Reviews (page 6 of 7)
Surprisingly good.
Got better by the end, first tracks felt a bit unpolished and underwhelming. But I like what this album represented for the 90s
Great album
Phair shows her roots with quick-witted lyrics and shorter tunes. What is missing is any remarkable single or thing that sticks with you.
Decent. Some great songs, but I think too long and one note.
Some songs are truly awesome. Guitar ideas are also very good. I just find that the overly sexual lyrics are so over the top, that they come off as edgy, which slightly annoys me in some songs. Other than that, I actually enjoyed the record quite well.
Just, but just, an OK background music piece. But too close to boredom.
Het eerste nummer had me niet mee, en in het hele verloop van het album werd daar geen verandering ingebracht. Het gitaarwerk is wel oké
Simple indie rock, doesn't wow me but it's still pretty good.
Conflicted... Really liked this musically (very basic and effective guitar) and was fully enjoying until I paid attention to the lyrics a little. Not terrible, but not great (ie. Divorce song?). After looking up the lyrics though, there are definitely some pearls along the way and the context of the album certainly makes it worthy of this list. Awesome to hear some more females in this little adventure and this was a pretty brave and outspoken record for the time so big points for that. Pretty bland voice, but really cool melodies. The drums left a lot to be desired though - very hollow if heard at all and Explain to Me was proper out of time - sounded like a poorly joined loop! Tough one to rate.
(3.5) I feel like I wouldn't like Liz Phair as much if I didn't enjoy seeing her so much in concert (she opened for The Smashing Pumpkins and I barely knew her music beyond "Why Cant I?"), but she does have a cool stage presence and is fun to watch live. A lot of her songs are pretty catchy too, and short and sweet; I never feel like her songs go on for too long. I saw her tagged as "slacker rock" on RYM and I think that's probably a good way to describe her music?
Egzotycznie brzmiące nazwy zarówno albumiku jak i artysty i maly cyc na okladze nic mi nie mowil, okazalo sie, ze to albumik indyjskiego rocka, ale jest to undergrundowa produkcja, wiec low fi pelna geba, nie tylko to slychac przez to w jaki sposob jest zmasterowany, jak wykonane overduby, ale glownie przez liryczny kontent, bo jest on do bolu szczery, a jak to w muzyce niepopularnej glonym topikiem bedzie seks lekarstwa i turlanie kamienia, ale jest to pisane, ze gdybym mial zgadywac z jakiego roku albumik, to strzelalbym na okolice 2k10 i bum internetowych grajkow spiewakowych, ktore zalalo swiat za sprawa rozpowszechnienia sie serwisow strimingowych, a nie wczesne lata 90, bo o ile jeszcze poczatek plyty do never said, czyli najbardziej popowego kawalka jaki mozna tu uslyszec, to dalej slychac coraz to coraz to odwazniejsze eksperymenty, nie tylko jesli chodzi o kompozycje instrumentalna, ktora w niektoych miejsach jest wrecz minimalistyczna i sa nawet kawalki jedynie z klawiszami kreconymi synthem, czy gitarkowaniem Pani Liz, lirycznie dzwie sie, ze tak jednolity tematycznie jest albumik, bo wszystko mozna sprowadzic do relacji miedzy ludzkich, dobitnie pokazuje to track flower, ktory byl dla mnie kwintesencja tego co slyszalem w poprzednich kawalkach, wokal i klimat kojarzy mi sie z NANA, moze znalazlem pierwowzor nany, na plejke wrzuce gunshy oraz soap star joe
Bland save for a few tracks. Very one note
Not really for me!
I think 30ish minutes of Liz Phair would have been a solid album. Generally, the production style and music is compelling, but it just didn’t hold up for almost a full hour without getting pretty boring and samey. 6
Bonne chanteuse, j’ai bien aime et ca a passe vite comme ecout en background. 3.85
Meh
No thanks.
Reminds me a lot of Lisa Germano, but less weird (and thus, in my book, less good) but yeah, acceptable early nineties alt rock singer songwriteriness. Fave track - "Soap Star Joe", had some amusing lyrics that caught my attention...
3.5 | Ni idea sobre ella ni sobre el disco. Que album tan curioso, tremendamente explícito y obsceno pero con una instrumentación típica de ese rock alternativo 90ero que era medio inofensivo, a veces tan minimalista que hasta la batería elimina. Se siente como si fuera una cantante de folk superagresivo. Justamente esa canción más explícita de todas siento que también es la más interesante en su arreglo (Flower, por supuesto). A pesar de todo el disco es bastante más que solo tratar de espantar con letras sexuales, en general si hay buena composición y escritura; me parece algo triste que busqué un poco más sobre esta mujer y... TODO lo demás que escuche se me hizo bastante X sin inspiración y mientras más adelante en los años peor se ha escuchado. De verdad parece que tenía un album muy brillante dentro de sí y nada más. Se me hace que fácilmente ha de ser esos discos que ha de haber inspirado a muchas mujeres y que se interpreta como muy feminista, aunque no parece que era la intención de Phair. Un lugar en la lista para un trabajo femenino, con carácter, de rock alternativo bastante bien hecho, quizá no es mi máximo pero su lugar lo tiene muy merecido. ¿Cómo podría alguien odiar algo con la letra "Obnoxious, funny, true, and mean, I want to be your blowjob queen"?
Very good album. Slick guitar sound and nice vocals. 7/10
Thank you 90s!!! I remember reading once that the one thing the Red Hot Chili Peppers collectively agreed on is their crush for Liz phair
i resonated with her idgaf attitude, some songs were bland
That’s a nip on the album cover
pues la primer mitad un poco lenta pero se medio compone después, se nota que es bien alternativo el pedo que traía esta vieja
Was hoping I wouldn't get a rock album for once. It's clearly more lyrics focused, they're very straightforward and to the point. This is definitely one of those albums written to get some shit off the artist's chest, no filter and no bullshit. The instrumentation is a little weak and generic though, which is something I look for first before I even listen to the lyrics. That being said I can see myself being in the mood for this kind of aesthetic.
