No Rock And Roll Fun

THE SWEET TASTE OF VICTORY: We're delighted that Liz Phair is pleased with her Matrix-made album. No, seriously, we are. She tells the SanFranCron"I'm always the type of person that is wary to say, 'We did it!' But we certainly did accomplish a lot with this record. I kind of knew we would." Since the sales of the title were a little disappointing - you sell your soul to Avril's team of Satans, you surely expect a little spot of world domination in return - we're not quite sure what the "it" she did was - merely getting the album out? On the other hand, she's seen people enjoying her music at the gym, which is, perhaops, significant in some way:

"When I'm at the gym and I hear my song come on and people are bopping around to it, I know what it means," Phair said. "I get it. And I take great pleasure in that. Whether they know it or not they've been infiltrated by a thinking, complicated human being. If you buy the record based on the single, I'm going to hit you with some complicated issues"

Ah, yes, the old 'I've made a pop single, but it'll bring people in to the album and then - ha! I shall pull of my mask of pop and reveal my true self' angle. The trouble is, when Liz removes her disguise on the album - and most of the time she just winks through the Matrix mask - the few people who came in because of the hit single are just going to thumb the forward button anyway; more importantly, hitching your skirt and making your face to tempt a new audience is a risky move anyway. Amazon reports that people who bought Liz Phair also bought Michelle Branch, Radiohead, Fountains of Wayne, Dido, Sarah Mclachlan, Jewel and other Liz Phair stuff. The only real difference compared with cross-purchasers of her other material is she seems to have lost the PJ Harvey fans in their entirety. Certainly, there's little evidence that Fred Durst groupies or Britney-ettes have crossed some great divide in buying art rock.