From: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org (support-system-digest) To: support-system-digest@smoe.org Subject: support-system-digest V8 #118 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 Tuesday, September 20 2005 Volume 08 : Number 118 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [support-system] Amazon.com review of Somebody's Miracle [Tyler Coates ] Re: [support-system] Closer To You [Christine Hademan Subject: [support-system] Amazon.com review of Somebody's Miracle Not sure if anyone's seen this yet, but it's an interesting review. Is Liz Phair apologizing? It would be easy to get that impression from the title track of Somebody's Miracle. Suddenly the singer who was once known for her jaded lyrics and liberal use of the "f" word, is throwing around different kinds of "f" words altogether. "Faith?" "Fairytale?" Once, a generation of young women turned to Phair to express their collective rage at emotionally unavailable men. Now it's all about frogs with princes inside, and her regret over fleeing relationships with a few good men. My, how times have changed. Some tracks on this album, including "Got My Own Thing," "Why I Lie," and "Can't Get Out of What I'm into," go back to Phair's more cynical roots. (In fact, "Can't Get Out," dates back to the singer's early demos.) But it seems clear that her overall trend towards pop (exhibited on her self-titled CD from 2003) is continuing. And who can blame her? Exile in Guyville was a breakthrough, but it left her in a real bind. A decade plus later, a still-bitter Liz would probably seem tiresome and immature. A happier, hopeful Liz could be accused of going soft. Phair doesn't need her angry-girl persona to prove she has talent, but she may still need it to stand out from the crowd. After all, do we really need another pop song like "Stars and Planets" telling us "we all shine, shine, shine?" The question Somebody's Miracle raises is: can Liz Phair drop some of her attitude without losing all of her edge? --Leah Weathersby Tyler. - -- John Tyler Coates coatesjt@gmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2005 23:46:30 -0500 From: Tyler Coates Subject: [support-system] Closer To You I thought Liz said that "Closer To You" wouldn't be on the album, yet Amazon has it in the tracklisting. Tyler. - -- John Tyler Coates coatesjt@gmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 09:08:26 -0700 (GMT-07:00) From: Christine Hademan Subject: Re: [support-system] Closer To You I believe it is on the Japanese import version...but it is not on the American release. - -----Original Message----- From: Tyler Coates Sent: Sep 18, 2005 9:46 PM To: support-system@smoe.org Subject: [support-system] Closer To You I thought Liz said that "Closer To You" wouldn't be on the album, yet Amazon has it in the tracklisting. Tyler. - -- John Tyler Coates coatesjt@gmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2005 00:58:32 -0400 (EDT) From: owner-support-system@smoe.org Subject: [none] [64.233.162.206]) by smoe.org (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id j8JMESIZ002604 for ; Mon, 19 Sep 2005 18:14:31 -0400 (EDT) Received: by zproxy.gmail.com with SMTP id o37so720342nzf for ; Mon, 19 Sep 2005 15:14:23 -0700 (PDT) DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=beta; d=gmail.com; h=received:message-id:date:from:reply-to:to:subject:mime-version:conte nt-type; b=AyzDkaLxwCD82fLksKadgHIDCyUbBSK3w4AfyN+uHv6zSq1CkUsVOtBVZgIrJKb9eIjE FKX6lmyd5wNV3v+ozbww/06+qYCSnWDLzknvH49ZQQ1eWYFIMIE2+l0JueQU9ycI8Bso2l zgcRrM2j51D3fQ2wo7GhPf7gkJPi7mjBk= Received: by 10.54.56.64 with SMTP id e64mr1395555wra; Mon, 19 Sep 2005 15:07:45 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.54.63.11 with HTTP; Mon, 19 Sep 2005 15:07:45 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 17:07:45 -0500 From: Tyler Coates Reply-To: coatesjt@gmail.com To: support-system@smoe.org Subject: [support-system] My take on the new album. Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on jane.smoe.org X-Spam-Status: No, hits=0.0 required=5.0 tests=HTML_MESSAGE autolearn=no version=2.63 X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV 0.86.1/1090/Mon Sep 19 17:29:31 2005 on smoe.org X-Virus-Status: Clean X-Greylist: IP, sender and recipient auto-whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-2.0 (smoe.org [199.201.145.78]); Mon, 19 Sep 2005 18:14:32 -0400 (EDT) X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative by demime 0.97c-p1 X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain Sender: owner-support-system@smoe.org Precedence: bulk I just downloaded the album about three hours ago, so all of this is fresh in my mind. I was kind of shocked when I heard Liz's voice at the beginning of "Leap of Innocence." I thought, "Whoa, that's Liz's voice!" I think that's one thing I really enjoy about this album: the vocal work is pretty top-notch. There are wavering moments, but I feel like I expect that from Liz's voice anyway. It's nowhere near the huge vocal production of "Why Can't I." The only problem I have