Exile In Guyville

Has sexual politics ever been better? More tuneful? More truthful? Smarter? When I'm listening to this, I'm inclined to say no. Especially now I've just learnt Phair wrote the whole thing as a track-by-track response to Exile On Main Street. It's also the birthplace of today's voguish Bedroom Rock sound (Japanese Breakfast, Soccer Mommy, Beabadoobee, to name a few from the last year). But somewhere along the line things got sadder, less melodic, less funny. What you get from Phair that you don't get from the new crop are the seemingly infitine personality facets. Here, Liz is a real cunt in Spring and your blowjob queen. She's tested by the male-dominated music industry to see how far she'll bend. She wants to be fuck you till your dick turns blue, jumps when you circle the cherry, and wants to be mesmerizing too. She also gets away with what the girls call murder, is done with the fuck and run game she's been playing since she was 12, and wants a boyfriend. But then again, the boys are just heroes "in a long line of heroes, looking for something attractive to save". And if you don't believe one person can be that complex, there are 18 songs on this thing. And if you don't believe one person can be that complex and prolfic AND consistent, marvel at how she's still able to pull a hook like Stratford-On-Guy out the bag at track 17. Just marvel.

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 was next to impossible to find new music in 1993, especially albums from a relatively new and obscure female artist who wanted to be your blow job queen and fuck you until your dick turns blue. The internet wasn't yet a thing, MTV and FM radio wouldn't touch such material, and we had to rely on reviews from Rolling Stone and Spin Magazine to even learn something like this existed. Even then, I don't recall any local record store carrying this album on cassette or compact disc, and I doubt Columbia House offered this album either. So it wasn't until the Wild West Era of Napster that I finally heard Exile In Guyville, and it's become one of my go-to albums ever since then. Sometimes I think this is the best debut album ever. It's certainly one of the top 5. Every song is written by Phair as a track by track response to the Stones' classic "Exile On Main Street". If the algorithm had any sense of humor, they'd recommend both albums consecutively to everyone. If listening on Spotify, make sure you listen to the remastered version with all 18 tracks available, as the link here goes to the old version where Spotify doesn't include some of the songs for whatever reason. Liz Phair would achieve more popular success after this landmark album, but never get back to this level of openness and rawness. A trailblazer like Liz Phair knew there's no way to top this masterpiece. If I could only keep 10 albums from this list, this would absolutely be one of them. Pour one out for the amazing Liz Phair. She'll fuck you and your minions, too.

Bold and brash. I loved this. Had never heard of if, but I can hear her in all the young solo artists that I listen to all the time now

Liiiiiz

This album is weirdly both great and bland at the same time.

What a journey I went on with this album. I listened to it in two parts. The first portion on Friday, where my experience of it was as interesting enough background music, that didn’t wrassle for my attention too strongly with whatever else I was doing. Today, though, I picked up where I left off - with Canary - and something had shifted. Maybe it was that England lost the biggest game they’d played in my lifetime in the most painful way possible, but I heard what I think Ms Phair was selling. Her songs suddenly struck me from two angles - 1.) the stark, surprising lyrics: chock full of a certain kind of sexual ennui, oscillating occasionally into revelry and back again. 2.) The songs themselves, roughly hewn, simple-sounding but they have the same punch as anything by that other purveyor of rough-hewn, simple-sounding guitar-led songs from the 90s, Kurt Cobain; and honestly, I realised she is the first artist I think to ever draw comparison with Kurt in my mind as a peer and equal rather than an imitator. And I realise that possibly sounds like damning with faint praise, but it’s not intended as such. I’m so pleased I didn’t just settle on basing my review on my experience of the first half of the album. Well worth it.

I don't think she can sing, but she does so anyway. The lyrics are not good either. I don't ever want to hear it again.

