From: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org (support-system-digest) To: support-system-digest@smoe.org Subject: support-system-digest V8 #150 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 Saturday, October 29 2005 Volume 08 : Number 150 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [support-system] Somebody's Miracle review (Columbus Dispatch) [Kenneth L] [support-system] Billboard charts ["Derek McGough" Subject: [support-system] Somebody's Miracle review (Columbus Dispatch) From The Columbus Dispatch: (http://www.dispatch.com/weekender/weekender.php?story=dispatch/2005/10/27/20051027-W9-00.html) "Somebody's Miracle" Liz Phair (Capitol): It would be unkind to begrudge Phair a little happiness. But her thin, scratchy voice is best-suited to edgy, sarcastic lyrics and low-key instrumentals. The stark "Table for One" ("I'm reaching back through a hole in the wall's insulation / I'm pulling out a bottle of vodka") and the feisty "Got My Own Thing" ("Oooh boy, I'd love to help / Give you enough rope to hang yourself") cut straight through the blather. But for most of "Somebody's Miracle", her voice is overpowered by standard-issue pop sounds, and her upbeat lyrics don't have the conviction of the more somber ones. Other songs sag with listless lyrics such as "For you I only want the best / You only have to ask, and I'll be there for you." - -- Margaret Quamme - -Ken kenmlee@ix.netcom.com MeSmErIzInG - AnOtHeR LiZ PhAiR WeBsItE http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/2471/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 20:47:14 +1000 From: "Derek McGough" Subject: [support-system] Billboard charts Hi there, After last week's massive fall on the Billboard top 200 albums it is no surprise to notice that "Somebody's Miracle" is absent from this week's chart. As far as I am aware, this two-week chart stay is the shortest of her album career. Everything to Me is up again on Adult Top 40 at #28. Derek ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 14:40:57 -0700 From: Kenneth Lee Subject: [support-system] Somebody's Miracle review (Trouser Press) From Trouser Press: (http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=liz_phair) On "Somebody's Miracle", Phair completes an artistic collapse of almost unprecedented proportion, matched perhaps only by Rod Stewart and Fat Elvis. Without a bothersome leftover half of a decent album to deal with, Phair is able to throw herself wholeheartedly into the type of banal, greeting-card rubbish that even Diane Warren would probably find trite. In a major miscalculation, Phair has chosen to forego the Matrix, who at least understood how to utilize Phair's strengths and minimize her weaknesses. Instead, Phair uses her hacks of choice. Producers John Alagia and John Shanks (who've helmed albums by such artistic titans as John Mayer and Sheryl Crow) polish the backing tracks to a generic commercial luster but are clueless what to do with her singular voice - they just toss it into the mix and let it fend for itself. The flat, nasal honk that was so perfectly suited to sing Liz Phair songs sounds completely lost in this slick environment as it wanders everywhere except the vicinity of the right note or key. One would almost feel sorry for Phair if it werent for the fact that she did this to herself. It's difficult to figure out who Phair imagines is the market for this. She's told her original audience to fuck off in no uncertain terms, but it's hard to picture a mainstream audience embracing "Somebody's Miracle" to the extent they did Liz Phair. The market is already oversaturated by more saleable cupcakes doing this sort of crap, and most of them can actually sing. As bad as she sucks, Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" kicks "Somebody's Miracle"'s ass without even going to the gym. Isolated pockets of desperate fans may still cling to the hope that this is all some sort of elaborate joke on Phair's part, and that she's intentionally satirizing Top 40 pop, but that seems increasingly unlikely. God help her, she seems sincere. [Ira Robbins / Brad Reno] - -Ken kenmlee@ix.netcom.com MeSmErIzInG - AnOtHeR LiZ PhAiR WeBsItE http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/2471/ ------------------------------ End of support-system-digest V8 #150 ************************************