Pretty good. Grungy. I can hear the influence she had on so many female musicians.
Ok. Nice voice. Glad I listened to it but probably wont go looking for more
I like the feel of it, just lacking a little more quality.
Very good, feel like I only scratched the surface though. Will need to listen again but on the day it's a 3 from me
Exceedingly average
Common alt-rock with interesting vocal
Not great not terrible, extra star for the nip
Just ok. No clue how this got ranked as #56 of all time by RS
this kinda blend with songs of its time, like i can listen to it but i can easily forget abt it
I mean it's ok. I can see how people might enjoy it. The social commentary is good, but the music just isn't for me.
I sadly didn't like the vocals. But it felt okay for playing in the background.
Kind of repetitive and samesy I don't think I enjoyed that very much. I would have liked this more when I was younger in my emo phase - but even then some of the lyrics were just not for me lol.
Not the worst album this week. But not the best either.
New artist to me. The songs didn't hold my attention, nor the angsty lyrics.
This was on the Rolling Stone 50 greatest concept albums i listened to a couple of years ago. It still doesn’t do anything for me.
Could have been way worse, found the lyrics confessional yet funny. The singer's lyricism and delivery are very compelling.
hmm the weather is too hot to thiink about a reason for the 2 stars
Not my thing too much cheesy
Deze Liz Phair plaat is eigenlijk best vet en nogal suf op hetzelfde moment. Hiervoor kende ik haar nog niet, maar deze debuutplaat staat best hoog aangeschreven. Ik hoor de bekende 90's Amerikaanse indiesound, en daar houd ik wel van. Goeie associaties, zoals met Fountains of Wayne, Dandy Warhols, etcetera. Maar tegelijk vind ik haar stem niet echt interessant en zit er geen enkel nummer tussen dat mij echt grijpt als dikke alternative track. Daarin blijft het nogal flauwtjes allemaal. 6/10
This record gives me heavy 90’s/00’s Morrisey vibes- the production of course, the vocals are kinda bad and sound like genuinely 90% of the ladies in the 90’s during that smoker mom music arc. Idk man, it’s basically a worse “Tuesday night midnight club” by Sheryl Crowe imo.
I really wanted to like this because I know it’s legendary but I found it kind of whiny and annoying. She sing talks more than actually sings and it’s pretty bad. (2)
Started off strong, but it got boring quick. Anything that wasn't repetitive just didn't have much substance at all. Couple good singles, but it doesn't hold up as an album.
Not my thing. Found the voice quite annoying after a while. Sounded exactly like the 90s it is from.
New artist for me. I suppose it's ok but I'm not a fan of her singing. It didn't really vibe with me.
Pretty boring, probably because the "low fi" production makes all the notes barely audible.
Didn’t ring with me
Kind of fine. Love that it was grunge before grunge
That was really bad. I did not like this, but I feel like a few songs could have been okay if the vocals were muted, so 2 stars.
2.0
01) 6'1" - 6,0 02) Help Me, Mary - 5,5 03) Glory - 5,5 04) Dance of the Seven Veils - 5,5 05) Never Said - 6,5 06) Soap Star Joe - 6,0 07) Explain It to Me - 5,5 08) Canary - 5,5 09) Mesmerizing - 5,5 10) Fuck and Run - 6,0 11) Girls! Girls! Girls! - 5,5 12) Divorce Song - 6,0 13) Shatter - 5,5 14) Flower - 5,0 15) Johnny Sunshine - 5,5 16) Gunshy - 5,5 17) Stratford-on-Guy - / 18) Strange Loop? - 6,0 TOTAL: 5,68 (57/100)
Bit boring, mostly sounded the same.
So utterly forgettable I couldn't remember much about the songs only a few hours after I'd listened to it.
Ok
Oh my, what a disappointment! I was a little excited to see this come up for the weekend but felt it was all a little mediocre, bland and not that tuneful. Such a shame as I had heard good things about the album.
Ich nehme dann doch lieber Sheryl Crow.
Was adequate. Far too long for what it was.
Meh
Hehehehe... boob
#imsorrywomen but i did NOT like this one. One of my core feminist beliefs is that women should make more mediocre, badly executed yet true art (like many. MANY men do all the time) and this record is a perfect example of that. Even if i cannot personally enjoy it on a musical level, i recognize that its a revolutionary piece given the lyrics and the moment it was released.
# Album Name: Exile In Guyville # Artist: Liz Phair # Rating: 2/5 # Comments: Thats a big no from me. # Top Tunes: # Would I listen to it again? No
I wasn’t very keen on this
This was my first experience with this album, and likely my last. Jagged Little Pill-esque with boring musicianship and a MUCH less talented singer.
Too much sk8trboi for me ..good voice, great sound but loses me
Got through it but it was a struggle. Just not my type of music I guess.
not my thing
This was okay. I wasn't in the best mood while listening to it so that may have colored my experience. I might give a few songs another listen soon, but overall it was just fine.
Not that good tbh
good and tolerable! just not my vibe
Not great, but nit bad either.