I’ve been hearing the hype about “Exile in Guyville” for years. Starkly confessional! Painfully raw! Sexually charged! After sitting with this on my “to-review” list for several months, I’ve decided the hype is justified, and “Exile” has turned out to excel in even more areas than I’d anticipated. First and foremost, the whole album is loaded with razor-sharp songwriting, dressed in the conceit that it responds to the eighteen songs of “Exile on Main St” track by track. In actual fact, “Dark Side of the Moon” and “The Wizard of Oz” have a stronger synchronicity: this theme just seems like the loosest of springboards for Phair to bounce off and do whatever the hell she wants. And it hardly matters. I’d heard a lot about Phair’s lyrical powers, and they’re undeniably excellent. Yes, they’re frank and honest and raw, but there’s a lot of humour in there too with a winning conversational tone. Take the lines in “Soap Star Joe”, a withering put down to a self-aggrandising rockstar: “check out the thinning hair, check out the aftershave; check out America, you’re looking at it babe.” Then, album centrepiece “Fuck and Run” is a bleak admission of how long she’s had to play men’s games: certainly since seventeen, and even when she was twelve. Elsewhere, there’s a delicious c-bomb in “Dance of the Seven Veils”, a dry and skeletal inversion of the Beach Boys’ swinging surf in “Girls! Girls! Girls!”, and an astonishingly frank expression of sexuality in “Flower”. I dread to think of the unwarranted attention she received from male “fans” after releasing it. I wasn’t prepared for Phair’s gift for melody. The more mellow tracks on “Guyville” are some of my favourites, displaying a perfect synthesis between Phair’s deft, cavernous open strumming and her unadorned, low vocal. This is captured best of all on album highlight “Explain It To Me”: sweet without being sugary, sad without being melodramatic, simple without being dull. It, “Shatter” and “Canary” (with a nice departure from guitar in favour of piano) form a gorgeous triptych of sad-Phair. Then there are the big hits. “6’1””: a crisp, biting introduction to Guyville! “Never Said”: a one note guitar line all the way to heaven, complete with wonderfully sloppy backing “ahhhs”! “Stratford on Guy”: a perfectly rendered, sharply hooky insight into Phair’s state of mind on a flight. In short: I’ve found a new fave. “Exile on Main St” will never sound the same again.

Turns out Liz Phair isn't a great singer. I assume this album was chosen because of it's writing...but it's hard to pay attention to the lyrics when the singing is so bad.

This record exhausted me. I remember the buzz after its release, hearing about how "revolutionary" it was. Was it? Is it? After all this time and a re-listen the remaster actually does give it a little more sheen (I'm very much not a low-fi fan)... the music is sometimes just "ok" (actually "Shatter" could or should be a great song) but sweet fancy moses there's no getting by her voice which is absolutely unmanageable and the up-front and dry mix (lo-fi!) does absolutely zero favours to. Was this album cool because of her "bold language?" Maybe. Ordinarily I'm all for it but not in and of itself - for the most part it's used in such a stupid high school back row of the class teenage-giggly way and as a result most of these songs just are a sloppy pile of absolutely nothing. If you get off on "pushing boundaries" in the sense that being edgy with sex and language in music is super important - or maybe all that's important - then go for it here. If you're of the theory that even if your lyrics have the effort of repeating a kindergarten nursery rhyme but you still need to put some effort and thought and creativity into actually freaking making art then you'll probably feel as I do after enduring this. This revolution should not have been televised and instead should have been exiled to the "do not release" pile. 2/10 1 star.

I remember feeling empowered by this album in high school and that feeling remains. The low-fi guitar, mixed with funny yet true lyrics does what feminism does best…make sure that everyone knows that anything a guy can do, a girl can do as good, if not better. Though this album is situated in the 90’s, it is timeless and forward thinking.

This album is badass and awesome. Required listening for young women.

One of the worst things I've ever endured.

I LOVE HER!!! Liz Phair, your music helped define my 2021! 4.5

Really fantastic. Great attitude, equal parts funny and strong. I've grown to be a big fan of this kind of music of late with artists like Soccer Mommy and Mitski, so to hear something from '93 this good has made me very happy.

