Exile...

It is the 15th anniversary of my most favourite albums of all time. Great little article and interview with Ms. Phair under the link.

The first Liz Phair album I heard was Whipsmart, courtesy of Rob Nikolosevic, a dude in my grade 9 class who let me listen to his copy of the album on his discman in Mr. Ross' science class. It's still my ultimate Liz Phair favourite for sentimental reasons but I love Guyville too. Say what you will about her new stuff (and I will remain silent on that!) but her early stuff has struck a chord with me again and again.

...
Looking back at Exile in Guyville, Phair sees a young woman struggling to establish some kind of control over her own life. "I kind of hear how unhappy I was. It makes my heart go out to the person I was," she says. "It's so clear to me now how unsure I was and how vulnerable I really was."

Makes a lot of sense to the 14 year-old me, or the 25 year-old me...as I remember listening to Mesmerizing and Never Said over and over for a period of a few months a few years ago when I was confused and tired and sad about all sorts of things. But I still find it to be a very comforting album, too.