From: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org (support-system-digest) To: support-system-digest@smoe.org Subject: support-system-digest V8 #147 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 Wednesday, October 26 2005 Volume 08 : Number 147 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [support-system] Somebody's Miracle (Daily Targum) [Kenneth Lee ] [support-system] live shows / growth as artist? ["Chris DeLisle" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2005 23:23:18 -0700 From: Kenneth Lee Subject: [support-system] Somebody's Miracle (Daily Targum) From The Daily Targum (Rutgers): (http://www.dailytargum.com/media/paper168/news/2005/10/25/InsideBeat/lis-Truth.Is.A.Lil.Miracle.Said.A.Naked.Kim.Somebody-1032440.shtml) "Lis Truth is a Lil' Miracle," said a Naked Kim Somebody Lis Phair "Somebody's Miracle" Capitol Records Grade: D At the first vocal note of the lead-off track on Liz Phair's fourth studio album, Somebody's Miracle, I took a very deep breath. What could be more portentous for an album than having the entire first verse of your lead-off song be completely and utterly flat. We're not talking Bob Dylan 'interestingly flat,' or slightly flat vocals over a Blues progression for an ironical effect - we're talking coffeehouse get that girl off the stage flat. Sadly, the choruses of the first song are actually quite catchy. It might be an enjoyable tune if it weren't for the key discrepancy in every verse. However, it's not all Phair's fault of course. Some blame for this clichid, repetitive, almost enjoyable nugget of sugar pop must be laid on the producer, John Alagia. There are glaring points on this album where Phair is very much out of key or just plain flat. It is literally the producer's job to find those, stop the session and re-do the part. Sour notes are enormous red flags and should have been treated as just that by the team working on this project. If Phair's production team had invested in an auto tune and spent a few more months on writing with her, "Somebody's Miracle" might be a decent record. The rest of the album follows suit in terms of song structure and chord progressions. Unfortunately, all the potential hooks on the record are either just slightly watered down versions of the hooks on the two legitimately excellent tracks ("Wind And The Mountain" and "Somebody's Miracle") or fall short of their intended mark by way of intonation or plainly boring melodies. Basically, all of the songs sound exactly the same. Track 6, "Count On My Love," disguises itself as a great song for it's first 45 seconds, sounding much like The Postal Services' "Such Great Heights". This lasts until the melody reluctantly discharges into an original Phair creation. As a pseudo guide: if you like The Postal Service, you might enjoy the verses to "Count On My Love." If, however, you are a person who deeply cares about the caliber and authenticity of an artist's songs, this might not be the album for you. The title track of the record, "Somebody's Miracle," is fantastic however. I love this song, therefore I highly recommend downloading it, but do not buy this album. Save your money for the new Nada Surf album or something. - -David Napiorski - -Ken kenmlee@ix.netcom.com MeSmErIzInG - AnOtHeR LiZ PhAiR WeBsItE http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/2471/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 09:40:25 -0500 From: Derek Donovan Subject: [support-system] Podcasts Don't forget: The podcasts are also available for free at lizphair.com. Do they cost anything at iTunes? Derek ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 14:50:26 -0400 From: "Chris DeLisle" Subject: [support-system] live shows / growth as artist? for those who have seen her live, how are the new songs? and also, the songs that she's playing now that she really hasn't much before (Shitloads Of Money, Only Son, etc.). unfortunately, she's not coming to Detroit on this leg of the tour...i don't think... what i'd really like to see Liz do some time in the future is NOT rely on her EXILE songs. i think that would show quite a bit of artistic growth in her. not sure it would ever happen ~ basically, EVERY recording artist relies on a handful (or fifteen) songs for their setlist every night. in the setlists i've seen, the EXILE songs seemed to be placed in areas that might need "propping up." i think a lot of the songs on SOMEBODY'S MIRACLE could (and that's an emphasized "could," as i'm not sure how the new songs sound in context with the entire show) sound great played live. do you think she could pull off a post-WhipSmart songs only setlist? she's got a lot of good tunes. what would a decent "post-WhipSmart songs only" setlist look like to you? for me, this would probably be a great night: 1) Jeremy Engle 2) Love / Hate 3) My Bionic Eyes 4) Stars And Planets 5) Got My Own Thing 6) Rock Me 7) Baby Got Going 8) Count On My Love 9) Red Light Fever 10) Everything (Between Us) 11) Ride 12) Lazy Dreamer 13) Why I Lie 14) Johnny Feelgood 15) It's Sweet 16) Headache 17) Fine Again 18) White Chocolate Space Egg 19) Shitloads Of Money 20) Wind And The Mountain encore: 21) Perfect World 22) Extraordinary 23) Giving It All To You looks pretty good to me. