From: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org (support-system-digest) To: support-system-digest@smoe.org Subject: support-system-digest V8 #39 Reply-To: support-system@smoe.org Sender: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk support-system-digest Friday, May 6 2005 Volume 08 : Number 039 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [support-system] more Liz recording info [Kenneth Lee ] [support-system] promosquad trax ["over pavema" Subject: [support-system] more Liz recording info Hey, Here's some more Liz recording info: In March, Liz tracked new songs in Studio B at the Village Recording Studios in Los Angeles with Carolina-based producer John Alagia, engineer Brian Scheuble and assistant engineer Jeff Robinette. For photographic evidence, go to the news section over at Mesmerizing... - -Ken kenmlee@ix.netcom.com MeSmErIzInG - AnOtHeR LiZ PhAiR WeBsItE http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/2471/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 May 2005 10:55:53 -0400 From: Mariam Hamou Subject: [support-system] Re: support-system-digest V8 #37 I agree... This promosquad thing sucks. I was listening to some all american girl band that gave me a friggen migraine. I hated everything too - what happened to raw talent? Mariam - -- Sometimes a Dream Makes you a Slave Liz Phair ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 05 May 2005 15:35:36 -0400 From: "DarkSide oftheMoon" Subject: [support-system] not phair at all I agree with most SS reviewers about these new Liz songs. I sort of like the last Liz album but it took awhile to grow on me. These new songs however are like oatmeal - really bland. They seem to be all "relation-shippy" and devoid of anything resembling life, vitality, guitar work or substance. Did Liz write these with the Matrix again? If this is the new album I might hesitate on buying it. It doesn't sound like Liz. Come on Liz! Where's BloodKeeper or Stuck on an Island or Tell me You like me? Get some fire back in your belly! DarkSide oftheMoon ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 5 May 2005 20:23:23 -0700 (PDT) From: Jason Tedford Subject: [support-system] Just terrible Wow. I am truly mortified. These songs don't even belong in an American Pie soundtrack. Some of the blandest pop music I have ever heard. I haven't posted in awhile, but thought I should add to the voices in the hopes that Liz or her people read these things, and the overwhelming negative reactions might make them rethink what they're doing here. I will also add that I enjoy the Liz Phair album, and there are some good pop songs there. These are not. If Extraordinary couldn't take off, these will never even make it on the air. I respect Liz's choice to go the pop route if that is what she's feeling. I would just think she would at least attempt to do it well. Back to the shadows, and I hope for better things come September. - --------------------------------- Discover Yahoo! Get on-the-go sports scores, stock quotes, news & more. Check it out! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 06 May 2005 03:57:48 +0000 From: "over pavema" Subject: [support-system] promosquad trax first, thanks to ken and to whatever site manager posted up the tracks for download without having to re-live the miserable experience of visiting www.promosquad.toilet one more time. second, i know i come across as a know-it-all asswipe a lot of the time. i will say for the record right now that i definitely don't know it all, and i don't think i wipe my ass any more or less than anyone else, although i've never compared notes on that topic. for the record, i try to limit it to 3 wipes per session, but sometimes it just needs more attention. like, i rarely drink coffee, so if i give in and have a grande mocha, well, gangway, kids. but my point really is this: i'm not as much of a wise-guy groaner as you might think. it's good to hear liz doing some new songs. i don't hate the songs as much as some people do, as songs, and her voice is getting more controlled and more little-girlish as she ages (wasn't her voice deeper on 'exile' than it is now? how did that happen?). but... the production is so anonymous, dull, and almost amateurish, it's startling. not in a lo-fi way, but in a sort of, 'hey, i always WANTED to try a wah-wah pedal! let's put one here!' wha? 'everything to me' starts out like a number from 'all things must pass' and evolves quickly into something the corrs would consider uninteresting. these are probably rough cuts, so that may explain it, but the mix is so muddy. 'giving it all to you' has a nice piano line running through it, but the production is still bad. on this one, though, the band seems to be having a good time, and that counts for something. the thing about a bad production isn't that you (or i) can point to what's wrong; it just doesn't sound organic. things seem a little out of phase. 'you explode on me just like a meteorite'? is that like, 'you fuck like a volcano', only way worse? as imagery goes, it's sort of unappealing. 'lost tonight' picks up a bit where 'good love never dies' left off. a lot of people liked that song. i liked 'love/hate' and 'its sweet' and not too much else except the unreleased cuts and the EP songs. this song has that goofy synth part that was lame in 1983 and hasn't improved with age. 'somebody's miracle' starts off sounding like they started 'lost tonight' a second time by accident. but then we get the wah-wah effect that makes NO sense and is a big distraction. the thing this song really brings home is the fact that liz no longer writes unique lyrics or chord progressions or melodies. this is not a hit, but it's a song that would be at home on a faith hill record. anyone disagree? i do like the singing on this one. her voice sounds great to me. and i also don't hate the subject matter. but isn't every carolyn dawn johnson song about the exact same topic? 'part of me' is another production debacle. again the opening sequence could be on an old george harrison lp, and maybe this is intentional, who knows? i also thought the very beginning sounded like wilco from summer teeth, maybe the alternate version of 'shot in the arm'? thing here is, it could be anybody. there is NO indication here of who liz phair is or why we should care about this person singing these impersonal songs. not one telling detail, no storytelling, nothing to make you wonder what the next line might be. it's just hard to care. 'blue eyes, bluer than the bluest sky, smiling down like sunshine, everywhere you are. for you i only want the best, you only have to ask, and i'll be there for you.' this is the same person who wrote 'i can't imagine it in better terms than naked, half-awake, about to shave and go to work'? i expect that one of the songs they didn't release in this batch has the lyric, 'every day since june you've made me swoon in the august moon with your rockin' tune and your cocaine spoon'. these songs are okay if you're one of those country singers who don't really sing country. but even martina mcbride and sara evans would demand more, and so would their fans. and someone like kathleen edwards would just up and smack her. cat power would hit her in the head with a bottle. sam phillips would ignore her. aimee mann would pity her, for a few minutes. joni mitchell would turn her off. paula abdul would tell her how she is like a beautiful flower just beginning to bloom. capitol may tell her to go back to the drawing board, and never, ever let her boyfriend anywhere near the control room. as a producer, he is a walking disaster. the hopeful view is that these songs tell us exactly why capitol pushed the release date back, to give her a chance to snap out of it and fix these things. either that, or it is a big conspiracy to annoy me, by officially releasing these tracks and 9 more just like 'em on my birthday. d'oh! / p ------------------------------ End of support-system-digest V8 #39 ***********************************