Girly-Sound | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Demo album (Bootleg)by | ||||
Released | 1991 May 4, 2018 | |||
Recorded | 1991 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 154:31(Remastered version) | |||
Label |
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Producer | Liz Phair | |||
Girly-Sound chronology | ||||
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Singles from Girly-Sound To Guyville: The 25th Anniversary Box Set | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
Girly-Sound is the name under which singer-songwriter Liz Phair recorded three self-produced cassettes in 1991. The cassettes were later made available as bootlegs, some songs saw official releases, and the tapes were released in their entirety in 2018. Girly-Sound is also the name used to refer to the demos or bootlegs collectively. The recordings have been called "legendary" by Spin Magazine [2] and by AllMusic "one of the most popular and sought-after alternative rock bootlegs of all time". [1]
Recorded on a 4-track cassette recorder in her childhood bedroom at her parents' house, copies of the tapes were initially given by Phair to only two people in 1991: friends and fellow musicians Chris Brokaw and Tae Won Yu. However, copies of the Girly-Sound tapes were passed from person to person and became something of a sensation in the American tape trading/zine subculture. [3] Brokaw later told Rolling Stone how he had urged Phair to record something and a few months later received a tape of 14 songs, with a second 14-song tape following a month later. [4] In 1992, Phair signed a deal with Matador Records on the strength of a demo tape she had sent them of six Girly-Sound songs. [4] [5] [6]
Phair has frequently gone back and reworked many of the songs for her studio albums throughout her career: she told Rolling Stone "I go in there and rip stuff off – it's like a library". [4] Much of Phair's debut album Exile in Guyville contains reworkings of songs from these tapes. [3] However, the content of some of these tracks was modified in ways that altered meanings and messages; in "Flower" the line "I'll fuck you and your girlfriend, too" was changed to "I'll fuck you and your minions, too." [7] In addition to this, the final chorus of "Bomb" which tells of a passenger on a plane sabotaging and taking it out was entirely removed; the title of the song was changed to "Stratford-on-Guy" and a new chorus was written. Reworkings of "Ant in Alaska" and "Wild Thing" appeared on the 2008 reissue of Exile in Guyville. [8]
Five songs were officially released in 1995 on the Juvenilia EP and a bonus disc of ten Girly-Sound songs was included with the physical release of Phair's 2010 album Funstyle . [5]
Although originally consisting of a total of three cassettes, the most common version of the Girly-Sound tapes that circulated among Phair's fans was an incomplete two-disc compilation of songs from all three tapes, released on the Bliss and Fetish bootleg label, and processed with harsh digital noise reduction. An earlier bootleg compilation of Girly-Sound material, Secretly Timid, was also circulated. Early in 2006, mp3s of first-generation copies of the first two tapes were introduced via Phair's online community, bringing to light the original track listing, correct song names, tape titles, and introducing a number of songs that did not appear on the previous Girly-Sound bootlegs. Information about the third Girly-Sound tape, Sooty, was elusive until the 2018 release of Girly-Sound to Guyville, in which it was presented in its entirety.
In 2018, for the 25th anniversary of its original release, Matador Records released a repackaged edition of Exile in Guyville called Girly-Sound to Guyville which included remastered versions of all three Girly-Sound tapes. [9] At the same time, the tapes themselves were separately released digitally under the title The Girly-Sound Tapes. [10] This release omitted "Fuck or Die" and "Shatter" due to sample clearance issues. [11]
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AllMusic rated the demos 4.5/5, noting some weak tracks but finding others "as tuneful and provoking as anything on her official albums". [1]
All tracks are written by Liz Phair, unless otherwise noted
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "White Babies" | 3:06 |
2. | "Shane" | 4:46 |
3. | "Six Dick Pimp" | 3:19 |
4. | "Divorce Song" | 3:47 |
5. | "Go West" | 3:23 |
6. | "Don't Hold Your Breath" (Stylized as "Dn'tholdyrbreath") | 3:59 |
7. | "Johnny Sunshine" | 3:51 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Miss Lucy" | 2:18 | |
2. | "Elvis Song" | 4:56 | |
3. | "Dead Shark" | 3:24 | |
4. | "One Less Thing" | 4:38 | |
5. | "Money" | 3:36 | |
6. | "In Love With Yourself" (Stylized as "In Love W/Yself") | 3:58 | |
7. | "Fuck or Die" |
| 3:20 |
All tracks are written by Liz Phair, unless otherwise noted
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Hello Sailor" |
| 5:57 |
2. | "Wild Thing" |
| 3:41 |
3. | "Fuck and Run" | 4:31 | |
4. | "Easy Target" |
| 5:04 |
5. | "Soap Star Joe" | 3:24 | |
6. | "Ant in Alaska" | 7:11 | |
7. | "Girls! Girls! Girls!" (Stylized as "GIRLSGIRLSGIRLS") | 6:56 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Polyester Bride" | 7:39 | |
2. | "Thrax" | 4:35 | |
3. | "Miss Mary Mack" | 4:32 | |
4. | "Clean" | 3:59 | |
5. | "Love Song" | 6:20 | |
6. | "Valentine" | 4:15 | |
7. | "Shatter" |
| 6:51 |
Source: [12]
Track order was obtained from the 2018 Girly-Sound to Guyville release.
