Liz Gets Girly

At 36, Liz Phair already knows three words that will appear at the top of her obituary: Exile in Guyville . The 1993 album was the definitive feminist- indie-rock manifesto; on classics like Flower , Phair used her low, wry voice to capture the dynamics of being a thinking woman who likes sex. Guyville didn't sell much, but it cleared an airstrip for everyone from Alanis Morissette to Lauryn Hill and created a Phair cult that exists to this day.

Actually, the expiration date on the cult could have passed last week, when Phair's self-titled fourth album hit...