Back when music was available only via physical media - expensive CDs/tapes or dubbed cassettes from friends - you were quite limited by cost and whatever your friends had in their collection. If you were smart about it, you could each buy one of the week’s newest alt and indie rock records and then make a copy of whatever your friend bought instead of both owning Stone Temple Pilots. But that ultimately still meant restricting music access to whatever your friends had or you could afford. In my case, the most femme we got was Juliana Hatfield, The Breeders, PJ, or, uh, Sonic Youth. Maybe throw in D’arcy and Kim Deal’s other band, such was the sense of feminism amongst guys genuinely trying to do right by the changing times, but still not nearly enough. As such, things fell through the cracks all the dang time and Liz Phair was maybe number 1 on the most overlooked list. And there she sat for far too long and when I finally got around to her a decade later, all I knew of her was I respected her integrity and clever lyrics, but that she tried reinventing herself as a pop rock star a la a much younger Avril or even somewhat adjacent to the TRL lane, embarrassingly so. Does any of that take away from or even bolster the value of Guyville? Did the thin production and even thinner melodic content ever stand a chance with my tastes? Probably not. I still don’t have a developed opinion about Exile on Main St, let alone enough of one to ostensibly interrogate it with a track-by-track indie rock answer, couched in a female gaze.
Laissez faire
Long. Boring. Shit.
Maso
Not really keen on this lo-fi style and still don't know how to feel about Liz's voice after listening to 18 of her songs. I understand its importance and themes but it's not my thing. Never Said was my fav song and first listen of the album
Her singing voice, especially in the lower regions, is abysmal. And she's doing that a lot on this album. I had a hard time getting through this one.
I wanted to like it more
Not for me, but a fine listen.
Pretty boring, not my thing
I dunno, there might be something there, I can see this connecting with people, but not me.
Dit? Dit? Echt dit album? Moet je dit echt horen voor je doodgaat? Het grootste deel van de tijd klinkt het alsof Liz er zelf ook niet echt zin in heeft, de muziek is vrij matig en ik kan me er gewoon niet aan het idee onttrekken dat dit zo'n artiest is waar iedereen in dat jaar helemaal leip van was en daarna nooit meer echt wat van heeft gehoord. Het is niet perse slecht ofzo, maar het is gewoon ontzettend nietszeggend. De zang is vrij matig en ik kan nou niet echt enthousiast worden van een simpele akoestische gitaar voor een volledig album. Ik geloof dat ik wel eens van Liz Phair heb gehoord en dat ze een indie darling is, maar ik hoor het hier niet helemaal in. Misschien is de songwriting fantastisch, maar het is lastig er op te focussen als de muziek gewoon niet zo goed is. Nee, dit is niet een album waar ik gelukkig van word, of blij van word dat ik het heb gehoord voordat ik dood ben gegaan. FAVO: Het klonk allemaal een beetje hetzelfde eerlijk gezegd.
Nope. Another non-singer.
While it's not a genre that I typically enjoy, I did appreciate the playfully layered vocals and despondent harmonies. Musically it just doesn't do much for me. I imagine you need to have a strong emotional connection with it. Some of the lyrics were evocative and it's nice to have a female vocalist for a change in timbre and artistic perspective not my cupa tea init
Some good some total crap Amricana pianos and guitar talking ok i did not die
90's lo-fi rock? I'll pass, thanks.
I don't think I really got this album. It was lofi, which I'm cool with, and I generally like Liz Phair's music, but I guess it's mostly her later stuff, because I didn't hear a single track on this album that stuck out at me as good music. They all kinda sounded like ideas she recorded in her bedroom as a starter track for making her album one day. I listened to it twice just to make sure I didn't miss anything and I still don't remember a single track, except Blowjob Queen, which I've known and listened to for a long time, and always found interesting, but not particularly enjoyable to listen to, mainly because of its odd arrangement and alien-sounding vibes. Two stars.
It's a mid pop-rock album, pleasant, nothing inoffensive, but a bit boring overall. Will I ever relisten it? Probably no.
It seems to be a lyrics first type of album, and the music didn't grab me. Meh.
Feels mid, felt almost like AI slop, is this what they fed the machine? There was some cool bits I enjoyed more towards the tail end of the album, but for me it felt a bit boring. 2.0/5.0 Best Song: Johnny Sunshine
Truly my first disappointment - I lit up when I saw this after hearing so much about it, but I just can't do the whole "Bored indifferent Gen X'er" thing
This is ok. Why did it get so much praise though?
Len Houmous once branded Liz UN-Phair after she cheated at monopoly when she was supporting Houmous & Chutney on their 1989 World Tour. You don’t cross Len about Free Parking. 2.0 3/18 Glory
All over the place structurally but does get better as it goes along.
The only Liz Phair album I have ever listened to all the way before this is Funstyle, and I kept it that way for the longest time because I thought that was a really funny thing to do. If you haven't heard any of the songs on that album, listen to "bollywood" and try not to die laughing. So needless to say its pretty hard for me to take her seriously. I get why this album was such a big thing, but part of me feels like that's more due to the messaging of the album and its writing then... How the album actually sounds or is. This is one overly long, inconsistent mess of an album. When it's good it typifies the feminist singer-songwriter indie styles of the 90s, but when it's bad it is a slog. I don't want to dismissively call this "white feminism music," but when some of the songs came from mixtapes with names like "Yo Yo Buddy Yup Yup Word to Ya Muthuh" its hard not to cringe a little.
More boring Alanis Morisette
Ahead of its time yet also boring and bland.
I had never actually listened to this whole album. When I went to it on Spotify, I found I had already liked one song (Fuck and Run) but don't remember when or why I had heard that one before. I listened to this 3 times in a row. I definitely hear other artists that have some similarities - like The Waitresses (singing style mostly, prior to this), and PJ Harvey (contemporary to this, I think), and Poe (after this). This album is way too long - 18 songs. She could have dropped about 8 of these songs and had a much better album. I found myself actually liking a bunch of songs in the middle - they were much more interesting - Explain it to Me, Canary, Mesmerizing, Shatter, and Flower. These ones have a cool vibe that makes them stand out. So I ended up liking 6 songs total out of 18. Six songs on a shorter album would be a very good showing but since there are so many other less good songs it makes it a lot of work to find the good nuggets. Liked songs on Spotify: 6/18 Rating: 2/5
2.2
I have never heard of Liz Phair and with good reason. This is awful and does not deserve to be on this list.
