You Don’t Even Know Who Liz Phair Is

Long before there was the glossed up version currently spanning the radio-waves, there was an indie “it” girl named Liz Phair.

Phair didn’t officially release an album until 1993′s highly revered (and understandably so) Exile In Guyville. But like many artists, she had quite a stack of songs that have never been officially released. One such song, ‘White Babies,’ made its appearance on an answering machine of all places.

The story goes that sometime in either 1990 or 1991, Phair had placed a phone call to her friend Tae Won Yu (who then was in the duo Kicking Giant with Rachel Carns). When she got his answering machine, she decided to sing over the phone. Tae later took the recording and submitted it for inclusion on an independent compilation known as Chinny Chin Chin: 4 NY Bands which was released in 1991. Thus officially marking Liz’s first appearance on a recording.

The song is brief and being that it was recorded on an answering machine, one can gather that its quality is less than perfect. But for die-hard Phair fans, this track marks the birth of what was to come. The song can also be heard in its entirity on Phair’s Girlysound recordings (which were a collection of some early demos that were circulated prior to Exile In Guyville), under its longer title, ‘Black Market White Baby Dealer.’

And for you to compare and contrast, I’ve also made available ‘Freak Of Nature’ and ‘Tell Me I’m A Liar.’ The former is a b-side off of Phair’s whitechocolatespaceegg released in 1998. It was later released in the greater Chicago area on Q101′s compilation Local 101: Volume 1. The latter is also a rare find; an unreleased demo from Phair’s eponymous album of last year. The song has become a favorite of mine and I’m pretty shocked it wasn’t included on the official release.

It’s definitely been interesting to see Phair’s evolution over the last decade. She’s gone from rough and lo-fi to sheen and hi-gloss. And despite all of the critical huff she’s garnered this past year, Phair can still write a hell of a great song.