All tracks are written by Liz Phair, unless otherwise noted
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Gigolo" | 3:25 | |
2. | "Flower" | 2:48 | |
3. | "Batmobile" | 3:10 | |
4. | "Slave" |
| 3:50 |
5. | "Open Season" | 2:59 | |
6. | "Whip-Smart [12] " |
| 3:30 |
Year | Album | Song |
---|---|---|
1991 | Chinny Chin Chin: 4 N.Y. Bands | "White Babies" |
1993 | Exile in Guyville | |
"Divorce Song" | ||
"Johnny Sunshine" | ||
"Wild Thing" | ||
"Fuck and Run" | ||
"Soap Star Joe" | ||
"Ant in Alaska" | ||
"Girls! Girls! Girls!" | ||
"Clean" (as "Never Said") | ||
"Shatter" | ||
"Flower" | ||
"Bomb" (as "Stratford-on-Guy") | ||
1994 | Whip-Smart | "Shane" |
"Go West" | ||
"Thrax" (as "Jealousy") | ||
"Whip-Smart" | ||
"Chopsticks" | ||
1996 | Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy Soundtrack | "Six Dick Pimp" |
1998 | whitechocolatespaceegg | "Money" (as "Shitloads of Money") |
"Polyester Bride" | ||
"Thrax" (as "Tell Me You Like Me") | ||
2005 | Somebody's Miracle | "Gigolo" (as "Can't Get Out of What I'm Into") |
Year | Album | Song |
---|---|---|
1995 | Juvenilia | "California" |
"Batmobile" | ||
"South Dakota" | ||
"Dead Shark" | ||
"Easy" | ||
1997 | Chasing Amy Soundtrack | "California" |
2010 | Funstyle (bonus disc) | "Miss Mary Mack" |
"White Babies" | ||
"Elvis Song" | ||
"Valentine" | ||
"Speed Racer" | ||
"In Love With Yourself" | ||
"Wild Thing" | ||
"Love Song" | ||
"Don't Hold Your Breath" | ||
"California" |
Elizabeth Clark Phair is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Phair was raised primarily in the Chicago area. After graduating from Oberlin College in 1990, she attempted to start a musical career in San Francisco, California, but returned to her home in Chicago, where she began self-releasing audio cassettes under the name Girly-Sound. The tapes led to a recording contract with the independent record label Matador Records.
The Beatles' bootleg recordings are recordings of performances by the Beatles that have attained some level of public circulation without being available as a legal release. The term most often refers to audio recordings, but also includes video performances. Starting with vinyl releases in the 1970s, through CD issues in the late 1980s, and continuing with digital downloads starting in the mid 1990s, the Beatles have been, and continue to be, among the most bootlegged artists.
Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of mainly indie rock, but also punk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronic acts.
Exile in Guyville is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Liz Phair, released on June 22, 1993, by Matador Records. It was recorded at Idful Music Corporation in Chicago between 1992 and 1993 and produced by Phair and Brad Wood. The album received critical acclaim and in 2020, it was ranked No. 56 by Rolling Stone in its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. It was certified gold in 1998.
All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling is a cassette released in 1994 by Canadian musician Efrim Menuck, using the name God Speed You Black Emperor!. Given a limited release of 33 cassette copies in December 1994, the album quickly fell into obscurity and was thought lost by the band's fans, often described as the "Holy Grail of Post-Rock". Segments of the tape were leaked online in 2013 and the full recording surfaced in 2022, after which Menuck officially re-released the album on Bandcamp.
Pussy Galore was an American garage rock band formed by students at Brown University in 1984. They had a constantly fluid line-up until their demise in 1990, with vocalist-guitarist Jon Spencer as the sole member through the band's history. They took their name from the character in the James Bond film Goldfinger, and their sound was an irreverent experimental blues rock influenced by The Rolling Stones and Einstürzende Neubauten.
Whip-Smart is the second album by American singer-songwriter Liz Phair, released in 1994, the follow-up to Phair's critically well received debut, 1993's Exile in Guyville. Despite not being as critically well received as her previous record, Whip-Smart debuted at No. 27 on the Billboard 200 and ultimately achieved gold status. As of July 2010, it had sold 412,000 copies.
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Chris Brokaw is an American musician, best known for his work with the bands Come and Codeine.
Juvenilia is an EP by American singer-songwriter Liz Phair, released in 1995. The EP is essentially a single for the song "Jealousy" from the album Whip-Smart, though this release includes a few songs recorded by Phair under her Girly-Sound moniker in 1991, namely "California," "South Dakota," "Batmobile," "Dead Shark," and "Easy."
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