For someone who cares so much about musicianship, it might seem odd that I like Exile in Guyville so much. Liz Phair isn't much of a guitarist, and has a rough voice, to be generous. But the songwriting! The way Phair structures the songs on Exile is clever, interesting, and wholly original. The skeletal arrangements actually work in the album's favor, accentuating the songwriting and lyrics, which are uniformly wonderful. And for all of Phair's technical shortcomings as a singer, her interpretive skills set these songs on fire--she's completely naked emotionally. And, if that weren't enough, there's tremendous range in these songs, from rockers to drones and everything in between. Damned near perfect for what it is.

These are good songs and I think they are holding up well. Love the idea of this album being a song by song reply to Exile on Main Street. The stripped down sound is perfect. Didn't connect until this listen that "Shatter" is often used as background music for This American Life.

Pretty bad ass!

I really should’ve listened to this long ago. It’s very much my shit. Great songwriting, shaggy, yet just polished enough production. Definitely earns the hype.

What a killer rock album. Excellent songwriting throughout and killer tunes to match. Every song is POWERFUL.

this album has so much personality to it. fantastic storytelling. the lyrical style reminds me of mitski at times but its even better. i think it could've used a little more musical variety, a lot of the melodies got monotonous, although overall the energy/pacing was good. 9/10

This was really good!

Really enjoyed the album

Great and groundbreaking

6'1"

idk ! not my thing i didnt like the sound sorry women everywhere

A couple of questions gnawing at me after first listen. Who thought it was a good idea to give this woman a mic? And then who thought it was a good idea to let them into the studio to produce an album? And finally, who listened to this and thought this would be a great addition to the best albums of all time. Outside of all the Elvis Costello trash, this album is defintely one of teh biggest headscratchers for me.

Nope

I only made it through half... It's like a teenage girl singing her inner monologue.

Skipped it

Lke catching up with an old friend today, knew every word even though it has been years; a constant in the office CD pile through 93/94. The original and best of its kind, some choice lyrics and tunes throughout the whole 18. "Divorce Song" remains an all-time favorite. Shame she never did anything close to this afterwards.

Top 5 album of the 90s. If you don;t like this you probably loved some pure shit like Aerosmith or the Eagles. It's true.

Liz Phair is awesome and Matador Records is arguably the most important American record label of the last 40 years. I don’t feel like there’s much else I need to add here.

Great album that covers different types of music- hard rock, soft rock, and soft hearted songs. It feels like a collection of greatest hits not a debut. This album is a response to the rolling stones album of a similar name which was very sexiest. That’s one of the reasons I love this album. The songs are all from a place of hating how the world is structured all around men and the anger that comes from that.

Garagione. Semplice, con chitarre sporche il giusto, voce profonda, testi taglienti, autoconsapevole della distruzione, autoironica. GRRRL!

what a nice album, i wonder what style she'll go in 2010. on a serious note, this is one of the best-written albums i've ever heard and it almost justifies every strange turn in her career. i mean if you've wrote "divorce song", every other album could be like "funstyle" and i could not care less. extraordinary album.

Her Best works. Love Liz Phair and this album. Listened like 50x seen her 1 x

So glad to revisit this. Amazing 😻

I love this album

For some reason I just loved the album. Even tho it was mostly pop music, I found it really different from the rest of the genre.

Ég verð bara að játa að mér fannst þetta algjörlega stórkostleg plata! MIkið var gaman að finna eitthvað sem maður hefur aldrei vitað af!

I forgot how brilliant this album is at times. Sometimes it flags, but mostly it rocks and still feels relevant.

Rounded up to 5. Liz Phair is a mix of singer-songwriter and grunge rock. You'll be able to relate to this if you've ever been a mess, had a bad relationship or dealt with shitty men.

