| Girly-Sound | |
| Type: | demo |
| Longtype: | (Bootleg) |
| Artist: | Girly-Sound |
| Cover: | girlysound.jpg |
| Caption: | Artwork for Sooty |
| Released: | 1991 May 4, 2018 |
| Recorded: | 1991 |
| Length: | 154:31 (Remastered version) |
| Producer: | Liz Phair |
| Next Title: | Exile in Guyville |
| Next Year: | 1993 |
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[1] and by AllMusic "one of the most popular and sought-after alternative rock bootlegs of all time".
Recorded on a 4-track cassette recorder in her childhood bedroom at her parents' house, copies of the tapes were initially given by Phair to only two people in 1991: friends and fellow musicians Chris Brokaw and Tae Won Yu. However, copies of the Girly-Sound tapes were passed from person to person and became something of a sensation in the American tape trading/zine subculture.[2] Brokaw later told Rolling Stone how he had urged Phair to record something and a few months later received a tape of 14 songs, with a second 14-song tape following a month later.[3] In 1992, Phair signed a deal with Matador Records on the strength of a demo tape she had sent them of six Girly-Sound songs.[3] [4]
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".[3] Much of Phair's debut album Exile in Guyville contains reworkings of songs from these tapes.[2] 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."[5] 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.[6]
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.[7]
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.[8] At the same time, the tapes themselves were separately released digitally under the title The Girly-Sound Tapes.[9] This release omitted "Fuck or Die" and "Shatter" due to sample clearance issues.[10]
AllMusic rated the demos 4.5/5, noting some weak tracks but finding others "as tuneful and provoking as anything on her official albums".[11]
Source:[12]
Track order was obtained from the 2018 Girly-Sound to Guyville release.
| 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" |