Track Listing

1. Extraordinary
2. Red Light Fever
3. Why Can't I?
4. It's Sweet
5. Rock Me
6. Take A Look
7. Little Digger
8. Firewalker
9. Favorite
10. Love/Hate
11. H.W.C.
12. Bionic Eyes
13. Friend Of Mine
14. Good Love Never Dies

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7650 in Music
• Released on: 2003-06-24
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Enhanced, Explicit Lyrics

Amazon.com
Eponymous albums are usually either debuts or the work of musicians trying to introduce themselves to a new audience. Count Liz Phair among the latter. It’s Phair's fourth studio album, but her first since 1998, and it's a long way from the arty, low-fi sound that marked her true full-length debut, 1993's Exile in Guyville. Phair has developed into a considerably more confident singer, while her songs and the production they receive here are as slick and radio-friendly as anything by, say, Avril Lavigne. That’s no surprise, since Lavigne's production team, the Matrix, produced many of the tracks here. (The rest are helmed by LA rock stalwarts Michael Penn and Pete Yorn producer R. Walt Vincent.) Sex is still Phair's primary subject, whether it’s comparing a lover to a comfortable pair of old underwear ("Favorite"), asking a much younger man to "Rock Me" all night long, or praising the beauty benefits of oral sex ("H.W.C."). The only time Phair lets the cheery facade crack a bit is on "Little Digger," on which Phair tries to explain to her young son why the man she's currently dating is not the boy's father. Who could've guessed that even the freest, best-protected sex could have such far-reaching, unintended consequences? --Keith Moerer

Customer Reviews

Seems desperate to me-
Very disappointed. Heard her on NPR and she seems to be getting a bit desperate as her career progresses. Album has 2 good classic Phair tunes other than that she sounds like a whiner. As a women, I would say grow up- if you even start going down the Allanis Morrosette road- Don't, you would be a sell-out and let us all down as women. Who cares- you like sex!!!!!

Apology and Review!
Years ago when this came out I didn't like it because my friend S---- got OBESSESSED with La Liz and spent all his time ont eh Internet and listening to her that we didn't do scenes together (we are actors and if you don't do your scenes you lose your chops). He called her his favorite MELF (which is a very degrading word I wont tell what it means in case there are women reading this). AngryI got made so I spread some rumours about liz Phair first atn school then ion the net! I know that thye must have hurt her. They were very hurtful and wrong. Liz I am sorry for any pain I caused you. Good news. I have since repaired my friendship and have given this cd another try and it is Great! So, forgibve me Liz and make more music!

Refreshing honesty and joyful pop
The fourth album by Liz Phair, the darling of the indie rock scene when she released her debut ten years prior to this re-invention of sorts, is a nice mix of the old and the new. Yet, many of the critics of this release lament the blatant pop quality of some of the songs that found their way into regular radio airplay as well as movie soundtracks. Let me get something straight; the Beatles have been hailed as the greatest rock band of all time by largely focusing on pop songs and yet Liz Phair is ostracized as a sell-out when she does the same? Factor in the scads of reviewers who can't reconcile or stomach a woman writing a song about semen when the entire history of macho rock and roll has focused on the male perspective of sex and objectified women's bodies and sex far beyond the pale and we have evidence of something more closely resembling latent misogyny or at the very least a double standard rather than an opposition to a cd which has a far more approachable radio-friendly vibe than they were expecting from the pigeon holing they demand of artists.
"Red Light Fever" is a pointed and emotionally-stirring song, "Why Can't I?" is fun and catchy and the heartbreaking "Little Digger" shows the world through the eyes of a child who carries the confusion and scars of his parents' divorce. These are songs straight from the life of a woman going through divorce, starting to date again, discovering younger lovers, feeling comfortable in her new life, and trying to make sense of it all. Phair has been nothing if not lyrically blunt and she keeps that trademark alive on this cd. The aforementioned "H.W.C." is funny yes, but moreover, in your face and the kind of song we should be thanking her for writing. Stop the over-romanticizing of love and sex and just tell it like it is. I'm glad she avoids the cowardly and sophomoric metaphors everyone from Prince to Kiss to Madonna to Aerosmith and all points in between have used to talk about sex and just talks like an adult. How refreshing. Why does that make so many people uncomfortable? Clearly your discomfort says more about you than her.
There are enough songs on here that hearken back to her previous lo-fi releases to satisfy hardcore traditionalists, but it's the proudly poppy songs that keep this cd in heavy rotation for me years after its release.