Seminal album of my young adulthood. I discovered Liz Phair in college and immediately related to everything she was singing about. The ideas of empowered female sexuality, owning your desires, and deciding for yourself what your narrative will be in relationships resonated deeply with me. I love her minimalist production too. The songs are so well-written, so sharply observant, biting and acerbic with a cynicism unheard of at her age. But damn if there aren’t sad pathetic little nuggets of optimism throughout as well. You root for this girl, you believe in this girl, you are this girl. Her dry monotone vocals shouldn’t work, but they do. They’re somehow sultry and raw all at once. Phenomenal album from a unique talent and a powerful voice we needed at this time. Thank you Liz for helping me feel empowered about my burgeoning sexuality and for helping me feel seen.

Some cracking tunes!

lmao how did she go from this to “you’re being a penis… colada that is!” A

Really really liked this, great album with some catchy songs and some pretty slow ones, nice variety and a very good listen!

Good album, enjoyed it a lot! Very well done, will need to revisit to listen more

I can see how this is on this list. It's not my favorite style of music but I did enjoy some of the lyrics.

Yeah!

this was rly good

I find this very ovverated critically... it’s a solid record for sure. I don’t see this worthy of all the perfect reviews

Not my thing. Although I can appreciate what this is, and some songs like F and Run kinda struck an interesting nerve. Almost like Cody Chestnutt did in a way.

Great album, edgy Kate Bush that sounds like it's had a lot of influence on heaps of alt rock punk stuff around today especially in Aus. Dance of the Seven Veils, Mesmerising, Girls!.., Divorce Song all massive tunes.

Don’t know about the exile on Main Street connection, but great nonetheless

это альбом с не самым сильным женским голосом, не самым лучшим продакшеном, но он узнаваем. этот красивый и милый инди-поп с примесью кантри не собирался стать великим, но критики решили на него молиться. альбом обладает несколькими мощными хитами вроде «Never Said» и «Fuck and Run», которые для целого поколения стали родными. Смотря на такое восхваление критиков возникает важный вопрос, а слушали ли критики вторую часть альбома, ведь если убрать четыре песни из промежутка «Girls! Girls! Girls!» до «Flower», то изменится лишь хронометраж. Поэтому 4, недотянуто до идеала.

All I had heard was "Why Can't I?" but I knew she was a staple of the 90s when it came to rocker females. And rock she did.

Very intense, raw energy to it.

The dirge-like grunge voice dates this within a few seconds of play and I found the first few songs dull. The blow job-cunt lyrics provoke in the pointless manner beloved of my generation, and the de rigeur Prozac’d detachment in their delivery gets grey quick along with the wash of nondescript guitar on most of the tracks. Still, there are touches - the blast of harmonica on “Soap Star Joe”, the surprisingly cute guitar solo of “Mesmerizing” - that break monotony, and “Never Said” is a decent yell-along. The record has enough rockers here to make a strong 35 minutes.

Not terrible, but not my favorite either. I like Liz's voice.

Feels like a usual indie rock album, it's a bit too long but it's enjoyable. Lots of tracks aren't that unique though, some of them feel too generic

It’s the Rosetta Stone between alternative music and indie rock. I have a huge crush on Liz Phair. Very pleased that this album made it.

holy peak

pre: omg do I have thoughts I love this album. I've listened to it a million times and listen to it a million more. I'm sure it's not everyone's cup of tea but it is mine. A couple of thoughts while trying to listen critically: 1) the phased guitars sound really dated, and the production overall sonuds more like a street corner busker than a studio album. Not sure if that's a bad thing or not. 2) I have always been dismissive of the "It's a response to Exile on Main Street" line. But this time through I think I could build a case about taking a feminine position in the world vs the hyper masculine Stones album.

Lived with this album since college - don't know how/why I bought it originally. My best guess would be reading "it's a female answer to Exile On Main Street" (which I love too). I don't think that was her intention - maybe just a takedown of the old boys rock and roll collective. Probably more about all the dumb male indie musicians she knew from Chicago.... Regardless, love the low fi production, it fits the album so well. And her lyrics are great, the sarcasm and wit on Soap Star Joe alone just blows me away every time. Can't recommend it enough, it's a winner.