I can see why this album was quite the craze when it released, offering a refreshing perspective on the industry. The writing is brash and intrepid, i like it. Overall I didn't vibe with most of the tracks, Gunshy was lowkey the standout for me.
Tragically, this is not for me. I feel like it *should* be based on who I am as a person but I just don’t vibe with it.
2.5 I do appreciate the force she was back on the day but just wasn’t my vibe…at least the day I was listening
Really didn’t like this at the start, felt very generic 90s American indie rock and I thought the melodies lacked complexity. It did grow on me and by Explain It to Me I could give it two stars, but definitely not more. Whenever I see the phrase “released to critical acclaim” I shiver with horror, and this is a good example of why.
Blind album and artist. Not for me personally. Dont know why but I just couldn't get into it and I wanted it to be over by the end.
Too long. I think I got it in the first 3 songs, and there were 15 more. 2/5
I don't listen to lyrics, so I can't say anything about that. The music is all quite dreamy and not bad, but also not great. Liz is not a bad guitar player, but here singing is where she lost me.
reminds me of Hole yet somehow sounds insufferable to me
Sounds a lot like Hole. Didn’t wow me that much.
not my kinda thing
Lyrically very interesting but tonally not so much. This means a lot to a lot of people but in the words of ultravox this means nothing to me.
No standouts
Yeah, nothing really spectacular or unique here. Not sure what makes this remarkable. It’s like crap pub rock or busking. I’d never heard of her before getting this album, and there’s a reason for that.
I've never heard of Liz Phair before, but she seems like a singer-songwriter type based on this album. The music itself isn't quite my taste. Perhaps an uneducated opinion, but she kinda sounded to me like Taylor Swift if she leaned slightly more punk instead of country or pop, and there wasn't enough variation in instrumentation or complexity going from one song to the next to keep me invested, unfortunately.
I’m not a big fan of Liz Phair. The only song I’ve ever really liked of hers was her song from the early 2000’s called Why Can’t I, which everyone called her sell out song. I only knew Never Said on this album. The songs were short, but there were a lot of songs.
Very meh. Not for me
No, sir, I don't like it. I have this weird thing about wanting singers to actually have good voices. At least she admitted stealing that lighter. Listened before? N Saved to library? N Favorite track(s): N/A ⭐⭐: Didn't like it, didn't hate it. Saved no tracks.
I understand it's probably pretty important in the grand scheme of things: a female solo indie rock artist in the early 90s.....but it really did nothing for me.
Hating Liz Phair makes me feel in league with the Guys of Guyville but ... I have given this album a lot of chances and I simply don't like it. 1.5
I like a good chunk of the back half of this album; the problem is that the front half is so long and (to me) unenjoyable. There's so much music here and it becomes a drag. Starting at, like, track 10 gives for a nice experience.
Girls!Girls!Girls!
I liked this album, but I can't say that any track really stood out to me. Rocky pop sounds better than the modern stuff. 4/10
i couldn’t get into it/: nothing bad about it, just not my vibe
Note my shit. Du genre de rock british sluggish
Boring
rock. all over. not my bag.
*I am certainly not the intended audience for this album but the crass lyrics and in your face vocals don't do much for me. *The guitar tone is so 90s, it felt like I was sitting in Central Perk *The album had some good moments but reallllllly dragged by the end.
Liz Phair in 1993: "Every time I see your face I get all wet between my legs." Taylor Swift in 2025: "It's kind of making me wet." There you have it, folks. Yet another instance of Taylor Swift stealing other artists' music. For shame, Taylor. For shame.
''Can you believe she wrote all these songs by herself?'' ''Yes''
I’d never heard of Liz Phair before this, and the album definitely didn’t gel with me. The vocal delivery feels odd, and the first half of the album especially felt bland and samey, despite some interesting guitars & instrumental work. It definitely picked up in the second half and became more interesting - Mezmerizing & Flower felt like high points - but overall this one will be quickly forgotten.
This is #day447 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and… how about almost an hour of generic female yet so unapologetically '90s indie rock/singer-songwriter shit? I've nothing else to add except... are we really sure this is an essential listen? This is a 2 out of 5. Looking forward to #day448.
Rock, 1993 -> 2
3.41
I found this a slog. It was fine.
Dragged
Meh
The album isn’t for me really. I can appreciate the songs are good, I just could t get on with it, it didn’t really captivate me, just felt a bit bland and samey. Her voice can grate a bit as well. Had never heard of this artist before and probably wouldn’t seek her out again. Favourite track: Divorce Song
Skrål. Tidvis interessant men vokalen er så dårlig at det blir bare ubehagelig for meg. Høres ofte ut som et ungdomsskoleband.
So I meant to spend the afternoon listening to music but found myself on a date. One of her nipples was exposed so it took some time until I could focus on what she was saying. I must say her voice was unenthusiastic and was getting on my nerves so it meant I'd spend the next hour pulling all my energy to listen to her stories. She talked about this one guy which she wanted talk him out of the business because it went south. Eventually she killed the guy. I was shocked of course, only to find out that she didn't talk about herself but about some other people's stories in order to get my attention. I wasn't in the mood for all the sad stories so ended the date early. When I got home she left a message on my answering machine saying that the stories were references to some guys who fled and were living on Main Street. We didn't meet again. I found it too involving thinking about 4 layers of references all the time. But one year later I met a great girl, she was more enthusiastic and told me all she wanted to do is have some fun. I loved her, but her voice always reminded me of this strange date. After all this strange date influenced some other women, so I somehow adore her, but wouldn't want to spend another date with.
I actually listened to this album not that long ago. I don't really find myself getting into Liz Phair at all. A few of the songs are really good, but I'm not the target audience for this. 2/5.
not keen
Does it make me a bad woman/feminist that I didn't really care for this album? If I had more time I might give it another listen, but I've got a new album to listen to today so it probably won't happen.
