Liz Phair
Whip-Smart (Matador) (STAR)(STAR)(STAR)
Following up “Exile in Guyville,” which is shaping up as one of the decade’s defining albums, Phair has made a 14-song disc (in stores next Tuesday) nearly as good. Celebrated as a lyricist, Phair’s most underrated strength is her way with a tune, her feel for the sneaky hook that reels in the listener. That’s never more apparent than on the “Whip-Smart” title track, which melds chirping crickets, a drum loop and a “double dutch” nursery rhyme chorus via Malcolm McLaren into a pop epiphany. Also first-rate: the atmospheric opener, “Chopsticks”; the gorgeous ballad “Nashville”; the Stonesy “Cinco de Mayo”; and the dancing-on-his-grave finale, “May Queen.” The lyrics are more fanciful, once removed from the toxic and intoxicating intimacy of “Guyville,” but still examining the same terrain-relationships and why they go wrong-with bile, wit and a wink. There are also a handful of clunkers: “Crater Lake,” “Alice Spring” and “Shane” (far inferior to Phair’s homemade version on her “Girly Sound” tapes). These make the album something less than a complete triumph, even as its best songs confirm that Phair’s initial success was no fluke.