Really pleasantly surprised by this one. I’m normally not a fan of 90s grungy guitar girls but this is really interesting while still being very pleasant on the ears. I’m completely on the fence between a 4 and 5 but will lean towards the high end, so that I can remember to revisit this again in the future.

my apologies ms phair I was unfamiliar with your game

Ультра-альбом, который сто процентов повлиял на кучу современных инди-рок звезд всех мастей. Очень честная и при этом крутая музыка. Лучшая песня - Girls! Girls! Girls!

"Exit in Guyville" is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Liz Phair. The album was produced by Brad Wood and Phair and was recorded at Idful Music Cotporation in Chicago. Indie rock and lo-fi are the Wiki-genres. Yep. The album concept combines small town mentality with the Chicago Wicker Park music scene. The songs are sequenced to match the Rolling Stones' "Exile on Main Street." Commercially, the album hit #196 in the US and was critically well-received. "6'1"' opens the album. Fast strumming guitar, bass and drums. Hey, this does has a Stones' sound to it. Phair's deadpan vocals and a tambourine. On the surface, you might think she's attracted to a man of that height but she hates him. She continues the hate on the next song "Help Me, Mary." This time she targets friends who have rules.... She's not giving in. More straight-forward rock. A melodic guitar is one of the highlights of the first single "Never Said." Harmony and backing vocals. Keepin' the rock thread going and a decent response to "Tumbling Dice." This song addresses the music scene and comments made. She never said nothing. "Fuck and Run" definitely carries the Stones' torch. Phair expresses regret about "it" happening again. She wants a relationship but this particular action has happened throughout her life. The album's lyrical tone changes a little at the very end. "Gunshy" has electric guitar strings and a droning synth background. Subdued as she's relegated to the normal life. The second single "Stratford-on-Guy" might have her best lyrics. A snare drum and electric guitar. Phair with rapid, emotionless vocals describing the wonder of flying into Chicago as a movie and being n a Galaxie 500 video but that noise just disappears shortly later as she goes into that grid. I find it hard to believe that these songs are not personal as Phair says that they are based on fictional characters. Well, she comes out swinging lyrically, in your face, but there are more subdued songs. The focus of this album are the lyrics as she takes aim at early 90 guys, the social scene, the music scene and bad relationships but points the thumb backwards with living the humdrum life and random meaningless sex. Lo-fi is a good description of the music as it is tripped down with vocals being the only thing layered. There's a variety to music with acoustic and electric guitar-driven, bluesy, and piano-driven songs and even an electronic song. This is a great and original album. I don't think she topped this but I do like some of her later songs. Two days in a row for one of the best albums of the 90's (at least early 90's for this one).

Really liked this.

Gets stronger with every listen

Amazing.

Album 546 of 1001 Liz Phair - Exile In Guyville (1993) Rating : 4.5 / 5 I just really like this album. A higher rating than might be expected but it is what it is. An extra half point just for being a favorite.

Loving this album is one of my guilty pleasures. Her voice isn't great, the guitar isn't great, but the whole, somehow, is. Perfectly captures a woman's experience in a particular time and place.

This came out when I had a CD changer When this album came out, I had a five CD changer that had a spiral mode: you could put in discs and it would play the first track from each desk the second track from each desk, etc. So I put in the Rolling Stones “Exile On Main Street”, and this CD and listened in spiral mode. It was very cool to hear her response to each Stones track throughout the whole album.

Brilliant, and a clear influence on a bunch of artists I love

Good alb7m

Refreshing rocking style singer songwriter

I had the completely wrong expectations of this album after seeing the album cover. It had me expecting UK rap, as she seems to give the impression (at least to my eyes) of a UK rapper. I was very wrong. This is the perfect balance of raw alternative rock and catchy melodies. It reminded me a lot of Plumtree, who I had a bit of an obsession with once upon a time. I went into this expecting not much, and it ended up blowing me away. Fantastic!