Woman. Walkman. Coffee shop. Seattle. Doesn’t know she’s a lesbian yet.
The songs are meh, feels like she is kind of a monotonous singer and the hooks aren’t memorable, tries to squeeze a lot of density into each song but it then just feels disorienting. Whatever 1993 moment this arrived in, i guess you had to be there. Mostly indifferent more than hate, also i didn’t finish it so I’ll give a 2 because i liked some of the guitar tones.
Uninspiring musically. Dull droning vocals. I find her annoyingly vulgar and tries too hard to be edgy.
It was ok
been meaning to listen to this for a while now, but turns out i actually don’t like it very much…. :(
It was fine. Not my fav.
je ne suis pas le public cible décidemment
not used to listening to this type of music. felt old-school which was kinda cool. i added one song from it to my playlist as it had really nice music (Stratford-on-guy).
I think the problem with this album is that it has aged very poorly. At the time I can well see how this would be seen as an ambitious, bold album in a genre dominated by men. 30 years later the lyrics read like an 'edgy' tumblr post of someone who discovered feminism 15 minutes ago. Shame as I was very curious about this one.
Just okay
Clever songwriting, pretty sarcastic. I feel like the lyrics would hit more if I were a woman, or at least someone interested in men. Yea I mean that was fine. Slacker rock just isn't really my thing.
I’m always going to support a woman who curses and talks about real issues women face in their every day life. Especially in the time it was. But the vocals are lazy, the mix is just OK, and most of the songs are uninteresting and don’t stand out on their own.
Not much to say about this one. It's not bad, but there really isn't anything that catches the ear. Next one please...
Didn’t really liked the album
Nah...
begon redelijk goed en dan puddinggewijs in elkaar gestort... gemiste kans
2] Feminism, horrible vocals or plain out talking (Like modern lovers). Some melodies were nice, but bad lyrics killed it. +Mesmerizing +Glory
Just so angsty and the singing is kinda annoying. Sounds like something a 12 year old would listen to and think it's deep. Its like a 90s version of Olivia Rodrigo.
My girl Liz can be as revolutionary as she wants but I cannot deal with this.
Not my jam
Not a big fan of this female singer songwriter style. And the whole bit about it being a response to Exile on Main Street makes it that much weaker.
I wasn't really feeling this one. I was expecting more energy from her.
The concept is better than the product. The monotonous flat vocals make this album a drag.
A tiny part of me wishes I was in a place where I could better understand this album... but the rest of me is quite glad that I'm not. You can feel the anger and bitterness and frustration on ever single song of this record. If you were in that state of mind as a listener, I bet it would be very cathartic and validating... but i'm just not in that place right now. I get it from a distance... Men are trash and dating is fucking awful. Hard to disagree with that. But I don't feel in it in the way she is feeling it and that leaves me feeling disconnected from the album. I really respect how personal and direct and specific the lyrics on these songs are. It feels like I'm reading her diary. I can also image how wild this would have been in 93 to hear a woman being so blunt and honest about dating and sex. I bet without this album, there's no Jagged little pill. Hard not to see this as an influence on Alannis. And really this thing influenced a shit ton of female singer songwriters. I hear this in mitski and many more, which is really cool. An issue i have with the album, separate from my disconnect, is it's a bit long and instrumentally monotonous? The lyrics are the star here, i get that. But i find the instrumentals often very similar. And the production has that shiny REM alt rock vibe that lacks grit - i'm not a fan of it. I don't think this would bother me at all if i was more connected with the storytelling. I do think though she coulda cut a few tracks... 14 woulda been enough. Overall... this lands at about a 2.5. I respect it, but i don't connect with it strongly. I'm probably going to round down because ultimately it's just not for me. Songs I liked.... Fuck and Run - heck of a refrain, great alt rock track Flowers - graphic minimalist acapella track - very interesting Canary - bleak little piano song, i dig it - a good change of pace Soap Star Joe - good little bitter driving rock track
Eh
Not very enjoyable
So when I first started the album I didn’t care for it. The first for songs I found told me be grating and I didn’t enjoy Liz’s voice. What slowly started to win me over was the guitar playing. She must be like a prodigy or a virtuoso cause that’s the real highlight for me is how good the guitar playing is. I still struggled with a vast majority of the album cause this is a packed album with 18 songs. The two that really blew me away though and earned my respect was “Shatter” “flower” and “Johnny sunshine”. I think those three songs were my favorite on the album and flower especially is super weird and fun sonically. I don’t think that this album is really for me even though I found things I liked. But that being said Liz is super talented and I’d be excited to see another of her albums come up on this list.
I wanted to like this album but I just couldn't grasp my head around it. Every song was painful; I wanted to slit my wrists.
This started out ok as she kind of reminded me of like Edie Brickell a little, then it went off the rails hence the score.
I can appreciate the lyrics and what she’s trying to do with them. But that’s it. The stripped down, intimate feel for this album made it more painful cause it just spotlighted her voice even more. I do not like her voice. No me gusta. Bleh. Also it’s almost an hour, that’s just not necessary.
Interesting enough, but not really my style. Sort of a extra musical slam poetry album.
This album could've seriously been a prompt. I don't know if im missing the point here, maybe the reason this sounds so generic and uninspired to me is because this is the epitome of this style of music and every other rendition I've heard is just more of the same.. anyways, this was painful to listen to.
People love this album, but I am just not its demographic. It's very sexually charged from the young female perspective and the music isn't good enough to extend the olive branch for me to want to listen to this view point for kore than a couple songs. I just find most of the GenX music rock pretty boring. I'll probably add 6'1" to my list, it's the song I most recognized and enjoyed.
Whatever
Fuck and Run, and Flowers were probably the best songs here on an otherwise meh album. Mid-2.