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 15:10:09 -0700 From: Kenneth Lee Subject: [support-system] Somebody's Miracle review (Austin American-Statesman) From Austin American-Statesman: (http://www.austin360.com/xl/content/music/xl/2005/10/cdreviews_10-27-05.html) No miracle in Liz Phair's attempt at mainstream Liz Phair: "Somebody's Miracle" (Capitol) 2 stars Only a churl would begrudge this former indie rock fantasy gal getting older, even changing her tune to befit (or even benefit) such maturity. But even for the detractors who found "Exile in Guyville" (understandably) overrated, it's oddly disheartening to hear Phair aim for a mainstream sound she can't ever really embody. For starters, her voice doesn't work with these big bore tunes (hearing her stretch to hit the high notes on "Wind and the Mountain" is awkward, like opening the door on someone singing in the shower). If the music weren't so pedestrian, it might sound like a backroom songwriter's audition album for big-voiced gals who can sell this stuff. But she isn't. And it doesn't. - - Joe Gross Liz Phair plays Nov. 1 at La Zona Rosa - -Ken kenmlee@ix.netcom.com MeSmErIzInG - AnOtHeR LiZ PhAiR WeBsItE http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/2471/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 15:09:56 -0700 From: Kenneth Lee Subject: [support-system] Somebody's Miracle review (People) From People: Liz Phair "Somebody's Miracle" After the mainstream breakthrough of her self-titled last disc -- which featured the VH1-ready hit "Why Can't I?" -- '90s alt-rock darling Liz Phair was exiled from indieville. But her fifth outing finds the singer-guitarist continuing to make herself right at home in more pop-friendly territory. Cuts such as the sunny "Lost Tonight" and the sweetly melancholy single "Everything To Me" are as glossily good as it gets. The deceptively breezy title tune -- the best Sheryl Crow song that Sheryl Crow never wrote -- is every bit the catchy confection that "Why Can't I?" was. Still, on tracks like the edgy rocker "Can't Get Out Of What I'm Into", this chick shows that she hasn't completely lost her attitude. 3 stars (out of 4) - - Chuck Arnold DOWNLOAD THIS: "Somebody's Miracle" - -Ken kenmlee@ix.netcom.com MeSmErIzInG - AnOtHeR LiZ PhAiR WeBsItE http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/2471/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 17:12:06 -0700 From: Kenneth Lee Subject: [support-system] Somebody's Miracle review (PopMatters) From PopMatters: (http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/p/phairliz-somebodys.shtml) LIZ PHAIR "Somebody's Miracle" (Capitol) Rating: 4 (out of 10) by David Bernard CD cover artwork rarely accurately recreates the music contained on the disc. Often the expressionist paintings and fuzzy photography are simply statements as artistic as the music itself. Every once in a while, a CD will (gasp!) feature a picture of the artist on the front. This introduces the artist to his/her audience and puts a face with a name. More established artists tend to shy away from this practice, as evidenced by Radiohead's complete lack of existence, at least art work wise, since The Bends. Thank God for Liz Phair. She bucks the trend by placing her face on the cover of Somebody's Miracle. In fact, each of her last two CDs has explained the music simply through its use of cover art. "Liz Phair" was her attempt at mainstream success. After years without a record, Liz decided to show how youthful she remained and how pertinent she was to the current music scene. In order to show that, Liz spread her legs with only a guitar blocking the view of her crotch. It foreshadowed the whoring of her sound to commercial radio stations and weepy chick flick soundtracks, as well as her last ditch effort at shocking a stuffy nation (Exhibit A: "H.W.C.", which stands for hot white cum). "Somebody's Miracle" finds Liz returning to form, or at least a diluted form of herself. Just look at the artwork. It features a close-up headshot, as if to indicate the rejection of the last album's studio sheen (sorry, Liz, I ain't buying it). More importantly it appears to by a photocopy of a photocopy. The black and white image is grainy and pixilated. Liz Phair's music on "Somebody's Miracle" reflects her current image: a bad copy of a bad copy. No longer is she trying to be shocking with "H.W.C." or