This album just about saved my life when’s it first came out. I was her exact target demo and this was released during a tough life year for me. Her “I am going to create music that tells my truth no matter that it sounds like nothing anybody else is doing” attitude was and remains inspirational. Thirty years later I am a bit more aware of some vocal shortcomings, that musically it may not live up to some five star albums. But I remember what this album meant. And I can hear what this album meant to female rockers decades later. Liz Phair paved the way with this one. It is historically significant and emotionally powerful.

Fuck this album is great. Love the lyrics/songwriting so so much. Not only unique in writing but also in sound, 90's alt rock, but with an air around everything making it stand out above the rest, production is solid

I can’t remember when I first heard of Liz Phair, but I know it was sometime in the last ten years or so. I don’t remember ever hearing about her or any of her songs when this album came out. My only exposure to Liz’s music was through the 60 Songs That Explain the Nineties podcast that talked about “Fuck and Run,” but other than that, I’ve never heard one of her songs. But I’ve heard that this album is supposed to be fantastic, so I’ve been looking forward to this one, and I’ve resisted the urge to listen to it before it came up for me to review. I think this album absolutely lived up to the hype I’ve heard surrounding it. The songwriting is some of the best I’ve ever heard. I loved the rawness of the lyrics and that no topic seemed to be too taboo to be covered on this album. There’s so much to unpack in the lyrics of this album. I found myself really focusing on the music and Liz’s voice, but when I would pay attention to what she was actually singing, it was like a jolt that shook me awake. And even with the unfiltered quality of her lyrics, I had a hard time deciphering what was literal and what was hyperbole, trying to decide what was Liz’s real pain and what parts were her emotional reactions. The instrumentation was also raw and simplistic, but provided the perfect contrast and often distraction from the themes being sung about. The guitar playing was fantastic throughout, whether the melodies were faster and louder, or whether they were slower and softer. One thing that blew me away about this album was how strong it was from start to finish. The second half is still incredibly powerful and contains plenty of punches and surprises, and I found my jaw dropping open countless times over the whole runtime. I wish I had more time to go into individual songs, but I’ll just list my favorites: “6’1”,” “Help Me Mary,” “Never Said,” “Canary,” “Fuck and Run,” and “Flower.” This album was fantastic, and I think I’ll only enjoy it more with repeated listening. Exile in Guyville delivered on its hype, and is easily one of the best albums from the nineties that I’ve heard so far.

It's been awhile since I found another gem which made this project a bit tedious. I'm not sure I've heard from Phair before this. This is however a fantastic find and I like it very much so far.

Look, I get why this wouldn't hit today the same way, but damn if it wasn't amazing to hear a woman brashly saying all the quiet parts out loud in 1993. Teenage me needed to hear what Liz had to say. 6'1 is still her best song and F&R is still devastating.

My intro to Liz Phair was the video for Supernova probably on MTVs 120 mins. I immediately fell in love.. I bought Whip-Smart and this album right after. Guyville just rocks and it holds up very well for an album over 30 years old. I bet it would do much better if was released today.

I’ve been waiting for this record to come up. Another all time favorite for me, I remember being pretty blown away when it came out. These songs feel like diary entries translated into bitter, angry, acerbic, heartbroken / heartbreaking lyrics. The songs have the perfect level of raw-edged production. I went to see Phair perform the record for the 30th anniversary and she was fantastic.

This is a great album. I've listened to a lot. Probably the best Liz Phair record. If you're not digging it, at least check out Stratford-on-Guy.