Don't expect to like this very much. Canary felt like a Brian Eno Airport song -- really pretty. Didn't like this very much.
Her voice is terrible it sounds like she wants to be too cool for school and not try to sing. This album was annoying because there would be a couple songs in a row that were decent but then would be followed but completely awful songs. Was not a fan, keeps my streak of 2 stars going up to 6 in a row
Some of the songs have some nice music but she's not a great singer. Other songs are slow and boring.
I wanted to like this but I just can’t. Too bad her later single ‘why can’t I’ wasn’t on this album!
ok. not my taste and her voice seems almost intentionally off-key in some songs
2.5 - decent but got a little too samey
Just couldn’t get into this.
I don't think I'm the target audience here
Meh
Some good songs but her voice grates me a lot
Greit nok I guess
Not too memorable for me.
This is peak 1993 American grunge/lo-fi. You can tell where subsequent acts like Snail Mail, boygenius, and Courtney Barnett got their inspiration. Courtney Love pilfered a lot as did more slick acts like Alanis Morrisette and even Sheryl Crow. But that doesn't mean that I liked this album. It's of its time and place, and that makes it an interesting and groundbreaking album. It's a historical curiosity. Glad I listened but never again.
Meh.
+1 for what the Rolling Stones Exile On Main Street reference symbolizes here Edit Apr 15 2026: 4 --> 2. I don't like the indie voice that much
Feels like she's trying to be PJ Harvey. Not keen on her voice
Nej tack. Det här var inget vidare. Ville mest att skivan skulle ta slut.
Njae, det här var inte jätteimponerande, framförallt eftersom hon inte sjunger så bra. Tycker att Never said var hyfsat bra, men i övrigt var det rätt slätstruket.
2/5 some interesting songs but not my style, not an album I will come back to.
Boring
Not even one of the best 1001 albums released that year
This is rather uneven. The songwriting is good. It all falls down in the vocals. These are her songs but the delivery is uninspiring. The vocals need to be on point and perfectly pitched or where limited be distinctive so that you think, yeah I get it. Both are absence here.
Me gustan las letras medio picantonas pero la música... eh? Otra vez este estilo? Nota: 2.2
Well, it's not offensive, but it's not an album that particularly grabs me. It's too long.
Mhm, and why exactly should I care?
Background music. Booooo
Really wish I connected more with this. I've tried it a few times over the years, because I love the music of so many of her contemporaries. It falls flat with me, though, minus a few that stop me in my tracks (Fuck And Run, Divorce Song, Never Said).
Ok
I had listened to this once, years ago, but none it sounded familiar until the song Flower. Did it (and a couple of others) have to be so crass? Yeah, she’s trying for shock value with her nipple on the album cover too. That only gets you so far. You still have a sometimes monotone disinterested singing voice, but sometimes she sounds like Sheryl Crow. Too bad, some of the songwriting is good. I had to turn on some 1960s girl group music in to wash the nastiness out of my ears. Best track: Never Said
Didn't really get anything out of this. Expected different for some reason but it felt like generic 90's singer-songwriting pop crap. 3/10
Didn't really capture my attention, and the fact that it's almost an hour long certainly does not help.
musically atrocious. I'm sure she's a very nice person, but this is not very good.
Lo volveria a escuchar: no Tiene skips: si Favoritas: Glory, Fuck and run, Shatter Nunca habia escuchado a Liz Phair, y la verdad no me encanto. La produccion se siente bastante simple pero suena muy bien, y a pesar de que hace que algunos temas esten buenos y se sientan bastante livianos, muchos otros se sienten muy vacios. La voz me gusto en varios temas, pero en otros senti que hacia cualquier cosa. Igual, no es un genero que a mi me encante, y eso tiene que ver mucho en como lo senti. 4/10
I liked a few of the songs, but there were many that just sounded like first take demos. Minimalism has its place, but these tunes just bored me.
For some reason I like and dislike this one at the same time. It's very boring and interesting too. I am very confused.
Bought this new when it came out. Why? So long ago, I don’t remember. No tracks that stand out. Her voice is below average. Lyrics are a bit self obsessed. What gives? Was I trying to be sensitive to emerging chick-powered indie rock? Or was I suckered by some Rolling Stones review? (Which I learned long ago is just another bullshit advertising Mag selling the industries wares) Just another in the long list of bad buys.
It's quite a variety of different genres which I quite liked which kept things nice and varied, like the piano in Canary. I didn't like the folk and pop rock aspects of it Her voice was ok in some songs, but worse in others. She sometimes reminded me of that hippie chick that sings in the TV show Friends
Whiny vocals are my thing and I love that music, but this just feels like an unrefined version of it. Lyrics don't hit, instrumentals don't hit. If she had a couple more years she would be awesome, but it just isn't there yet.
Like a more indie rock version of riotgrrl kinda stuff 2.5
Bunch of background music
I didn't care for the singing on this one. Meh.
Wow, deze muziek is echt vaag. Van een beetje pop-achtig, naar kattengejank, met tussendoor wat hallucinaties. Ik vind het niks, haha.
It was alright
Overrated
I can see that somewhere, this is someone's favorite album and has been for 30 years. It's not mine though.
I get the context of this album and remember it from it's original release. I am just not a fan. This album, for it's songwriting, feels flat to me.
Just fine. Nothing really stood out as too great or too terrible.
Not a bad album, but pretty non-exciting. There was a bunch of meh throughout, although if this was during the 90s, people would be jamming to it, and still, I feel like they would have jammed more to other things but it's okay. It was fine just playing in the background, and it was quite annoying that three songs towards the end of the album weren't available on Spotify, so I had to go and find them manually. Not that they were worth it but it just made things more tedious, as this album was longer than an hour. There were some okay songs but there were other ones where nothing happened and it was a whole drag, and it was just not great.
