Exile In Guyville : Liz Phair : Review : Rolling Stone

Ten years before the blog boom, Phair practiced oversharing as performance art — to create a virtually perfect debut. Released in 1993, and billed as a song-by-song response to the Stones' Exile on Main Street, Exile in Guyville was a peep show of sexual and emotional bravado, conducted over scrappy rock riffs. A 26-year-old indie babe who dropped bons mots like "I want to be your blow-job queen" (see "Flower"), Phair commanded attention, though much of it came from clueless dudes who just wanted the sex talk without the complicated emotions Phair brought to it. Yet 15 years later, her debut still sounds as brazen and heartbroken as ever. When she sings, "I want a boyfriend," on "Fuck and Run" — a cotton-mouthed half-apology over brittle rhythm guitar and muted drums — she nails the struggle between dependence and independence at the heart of romance.

Phair's glossier subsequent releases increasingly snubbed the indie-rock world, which never really forgave her. So along with three bonus tracks from the pre-Guyville demos collection Girly Sounds (check out the dub-reggae lark "Say You"), this reissue includes a 60-minute, Phair-directed documentary about Guyville that's a group-therapy session with peers and fans. Phair even hugs it out with Urge Overkill's Nash Kato after confessing that Guyville was written largely about him. A must-see for alt-rock obsessives, the film dissects a record whose rawness remains as compelling for guys as for women. As Phair's Windy City pal John Cusack notes, "A man could listen to you revile him for hours..."

WILL HERMES

(Posted: Jun 26, 2008)

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Track List

Play All

6'1"
Help Me Mary
Glory
Dance Of The Seven Veils
Never Said
Soap Star Joe
Explain It To Me
Canary
Mesmerizing
F*ck and Run
Girls, Girls, Girls
Divorce song
Shatter
Flower
Johnny Sunshine
Gunshy
Stratford-On-Guy
Strange Loop
Ant In Alaska (Bonus) (track not available in Rhapsody)
Say You (Bonus) (track not available in Rhapsody)
Instrumentals (Bonus) (track not available in Rhapsody)

Your Turn

Give us your review of Exile In Guyville

Review 1 of 4

Not Rated

Stratford-on-Guy is 'near perfect poetry'? No wonder this is what you consider a great album. Liz Phair is and was always a poseur - at best.

Aug 2, 2008 21:52:11

Review 2 of 4

5of 5 Stars

I just love this album. So effin much. "Divorce Song" is just amazing. "Flower" is funny. "F--k and Run" is sad. If a song wants a reaction, it gets the reaction, and then some.

Jun 24, 2008 10:39:38

Review 3 of 4

5of 5 Stars

certainly not overrated, if something, it's underrated. some people think it's just this chick cursing, saying f-ck, c-nt, d-ck. but that's only because critics keep quoting those lines. the eighteen songs of eig are more than that. we got shatter, where she examines the many ways she fears getting into a relationship. we got the near perfect poetry of stratford-on-guy. we got the john the baptist retelling of dance of the seven veils. the underdog anthem of canary. the whole thing is an alarming, smart, emotional accomplishment.

the album is iconic but only to a certain generation. it deserves to be iconic to all. it sure beats alanis.

Jun 16, 2008 06:57:31

Review 4 of 4

Not Rated

This was over-rated in 1993 and it is still over-rated in 2008. A lot of swearing does not make for insight.

Jun 14, 2008 17:02:01

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