Liz Phair keeps it smooth on ‘Miracle’

SOUND BITES: Audio reviews

updated 1:48 p.m. ET Oct. 5, 2005

In this week's reviews, Liz Phair goes from slick to smooth on “Somebody's Miracle” and Buddy Guy digs through the archives on “Bring 'Em In,” plus other reviews.

“Somebody’s Miracle,” Liz Phair
Is Liz Phair a commercial sellout, just ambitious, or a maturing musician?

Her last album, 2003’s “Liz Phair,” signaled the 38-year-old’s foray into sleek commercial pop, sparking outcries from critics and fans alike.

She enlisted the mainstream hand of producing trio The Matrix (Avril Lavigne, Hilary Duff), but only had the moderate hit single “Why Can’t I.”

With her fifth album “Somebody’s Miracle,” Phair dropped The Matrix while making yet another pop record: less blatantly commercial, but still smooth, reflecting her increasing shift toward a clearer sound.

Phair’s guitarist John Alagia produced most of “Miracle’”s acoustic-electric tunes, with boyfriend and bandmate Dino Meneghin also producing.

Songs range from the Sheryl Crow-esque single “Everything to Me” to the love-lost “Count On My Love.” Awash in spangly tones, they’re more about introspection than head bopping, unlike “Liz Phair.”

Capitol

The lyrically strong downer “Table for One,” for instance, is impressive for its stark imagery of a middle-aged woman in crisis. “I’m backing out of the driveway and into creation,” Phair sings.

Directly influenced by Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life,” “Miracle” references an adult-minded tone. She’s a mother, she’s older, she’s in love. Her former crackling monotone doesn’t quite soar as much as glide.

And true, Phair is not the same indie chanteuse who spat and shocked her way through 1993’s dirty debut “Exile in Guyville,” but she can still nail you with a major chord or splintered word.
— Solvej Schou

“Bring ’Em In,” Buddy Guy
Buddy Guy once said, “I make a lot of mistakes — you know, hit a wrong string. I’ve never seen B.B. King do that.” That comparison has always stuck in my head as a defining quality of the blues guitar great: he might not always be clean, but his rawness is what defines him.

Though Guy’s most frenetic (and best) work was in the ‘60s, ‘70s and early ‘80s, the 69-year-old has garnered more critical notice in recent years, including four Grammys since 1991 and entry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year.

Jive

“Bring ’Em In,” Guy’s latest album, is an effort to translate that acclaim to a wider commercial audience. Like so many recent releases from old legends, “Bring ’Em In” is chock-full of star-studded collaborations: Carlos Santana (currently working on the Guinness record for duets) on “I Put a Spell on You,” Tracy Chapman on “Ain’t No Sunshine,” John Mayer on “I’ve Got Dreams to Remember” and Keith Richards on “The Price You Gotta Pay.”

The arrangements on these are solid (especially on “Spell”), but it’s difficult to get too excited about hearing the 80th cover of these songs.

Better are some of the less familiar tunes. On his own “What Kind of Woman Is This?” Guys sings, “You should be locked up, pretty girl/ in my bedroom with me.” “Somebody’s Sleeping in My Bed” oozes blues and begs to be played on dingy jukeboxes in dark dive bars.

For the real torrid, messy solos of Guy, dig into his archives — especially “Stone Crazy!” “Bring ’Em In” might be less remarkable, but, like bluesmen are ought to do, Guy has aged well. His voice has only gained soul and his fingers still fly up and down the fretboard. It hardly matters what he plays.
— Jake Coyle

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