Underrated Albums: Liz Phair

"That's what good about [this album]: it's as exuberant, irreverent, and exciting as any other bubblegum pop, defiantly silly and shallow, but also deliriously hooky . . . these are terrific, addictive pop songs that are harder and tougher yet feel fresher and lighter than her big hits from [her last album]. . . . True, this is far from deep, but [her last album] proved that . . . deep . . . is . . . dull" - the Allmusic Guide.

Quiz: does this 4.5 star review refer to Liz Phair's self-titled album or Avril Lavigne's The Best Damn Thing?

Considering the title of this post, you've probably already guessed the answer--Lavigne--but it is somewhat staggering to read this review after reading what Allmusic had to say about Phair's album: criticizing Phair's use of Lavigne's production team The Matrix (on 4 tracks), they castigate her album for "delivering music that not just fits comfortably with Lavigne's, but follows her sounds and stance, right down to the insipid lyrics."

The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2.5 stars) makes the same point: "The unimaginative production--including lacquered contributions from Avril Lavigne's studio gurus, the Matrix--embraces the pop-rock formulas Phair once gleefully subverted" (p. 634).

And yet, Lavigne's three albums all received relatively positive reviews--65, 68, and 66 on Metacritic to Liz Phair's 40 (including a scathing 0 review from Pitchfork). The overwhelming disdain for this album as having come from a supposed indie rocker like Phair makes the actual criticisms almost beside the point. What's going on is obvious: critics don't actually have a problem with Avril Lavigne or pop music, but simply cannot stand the idea that Liz Phair, their indie goddess, might want to make music like Lavigne.

I hope you know where this is going. All the pieces in this series have made the same point: whether it's the Rolling Stones, Husker Du, the Traveling Wilburys, or John Lennon, the first step of evaluating an album seemingly out of place in an artist's catalog is to completely ignore the name on the front of the record.

Because, ignoring the name on the CD, Liz Phair is a tremendous mainstream pop-rock record, many times better than anything Avril, Britney, Shakira, or even Pink has been able to come up with. If Avril Lavigne had released Liz Phair, the praise for her new found depth and even hooks would have been overwhelming.

Underrated Albums: Unfinished Music #1: Two Virgins

The Critics

Critics have been single-minded in their dismissal of this album, but their objections are essentially amount to a basic objection to the premises of the project, mixed in with some factual inaccuracies. The Allmusic Guide, in its 1.5/5 star review, claims that the album "contains no music that would interfere with one's ability to hear the normal sounds of life":

"The record is not unlike what you might get if you turned on a tape recorder for a random half-hour in your home — snatches of inaudible conversation far away from the microphone, footsteps, wind, and so on. Conceptual 'music' in the Cage-ian sense, yes, but not popular music of the kind with which John Lennon had been previously associated in any sense at all"

Musichound, in a "woof!" (0 star) review warns that "the early experimental albums with Yoko Ono . . . are avant garde works comprised of static, spoken word, and repetition. They may have some historical interest or collectors' value -- particularly the original nude cover of Two Virgins -- but as collectors know, value goes up if the covers aren't opened. And you won't miss much if you don't open these" (p. 667).

The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, in a 1.5/5 review makes almost the identical point: "Rather than the inert 'avant-garde' conceptual sound pieces, the real subjects of these albums [Wedding Album, Two Virgins, and Life with the Lions] are the private art games of John and Yoko. If you are obsessed with the couple, enjoy. Most will settle for a glance at the once-scandalous cover of Two Virgins."

These are clearly written by and intended for fans of traditional pop/rock music with no interest in the experimental movement (you can feel the contempt for non-pop music in Rolling Stone's scare quote around "avant-garde"), but even so, they show a surprising lack of knowledge. To refer to the soundscape on this record, for example, as "the normal sounds of life" is bizarre in the extreme, primarily because - seriously? This is what your normal life sounds like? But more importantly for its complete factual inaccuracy.

Wikipedia gives us some basics of the recording process: "The recording consists largely of tape loops, playing while Lennon tries out different instruments (piano, organ, drums) and sound effects (including reverb, delay and distortion), changes tapes and plays other recordings, and converses with Ono, who vocalises ad-lib in response to the sounds." Clearly not simply a tape machine left on while Lennon and Ono farted around the house. Instead, if we listen with an open mind, we find that Lennon and Ono have very clear ideas about what they are trying to produce.