spread legs. She's reserved and proper. And God dammit if that stance isn't the most boring fucking thing in the world. I miss the Liz Phair of old, the one who seemed like she'd ask you over to meet her parents, then give you a blow job in the coat closet. And now that Liz is all grown up with a kid of her own, her life is one giant snooze fest. Unlike most people, "Whitechocolatespaceegg" was my introduction to Liz, and it's also a fine album. The studio polish that many critics attacked works well with the music because it's varied, and the songs are good. They're frequently inventive and witty. But when that studio polish has few good songs behind it, as on "Somebody's Miracle", we're left with a void much deeper than is possible on lo-fi recordings. The opener, "Leap of Innocence", has an awful verse melody. It's meandering and strained, and Liz weakly goes into her falsetto. But the chorus is a catchy pop statement, as catchy as anything she's ever written. This proves the overarching theme: frequent moments of crap followed by calculated/inspired pop bliss. "Wind and the Mountain" is repetitive but expertly crafted. That only pertains to the verse. The chorus is as bloody awful as the verse of "Leap of Innocence". "Stars and Planets" has its relative charm, but the word "shine" is repeated 54 times. Christ! The title track is pure schmaltz with a wah-wah guitar and undergraduate love poetry lyrics. The verse of "Lazy Dreamer" is as adventurous as Liz gets with rhythm (it's still 4/4 time, but the snare isn't always struck on two and four!). And, of course, the first single, "Everything to Me", is a terrible exercise is excess. That song could fit in with any adult contemporary genre, be it pop, rock, or country. The CD is not all bad, and it's certainly not the complete disaster some critics want it to be. Sometimes Liz squeezes some life out of the muse, but those occasions are rare. Often the pop goodness overcomes common sense, the same way a song like "Toxic" can convert even the most grizzled pop music haters. The verse of "Count on My Love" is remarkably similar to The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights". The chorus is almost as killer, too. Then, the music drops out after the bridge (a listless bridge at that) to leave a beautiful vocal chrous. If you can remember to ignore the lyrics, "You can count on my love/ An umbrella when it's raining/ When you feel your hope is fading", you're in for glossy studio magic. If you have few discriminating tastes and cannot read or speak English, this album might be your favorite pop record this fall. Liz could have even have turned the record into a keeper if she had limited the track list to ten songs and utilized a more discerning producer. As it stands, fans will have to wait a few more years before another possible "Exile in Guyville Part Two". Guess what guys, it's never going to happen. - -Ken kenmlee@ix.netcom.com MeSmErIzInG - AnOtHeR LiZ PhAiR WeBsItE http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/2471/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 17:34:58 -0700 From: Kenneth Lee Subject: [support-system] Somebody's Miracle review (Buffalo News) From The Buffalo News: (http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20051019/1071067.asp) Two CDs are worth a listen By EMILEE LINDNER NeXt Correspondent Liz Phair's new album "Somebody's Miracle" (Capitol Records) will delight fans of all ages. With mature vocals and original songs, Phair has created music that is similar to her last self-titled album. From soft ballads to catchy choruses, each song varies in style. Girls will find it easy to relate to her lyrics about boyfriends and hardships. Some songs convey a sense of loneliness. Single "Everything to Me" differs from the radio version - for the better, but some fans say that it was overproduced. Overall, the album is excellent and Liz Phair fans will find it compelling. In You Could Have It So Better (Sony), the second album from Franz Ferdinand, the Scottish band really sounds as if they have taken to the United States with references to Lake Michigan and Coney Island. The CD starts off with a heavy note on guitar and goes right into a steady beat that lasts for about the whole album. Despite the swift pop beat, "Eleanor Put Your Boots On" was the one song that was surprising - featuring piano and a doubling vocal effect with the voice sounding a little like George Harrison's. There is little difference from the band's first self-titled album, but most people would enjoy this indie rock band gone famous. Emilee Lindner is a sophomore at Holland Central School. - -Ken kenmlee@ix.netcom.com MeSmErIzInG - AnOtHeR LiZ PhAiR WeBsItE http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/2471/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 