I was introduced to this album when it came out by a really good friend. It's funny I don't really know what he liked so much about it, but there was about a month there where it was all he ever played in his car. Even though I spent a lot of time riding around Lexington KY in his car I never really listened to the lyrics or thought one way or another of the album except that it had a very raw sound to it.
Years later I was reintroduced to the album when I got a copy of it for my wife who it turned out was a big fan. Again I was struck by the raw sound of the album and the vocals that seem to live in the minor key. Like my friend before, my wife got hooked on it for about a month till she had burned it out, and now maybe once every other year or so she'll do the same.
It's funny but I still have never really sat down and listened to the lyrics and thought of the album as a unit and I didn't listening again this time. To me her voice and the music are infectious, and that's what draws me to the album. I like the fact that you can hear the words and so snipets here and there jump out that catch my ear and keep me tuned in. The beats are nice and the music vibrant though very simplistic in presentation.
Of course this album gets a boost from the fact that I've heard it so many times I'm comfortable with it, but still it is a very solid album and I can easily see why people are so drawn to it. The sad part to me about an album like this is that it can never really be followed up. Liz Phair could have followed it with something similar but it wouldn't have that freshness or rawness of this album. But she also couldn't change her sound or approach too much without angering her fans, well in fact that's what happened with her later album Liz Phair. It is rare that someone can actually follow up on an album like this and actually please their fans and critics while still growing their sound and art.