Saved Prior: Fuck and Run Off Rip: Shatter, Flower Cutting Edge: None Overall Notes: Some girls don't have fun
I must be missing the point of this dirge rock. If albums were colours, this would be beige.
Ok
I kind of had expectations because the title, the album cover, even the name all looked wicked cool to me. But this failed to captivate me or leave an impression. I genuinely don’t remember how these songs sound. Which is a shame.
Decent music, mediocre lyrics, bad vocals.
This gives me sort of Social Distortion vibes, but I can’t get along with it. It feels like this is your buddy’s sister’s band in high school and everyone is just going to see them because they’re hot. It’s not really objectively bad on any level, I’m just not really moved by it in any way.
I tried. But that monotone and the dreaded lo-fi mad it too much of a chore.
This seemed like an album of incomplete thoughts. SOme decent tunes and guitar playing but I wasn't impressed. It seemed very pedestrian. So I read about it to try and understand what made it special. A lot of it seems to be tied up in the lyrics. SO I looked at them. So she is one of those that speaks from a girl and womans perspective as you might expect from a guy. That's been done before and it can have impact. This reads like pages from a girl's diary. And although I do find it compelling hearing a woman talk about guys and sex and relationships, I fell others have done it better and with more emotion...at least some emotion. You want some of that? Try Chrissie Hind's Tattooed Love Boys. This falls flat.
Didn’t enjoy too many songs
I can appreciate 90s grunge but woof hard to listen to when she’s seemingly purposely trying to not sing well
Laughably bad singing - seriously bar-karaoke-level talent on the mic. Whole album is pretty forgetful and probably went on 15 minutes too long. 4/10.
This was a big record if you worked in an indie record store in early 1990's. I was immediately interested because of her connections to one of my favorite bands at the time, Urge Overkill. Specifically, the album title is a mash-up of a great Stones album (Exile on Main St) and a great Urge Overkill song (Goodbye to Guyville). Phair also hung around the same Chicago indie rock scene as UO and I think maybe they helped her get her start. She used to tell people the album is a song-by-song response to Exile on Main St, but I think that was a red herring intended to get more people to talk about and listen to it. Also, for many years I harbored a conspiracy theory that Liz Phair is the little sister of UO's Nash Kato (look them up - they look a lot alike, no?). I have spent an irrational amount of time unsuccessfully researching this and still feel unsatisfied that I haven't been able to prove it....yet. This record was a big part of the early 1990's wave of women indie rockers and in that respect she was a bit of a pioneer. Unfortunately, the songs aren't very interesting and her singing is unappealing to me - always feels like she is singing in too low of a register and that she has about a 3 note range. Is this like the Elizabeth Holmes thing where a trailblazing woman believes she needs to artificially lower the pitch of her voice in order to be taken more seriously? Also, there is an emotional distance in her voice that reminds me a little of how when you're a teenager sometimes it's cool to be apathetic. The weirdly low tones and too cool to care attitude remind me a little of Courtney Love, and not in a good way. The record was also a big part of the early 1990's wave of lo-fi indie rocker movement - essentially, people who make records that sound like they were recorded in their apartment while their roommate was sleeping - but at the same time unfortunately the sounds aren't all that interesting, to my ears at least. I think there are people who will tell you this record was greatly influential on them, but it was a 'you had to be there' kind of thing in my opinion. Although she still makes records, I doubt she has acquired a new fan since 1995, and once these people die this record will be forgotten. Ozymandias of indie rock?!?
Generic 90s BS… and can we talk about the lyrics to Flower?
Phair to middling.
Don't teenage feminists deserve good music too?
Saying negative things about this feels misogynistic. So I'll just say it wasn't for me.
Is that a nip on the cover? This was ok, kind of refreshing to not have this be fully autotuned. 2*
Hearing this for the first time and I’m not getting the hype? It has lots of the ingredients I normally love, but it just didn’t do it for me.
#326. While playing the game Street Sk8er on the PS1 entirely too much back in middle school, I heard the Weston song 'Liz Phair' probably a hundred times and there's a line where he says "you look real pretty in your video/ and you write better songs than anyone I know," and while I can't speak to the first half, the second half has proven to be a lie. None of these songs are better than... anything. Now there was that one song she wrote that you couldn't get away from all year, but I know that's not the one he was singing about, because that song wasn't out yet. And about that, while we're on the topic, this is YET ANOTHER one hit wonder that they put on this list but they didn't choose the album that the one hit is on. Nah dog, just pick an album at random and throw it on there, itll be fine. Why has that happened so much so far on this list? Why do we treat the customers the way we do? Because fuck 'em, that's why. 2/5: mid af
I literally only know of Liz Phair because Todd in the Shadows did a video about how she immolated herself by moving from whatever the fuck this album is to something "more popular" in style. Listening to this I wonder what the hell she could have done much worse. Detuned guitars seem abound, and then it strays toward noise rather than tune or melody. On some tracks I might even be tempted to say there was some country trying to creep around the edges of some of the bluesier bits. Six tracks in and I'm a ungrippered. It's not as actively bad as I initially thought, and reading through reviews suggests that it might be about the lyrics - but I have zero desire to dig any deeper. I can safely say I've tried it, and now I'm moving on. No harm no foul, if it's your thing then bonza.
I’ve always been baffled by this album. When I first started getting into music in my own, you naturally look up lists of greatest albums to see where to start. I was a huge fan of grunge and nineties rock so perfect, look up best albums of the 90s and here, this album keeps showing up. And I listened to it. And I didn’t get it. I didn’t hate it, but nothing about it screamed one of the greatest albums of all time. Now that I’m older, and have opened my mind to some albums I had rejected and loved them (I’m sorry Hole) and now…I still don’t get it. It’s honest! Awesome. Plenty of people write honest and open poetry. It doesn’t get this acclaim, even if the words are more beautiful. It’s raw! Okay? So were a lot of albums at the time. It’s a woman’s voice! True! And I can definitely see that being a factor for its popularity and acclaim. It’s just. There were women’s voices before, contemporaneous, and many after, and…those voices were just better at writing songs. At the end of the day you can make as powerful and important message as you can, but if the music isn’t interesting or good…who cares?