23:03:41 -0500 From: "sandra" Subject: [support-system] I just noticed this. ooh, boy i'd love to help give you enough rope to hang yourself watch the silly things you do. - - Liz Phair ooh, boy i love you so never ever ever gonna let you go once i get my hands on you - - Shaggy and Janet Jackson YIKES!!!! sandra ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 21:31:58 -0700 From: Kenneth Lee Subject: [support-system] Somebody's Miracle review (Minneapolis City Pages) From Minneapolis / St. Paul City Pages: (http://www.citypages.com/databank/26/1299/article13813.asp) How I survived a long weekend with Liz and Sheryl Crow Triumphs Over Phair in Soccer-Mom Death Match by Matthew Wilder Liz Phair "Somebody's Miracle" Capitol Sheryl Crow "Wildflower" A&M I've spent this entire weekend engaged in a long narcissistic psychodrama about why I hate Liz Phair so much. I trotted out all her albums and listened to them over and over again and gave particular attention to her new one, "Somebody's Miracle", which even her fiercest champions seem to find flimsy and marred by few traces of genuine feeling. I read interviews with her and combed over hundreds of Amazon postings in which tearful fanatics describe the bittersweet flavor of "growing up with Liz" and feeling cheered by her early portraits of "emotionally unavailable men." I looked at photos of Liz with butterscotch hair and tanned limbs making that chin-down quasi-defiant face at the camera. I tried to empathize and reorient and reexamine and take myself out of myself. After a lot of labor, I came up with one plausible explanation for my hate. Liz Phair is not Sheryl Crow. Permit me to explain. In the midst of my Liz Phair agonies I left my apartment to visit Starbucks. I should feel guilty about this, but recent experiences at independently owned coffee shops left me bound and determined in my brand allegiance. While there, I was confronted with the latest musical selection displayed next to the row of tiny milk-chocolate bricks, Sheryl Crow's "Wildflower". Doubling up on guilt and disillusionment, I gave the "barista" 15 bucks. Upon listening to "Wildflower" I was struck by the Jungian duality of Liz and Sheryl's respective archetypes: Tattooed Yoga Mom versus Tattoo-Free Yoga Mom. (Is Sheryl a mom? Can Lance have kids? Doesn't make a difference; stay with me.) Liz's quasi-sexualizing photo art is always conflicted. She can rarely bear to look at you head-on. Meanwhile, sunshiny, highlighted Sheryl meets your gaze with the asexual frankness of the born salesperson and energetic volunteer--she's somebody who *organizes* Yoga Moms. Liz introduces inappropriate and unconvincing gobbets of dirtiness into otherwise fortysomething-friendly and expensively produced music, where Sheryl disciplines herself to stick to plants and stars and moons and "nature's poetry." Liz yearns to maintain a texture of rough-hewn aggression while Sheryl aspires and cheerfully fails to emulate Joni Mitchell. Yet, at the end of the day, both Liz and Sheryl have simultaneously created records that seem destined to amplify an unusually sensitive and vulnerable moment on the WB's "One Tree Hill". Only one of them is capable of embracing that brute fact with an open heart. What makes "Somebody's Miracle" uniquely infuriating is its attempt to clutch some vestige of "authenticity" while peddling cuddle-bug sentiment. So you have "Table for One", an unconvincingly harrowing portrait of a lonely alkie, sitting next to "Stars and Planets", which recruits Sheryl's tranquilizing country-funk to encourage us that "each frog has a prince just waiting inside him." A down-home striptease sashay bobs along the surface of "Got My Own Thing", in which Liz semi-sneers "I'd love to help give you enough rope to hang yourself," only moments before the pseudo-cathartic sunburst of "Giving It All to You", where "All this time you were a part of me/Shining like a star in my galaxy." Not since Jewel Kilcher donned neon-colored plastic pants and drenched herself in electronica has a diva so crucified herself on the altar of conflicted intentions. Sheryl, by contrast, seems to be a handcrafted jade monument to Buddhist nonattachment. Uncool in the beginning, uncool today, she manufactures forgettable, generic-sounding paeans to romantic perseverance and stress management that hit their targets and make no bones about their agenda or their audience. The chicken-fried acoustic guitars and throbbing strings are familiar to anyone who's seen a movie where Sandra Bullock or Meg Ryan pays a wistful visit to her hometown. The aching diary entry ("Wildflower") appears just before the hopeful up-tempo I-will-love-again anthem ("Lifetimes"), seconds ahead of schedule. There are no surprises or embarrassing revelations. And yet the overall effect is unexpectedly touching. The