her songs sound as different to one another as is possible, as well as Liz's albums each having their own unique style.

Visit Liz Phair's (unofficial) official website at  http://www.lizphair.com.
I also recommend visiting  http://www.fan-sites.org/liz-phair  which is a great fan-site alternative.

Below (in chronologically released order) are all the Liz Phair albums that I own (although I sadly don't own any of the semi-official bootlegs).

	Exile In Guyville Liz Phair's debut album came about after she self distributed home made demos called the Girlysound Tapes in the early 1990's.  Liz then signed to a small independent label and released Exile In Guyville (a play on words from the Rolling Stones'' album Exile On Mainstreet).  Exile In Guyville sounds superficially under-produced compared to Liz's later releases, but this album has a wonderful naive sound quality to it.
	Whip-smart This album, released a year after Exile In Guyville is in music terms, a much tighter affair.  With major record backing, the changes in production are markedly better.  Whip-smart's songs are noticeably more confident in sound compared to its predecessor, but as with Liz's previous album, lyrically, it still packs a breathtaking punch.
	whitechocolatespaceegg Liz's third album is also my favourite.  In a slight departure from her two previous albums, this has a more sombre and reflective sound to it.  This appears to be quite a personal album by Liz, and the listener does get very much drawn into its sound.  Whilst not appearing to the casual outsider to have any obvious 'radio friendly' hits, whitechocolatespaceegg, like all the best records, sounds at its best when listened to from beginning to end.
	Liz Phair Liz Phair's self titled fourth album was, from what I can gather, quite poorly received.  But for anybody who listens to this album properly will realise that this is as good as all Liz's other releases.  Out in 2003, ten years after her first album, this features some of the most fearless songwriting about carnal knowledge and its ignorance you will ever hear.  Using distorted guitars for many of the songs, this album sounds great with the volume turned up high.

Below are some great looking Liz pictures that are around to see.
Click on any of them to download a larger picture.
The far right image is from  http://www.fan-sites.org/liz-phair.