Girly-Sound | ||||
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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 tape recorder in her childhood bedroom at her parents' house, copies of the tapes were initially given by Phair to only two people: Chris Brokaw and Tae Won Yu. However, copies of the Girly-Sound tapes were passed from person to person and became somewhat 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 one 14-song tape, getting the second 14-song tape a month after that.[4] In 1992, Phair signed a deal with Matador Records on the strength of a tape she had sent in consisting of 6 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]
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" |