creator of "Wildflower" clearly believes in this sweet-smelling, emotionally even-tempered world with every atom of her being. Sheryl made her peace with her non-badass status decades ago. She is a middlebrow your Aunt Myrtle could love; and a surprisingly piercing ballad like "Perfect Lie", circling a small patch of melancholy over and over like an anxious dog, is as indomitably craftsmanlike as the half-caf frappuccino it helps to sell. Why does Liz's have-cake-and-eat stance infuriate me so? I think it has something to do with an infamous line from "Shitloads of Money" on her 1998 "Whitechocolatespaceegg": "It's nice to be liked/But it's better by far to get paid." I can handle that. But if Liz is going to rent herself an Avril Lavigne costume, she should go all the way and stay there. When artists arrive at a place of comfort, acclaim, and personal satisfaction, they needn't agonize over what they've lost. For a case in point, look at the record I've worn out several times over the last few months, Gwen Stefani's "Love Angel Music Baby", the greatest imaginable case for sharing one's good fortune with an audience. American music critics don't seem to know what to do with female artists they can't designate as "subversive" or "empowering" or concerned with expressing their "agency"--the pleasure-givers leave them with inappropriate geisha vibes. I could stop hating Liz if she'll give in to the impulse that generated her much-hated 2003 "Liz Phair": the desire to give in to cheese. There's a frivolous abandon to that album's shameless struggle to coin hits that beats pretending you still give a shit about "emotionally unavailable men." I could stop hating her if she'd take a page from Sheryl and just eat the goddamn cake. - -Ken kenmlee@ix.netcom.com MeSmErIzInG - AnOtHeR LiZ PhAiR WeBsItE http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/2471/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 00:02:12 -0500 From: Tyler Coates Subject: Re: [support-system] I just noticed this. yeah, I immediately noticed that (my roommate had just played "Mr Lover" on a jukebox two nights before). I'm not sure if I'm supposed to take it seriously or not. Maybe it's like what she did with "Wild Thing" and "Do You Love Me?" Tyler On 10/25/05, sandra wrote: > > ooh, boy > i'd love to help > give you enough rope to hang yourself > watch the silly things you do. > > - Liz Phair > > ooh, boy > i love you so > never ever ever gonna let you go > once i get my hands on you > > - Shaggy and Janet Jackson > > YIKES!!!! > > sandra > - -- John Tyler Coates coatesjt@gmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 01:22:55 -0400 From: Jase Subject: [support-system] Live album in the works? Check out the last part of this news piece from Billboard: http://www.billboard.com/bb/daily/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001351227 Phair Powers Up For Podcasts By John Benson, Cleveland Currently touring in support of her latest Capitol album, "Somebody's Miracle," Liz Phair says she's found a positive outlet for downtime while on the road. "I'm all about podcasting," Phair tells Billboard.com. "I'm totally fixated on it. It's what I'm into. We usually do a couple of live songs and then there are interviews. We're going to do it every Friday. It might be a little late here and there, but pretty much [it's up] every Friday." Posted on Phair's Web site, the podcasts have been well received. Last week's second update featured live performances of "Polyester Bride," from 1998's "Whitechocolatespaceegg" and the title track from the new album. There is also a "soundseeing tour" of a bus breakdown and Phair reading a short piece of original fiction. The debut podcast featured live versions of the unreleased track "Table for One" and "Baby Got Going," also from "Whitechocolatespaceegg," as well as conversations with Phair's brother and her opinion of rail travel. Light and loose is how Phair approaches the concept. "They're different," Phair says. "We record the live shows and it's very unprofessional at this point -- like, sometimes they sound good and sometimes they sound terrible but it's really fun. It's like having my own little radio show. I think it's great. We listen to all of the [National Public Radio] stuff on Sundays. It's kind of like having my own version." The 38-year old singer says she plans on touring behind "Somebody's Miracle" throughout 2006. Phair, now a Los Angeles resident, performs tonight (Oct. 25) in her former hometown of Chicago. As for any extracurricular releases, there are currently no DVD plans ("Should I have some?," she asks) and a live album remains up in the air. "No firm plans," Phair says. "But we're all talking about it." ------------------------------ End of support-system-digest V8 #147 ************************************