with the vocals is that they seem out of place with the huge music. I think this album is stuck somewhere between WCSE and Liz Phair. I think she could have made this even if she didn't release the self-titled; maybe this was her original post-WCSE egg direction, and she used the popularity of the last album to propel her true intentions for her music. (But of course Liz will NEVER admit what everyone wants her to: that the self-titled album was sort of a sell-out that would enable her to be more recognizable and still be in control of her sound). So far, my favorite songs are "Table For One," "Somebody's Miracle," "Can't Get Out of What I'm Into," "Got My Own Thing," and "Everything To Me." "Table For One" is just fantastic; it's a goddamned beautiful song. "Can't Get Out" can never compare to the original demo, but it makes me happy that the vocals sounded pretty similar (and how could they not? Can you imagine Liz's "new voice" singing such a dark song?). "Somebody's Miracle" and "Everything To Me" are the poppy, radio-friendly tunes: they're not too jarring and loud like the rest of the album are, and I think they're pretty sweet songs. "Everything To Me" really grew on me after I repeatedly listened to the steaming version on Liz's website, and when I heard "Somebody's Miracle" live in Washington, I had it in my head for a week. "Got My Own Thing" makes me laugh. Remember on the podcast when Liz introduces "Wild Thing," she talks about how she used to rip-off famous songs and make them her own? Well, she said that she "sorta does the same thing" on the new album, and I think this one is it. The chorus reminds me of that damn Shaggy song with Janet Jackson "Mr. Lover". "Ooh, boy, I love you so..." And at the end it reminds me of "There She Goes Again." Then again, "Count On My Love" is playing as I write this and it made me think of The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights." I agree with whoever wrote that this really stands out from the rest of what Liz has done. I still don't think it's on par with her first three albums, but like the self-titled, I can see that it'll grow on me. Tyler. - -- John Tyler Coates coatesjt@gmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 17:07:45 -0500 From: Tyler Coates Subject: [support-system] My take on the new album. I just downloaded the album about three hours ago, so all of this is fresh in my mind. I was kind of shocked when I heard Liz's voice at the beginning of "Leap of Innocence." I thought, "Whoa, that's Liz's voice!" I think that's one thing I really enjoy about this album: the vocal work is pretty top-notch. There are wavering moments, but I feel like I expect that from Liz's voice anyway. It's nowhere near the huge vocal production of "Why Can't I." The only problem I have with the vocals is that they seem out of place with the huge music. I think this album is stuck somewhere between WCSE and Liz Phair. I think she could have made this even if she didn't release the self-titled; maybe this was her original post-WCSE egg direction, and she used the popularity of the last album to propel her true intentions for her music. (But of course Liz will NEVER admit what everyone wants her to: that the self-titled album was sort of a sell-out that would enable her to be more recognizable and still be in control of her sound). So far, my favorite songs are "Table For One," "Somebody's Miracle," "Can't Get Out of What I'm Into," "Got My Own Thing," and "Everything To Me." "Table For One" is just fantastic; it's a goddamned beautiful song. "Can't Get Out" can never compare to the original demo, but it makes me happy that the vocals sounded pretty similar (and how could they not? Can you imagine Liz's "new voice" singing such a dark song?). "Somebody's Miracle" and "Everything To Me" are the poppy, radio-friendly tunes: they're not too jarring and loud like the rest of the album are, and I think they're pretty sweet songs. "Everything To Me" really grew on me after I repeatedly listened to the steaming version on Liz's website, and when I heard "Somebody's Miracle" live in Washington, I had it in my head for a week. "Got My Own Thing" makes me laugh. Remember on the podcast when Liz introduces "Wild Thing," she talks about how she used to rip-off famous songs and make them her own? Well, she said that she "sorta does the same thing" on the new album, and I think this one is it. The chorus reminds me of that damn Shaggy song with Janet Jackson "Mr. Lover". "Ooh, boy, I love you so..." And at the end it reminds me of "There She Goes Again." Then again, "Count On My Love" is playing as I write this and it made me think of The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights." I agree with whoever wrote that this really stands out from the rest of what Liz has done. I still don't think it's on par with her first three albums, but like the self-titled, I can see that it'll grow on me. Tyler. - -- John Tyler Coates coatesjt@gmail.com ------------------------------ End of support-system-digest V8 #118 ************************************