I was not at all into this. Simplistic lyrics, predictable other than the absolute smut of the last song. Out of nowhere! Found it annoying
I will admit that this was a fair bit better than I thought it would be going in, but the album also wore out its welcome with me about 2/3rds of the way through
I didn’t dislike necessarily but was never fully into it either. I really wonder what the guy in Flower looked like lol
This is what Courtney Love wanted to be but surpassed. This is almost insufferable. Her later stuff is way better, more produced.
Interesting, but leans too heavy into the singer songwriter stuff that I don’t care about. But, mainly influential so should be heard once before death
Notable tracks: Fuck and Run, Never Said, Glory
Meah
Ugh, I feel bad poopooing such an important feminist, although I really didn't like this. I'm gonna stuck with two stars in recognition of her important contribution to society, although I was honestly teetering on one.
Not for me.
My favorite part of the album is the extended instrumental intro to Shatter because Liz isn’t singing and I like the music. I don’t like her vocals. Flower and Johnny Sunshine were decent too.
Tämä on parhaimmillaan lyhyissä himmailuibiiseissä, joissa artistin suhde melodiaan muuttuu: sen sijaan, että kitara ja laulu muodostaisivat alati kehittyvän, kontingentin pötkön, kuten monissa levyn "rokimmissa" kappaleissa, balladeissa melodia itsessään näyttää riittäneen. Mikä lofi? Rummut ehkä, joo. 2,5
You can listen to it in the background. But it is simply boring!
Eh, kind of got bored about halfway through.
Es una música tranqui con guitarrita y supuestamente muy feminista. Me dejó muy poquito pero no me parece malo.
I had not previously heard this album. It's fairly basic 90s rock with female vocals. It was just ok. Not bad, but not great either. None of the tracks stood out to me. Would not seek this one out to listen again.
I was ok
Found it rather boring. Sorry
Quite nice energy and it felt quite modern but dull
I wasn't wowed by anything but it wasn't bad. I could see this being an inspiration for a lot of female song writers that came after this.
A boring version of Hole A punk album without any punk
After all the hype and reviews I read, I thought this would've been much better. To me this music is like a watered-down version of Juliana Hatfield. Are any of her albums on the list??? In the end, it was just ok for me.
Þetta var nú bara allt í lagi indie rokk en ekkert eitthvað stórkostlegt. Þetta ætti þess vegna bara að enda einhversstaðar í miðjunni því ég er ólíklegur að muna eftir þessu. Aftur á móti fær þetta einni stjörnunni minna vegna höfundaréttarvesens á örfáum lögum á plötunni. Búúúú!
Felt a bit miserable, and not the best singer - couldn't get into the presumably deep messages she's putting out there. Gave up before the hour was done
Did Liz Phair sell out? I only ask because I've only heard her album with "Why Can't I?" Which isn't a great album, but it was kind of fun and upbeat in some ways. Almost felt like Avril Lavigne, but this album, which came prior is totally different. She is brooding and quiet and not as exciting. I skipped a lot of songs as they were very monotone. That's why I ask if she sold out because her music changed quite a bit between albums.
Not offensively bad but just kind of boring and I dislike the singer's voice. I don't see much to recommend here.
This album is indie rock similar to PJ Harvey or Hole. Liz Phair has that annoying strong feminist feel to her, similar to Sinead O'Conner. That kinda indie/punk phase. I'm a feminist. Fuck men. Look at my tits. As a matter of fact, the album cover features her tits. Because feminism.... I guess?? Just fuckin weird. Favourite songs: Fuck and Run, Divorce Song, Never Said, 6'1" Least favourite songs: Dance of the Seven Veils, Glory, Canary 2/5
Not familiar with Liz Phair at all, but reading about her it sounded like something I might be in to. This record was fine, pretty middle of the road for 90s indie stuff. Didn't make much of an impression on me.
Too long but otherwise fine.
It started quite nice but then it was too long in the end and sounded too similar.
Irritating voice, average songs, waste of time.
Just another meh album I couldn’t be bothered with finishing.
2.5
I didn't really care for this.
I liked a few songs. Overall vocals were not great and most songs were kind of boring.
‘A girl and her guitar’ the album
Not my style. 2/5
Part of me really wants to give this a 1. Not a single song or moment stuck out to me on the whole album. It feels scattered, unstructured, and zero-dimensional to me. However, Liz is consistent with her approach and I feel like there is <i>something</i> there with some meaning in the consistency…I just don’t know what
This is alright, probably not really for me. Her voice reminds me of Courtney Love. I'm not really a fan and probably won't listen to this again.
I must say, this album really underwhelmed me. It honestly just feels like the same song 18 times. I genuinely have nothing to say about this album, it was so forgettable to the point where I feel like I can't even review it because I can't remember a single thing about it. There was nothing overtly bad about this album, but it was just so generic. While there's nothing to actively dislike here, there is nothing this album does that any other album does in a more interesting way.
4.5/10
Hun har godt nok en træls stemme.. Tænker at pladen er på listen på grund af nogle tekster, men det er svært at tænke på når de bliver leveret så ringe..
Was excited for this one but it fell flat
I don't like this kind of singer-songwiter
2*
Decent 90’s alternative album.
Niet mijn ding
This was very bland. The vocal delivery was monotonous, the band was basic, and even the lyricism wasn’t biting enough to make up for the plainness
Gear: Moondrop Variations Mische: 😴 Mugge: braucht kein Mensch Wertung: 1-2/5
It was bearable.