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Dance of the Seven Veils
Liz Phair
Exile in Guyville
1993

I hate sounding like one of those people.  Someone who loves an artist, but then is all like, "remember when so and so used to be good?  When she used to make good music?"  BUT I'M GOING TO DO IT.  Liz Phair used to be good. 
So good.  Her music was angry and messy and dirty (really dirty, haha) and unapologetic.  It galloped.  Sometimes it was really hard to get a hold of; the pitch of her voice or weird tempo of the music made it hard to like, initially.

Exile in Guyville is a perfect album.  Maybe it is Liz Phair's masterpiece and it'll never be topped.  I guess one thing that can be said for Liz Phair is that she isn't constantly trying to recreate this album; her music evolves as she does.  I just wish the material she has released as a result of this evolution was actually...good (there's that word again).

The protagonists in Phair's songs are neither GOOD nor BAD.  They are flawed, BUT are not condemned for their flaws or for their behaviour. They seem stronger for having these flaws AND they have attitude--like of the "fuck it" variety.  This brings me to this week's theme.  "Dance of the Seven Veils" has it all: Biblical references!  Lust!  Murder!  Prostitution!  The number seven!  This song has an eerie quality; the opening "Johnny my love" is downright creepy.  Phair's voice reaches a spookily angelic pitch when she sings the chorus.  She's an angel that isn't exactly fighting for a spot in Heaven.  She isn't concerned with pleasing everybody or meeting someone else's standards.  There isn't a complete disregard for consequences here, but at least the speaker is making her own choices.