Never heard of her but it still somehow made me nostalgic

I think I first heard of this album via the Pitchfork 'Best albums of the 90s' list a couple years ago. If I remember right, it was in the top 10, and one of two albums in the top 10 I had never listened to. Lucinda Williams was the other one, which I listened to, but never got around to Liz Phair until now. I have to say, I'm very surprised, as I was expecting it to be overrated. It's not at all, I'm very impressed! I love the guitar tone all the way through, and the songwriting is top notch. I get that it is probably a bit too vulgar for some people, but I think to some degree songs like Flower are attempts at trolling, or something similar. Like Courtney Love was doing around the same time, Liz has put out a very "unladylike" album that was definitely on par with the best male artists of tge time. After listening to this a third time, I was surprised to read on the wiki that most of the songs aren't about Liz herself. Most of them are so direct and confessional in nature that I assumed they were at least semi-autobiographical. That really shows how great the songwriting is on here IMO. Not to mention that there's 18 songs on here and none of them are duds!

I must be in a good mood. Liked every track. I really liked her voice. A sardonic story teller - keeps it interesting, and feels original, interesting. Like a less boring and less jagged version of the following, all rolled into one. Sheryl Crow , Courtney Love, Amanda Palmer and maybe hint of PJ - fits for me anyway. I have a head cold so maybe everything is wonderful or crap today. Let's be generous as I want to hear this again and follow what she does next....

Reading some of the reviews here, I can only say: embarassing. This is a great record by a great and serious artist. Some here obviously do not understand that this record is SURELY not about female sexual phantasies, but about how easily males consume females and attribute how the execution of power - be it socially, culturally, economically established - pertains to their self-perceived grandiosity and establishes an interpretation of male/female relation that could not be more biased. This is a record about being outside and the longing to belong without having to submit. Apart from that, this is a bold statement musically, and one that deserves a place in this list.

I do love me some 90s chick rock. Everyone likes to say how Liz Phair peaked at her first album but when you’re first album is a masterpiece, how could you not.

I've heard of Liz Phair, but had not, knowingly, listened to her music before. Initial reaction? Whatever indie-alternative. But this quickly grew on me. To the point where it became pretty great. If 90ies kids didn't include this on mixtapes along with songs from Kurt Cobain they surely made a mistake. That kind of 90ies great. Even if only as a document. That said, I did lose a bit of interest along the almost an hour. Tracks along the lines of Shatter, Glory, Explain It To Me or Mesmerizing? Yes. The upbeat ones, maybe not so much. Still, enjoyed this. A nice discovery, for me. Ah, come on. 5.

I enjoyed this a lot - mellow, lo-fi indie-pop. Clear to hear the enduring influence on female artists even up to the modern day (I'm thinking of the likes of Courtney Barnett, Soccer Mommy, Snail Mail, Boygenius). Love the guitar playing and lyrics. I also enjoy the laid back vocals - people expecting Whitney Houston wouldn't like this I guess, but it fits the vibe perfectly. This is an album I'd never heard before that's right up my street

love this album. Liz Phair was great before she turned poppy.

My Gosh I love this album so much!

Another album I wore the grooves out of back in the day. Another album that I struggle to properly rate. When I set out on this project I envisioned the 5 star rating to be reserved for the greatest albums of all time. The icons. But I’m approaching 15% completion of the list and I have come across a few of these albums that were monumentally important to me as a young man that I hold in very high regard but can quite call them some of the greatest albums ever made. But this album is higher than a 4 star album. So I’m doing it. 5 stars for Liz. She is an icon.

Liz Phair, Urge Overkill, Lemon Heads, Juliana Hatfield, The Breeders, Sebadoh etc etc all made some excellent indie rock albums during the first half of the 90s (counterpointing all those copycat grunge albums). Exile In Guyville is one of these albums. At the time I liked, for some reason, Phair's second album Whip-Smart a bit more, but in 2024, playing both albums back to back, I can see the appeal of EiG much clearer and agree EiG is the better album. I am not sure if I can still stand the typical 90s-indie-rock lyrics, but just give five stars for nostalgia reasons.

I really like this so far and it really exemplifies the sound of women's rock in the early 90s. The more I listened to it, the more I liked it. Definitely has a couple tracks I'll come back to! There's a variety of sound to the album but it never strays from a core sound so that it all ties together really nicely