Sometimes a dream is what makes you a slave

It was around Thanksgiving 1995 when I was given a few snippets of Girly Sound by a Madison friend. Girly Sound were Liz Phair's bedroom 4-track recordings before Matador records rescued her from obscurity. Soon after I received the tape, which had only about 10 songs, I sat on a Wicker Park stoop late into the night listening to the bare fragments of melodies and rhythms. Sure, it had the tales of sexual bravado that dominates her "Exile to Guyville" release, but there was plain pop songsmith and spookiness that made it highly listenable. (That was also the week when I first saw Palace, so them's were some heady days.)

I still have that recording, but with the availability of so many obscure recordings, I've longed for a better version. (My copy came reportedly came via John Henderson who lived with her for awhile and helped her bring the Girly Sound songs into the studio realm.) So it was with ample delight that I found it on the web recently in a profusion of riches that was originally self-released as three cassettes. The song quality is very strong and the collection includes seminal versions of songs that would later appear on her albums.

But I must admit that it's some depressing stuff. Many of the songs feature narratives of lost love, alienation, and aimlessness. On the other hand, if you've been unemployed for four months those are feelings that are not unfamiliar.